How to enable Recent Folders in Windows 11 including the Save As and File Open dialog boxes!
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- Опубликовано: 21 авг 2024
- Instructions for enabling Recent Folders functionality in Windows 11
The 3 lines of text I refer to in the video that you need to copy and paste when instructed are:
shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\ShellFolder
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\ShellFolder
Detailed Steps:
1) Open "File Explorer" on the bottom Start Bar. Click the dots ... , then Options, then View tab, then scroll down and tick "Show All Folders". Click OK
2) Right-click the Windows Start icon, then click Run, then paste the following line then click OK:
shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}
3) Recent Folders will appear in File Explorer (at the bottom left). Right Click the Recent Folders and select "Pin To Quick Access"
4) Relocate the Recent Folders under Quick Access to the top or elsewhere in the list to suit your preference. (2023 Update: Windows 11 has since been updated to 2H22. One change is that Quick Access has been renamed to be Home, which doesn't allow reordering its subfolders easily. There is a way to still reorder which involves temporarily turning off "Show all folders" to do the folder reorder and then re-enable "Show all folders". But if in doubt just skip this whole step).
5) Open the Registry (regedit.exe) with Administrator privileges. You can do this by right clicking the Windows Start icon, then click Run, then type regedit then click OK and click Yes to allow this app to make changes to your device
6) At the top of the Registry Editor just below File menu is a white bar that shows your currently selected registry folder. It currently says Computer. Overwrite that with the following line by copying and pasting it and then press Enter:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\ShellFolder
7) Right-click ShellFolder and select Permissions
8) Click Advanced
9) At the top, click Change
10) Type in ADMINISTRATORS and then click Check Names
11) Click Ok and then Ok
12) Within the "Group or user names:" section, select Administrators so that it is highlighted blue
13) Tick the box corresponding to Allow Full Control
14) Click Ok to close the Permissions box
15) On the right side of the Registry Editor, now double-click "Attributes"
16) Replace the existing Hexadecimal number of 20040000 with 30040000 and then press Ok
17) Replace the current top white bar registry folder location (like you did in step 6) by copying the following line and pasting over it, and then press Enter:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\ShellFolder
18) Now repeat steps 7 to 16 but with this second registry key.
19) Close the Registry Editor
That's it. Now Recent Folders appears in Windows 11 both in File Explorer and within all dialog boxes of software allowing you to Open and Save As in the "Recent Folders".
Note, that these steps may need to be repeated from scratch when Microsoft release their annual major version update to Windows 11 (like they do with Windows 10), which seem to reset many Windows registry settings back to their defaults.
Thanks!! Is there a way to restore Recent files?
Thanks. Windows 11 under the Home section of File Explorer (Home was formerly labelled as Quick Access) does already come with a Recent section at the bottom that displays recently opened files and also works in dialog boxes. But if you want to get Recent Files to appear as its own folder under Home and work within dialog boxes, follow these steps:
1) Open the Command Prompt app
2) Copy and paste the following line then hit Enter:
mklink /j "%USERPROFILE%\Recent Files" %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent
3) Using File Explorer click on "This PC" then browse to C:\Users\
4) Right-click the new yellow Recent Files icon and select "Pin to Quick Access". All done.
@@techvideosbythephinx3801
I accidentally user the "Remove from Quick Access" feature on the folders that displayed on the left navigation pane BELOW my physically pinned items. I'm talking about the roughly 4 folders that would rotate based on recently used and display beneath the bottom most "pinned to quick access" item.
While trying to streamline what could display here I accidentally deleted everything via this "remove from quick access" right click option.
To be Clear - my pinned to quick access remain. I can still pin new items or unpin as I wish. THE ISSUE = those 3 or 4 folders without a physical 'pin' that used to display based on what you recently used are totally gone. I cannot get them back! My understanding is that the "remove from quick access" option I selected is used to indicate that you do not wish to see a folder display here even if used daily...my goal was to remove some not all but I messed up and have tried everything to get this back to normal (I'd like to avoid a windows re-install if possible but I leverage these a lot).
Any chance you can help! Thanks in advance.
@@techvideosbythephinx3801 Tried this as well well your video instructions and I am not able to pin to Quick Access, Any thoughts?
I thank You with all my heart!!!!!
The absence of "Recent places(folders)" is why I have delayed my transition onto win 10/11 until now. I stayed with win 7........until now.
to repeat the previous comment "your tutorial video is perfect". Microsoft should fire whoever remove the "recent folder" functionality and hire you instead. Thanks for the video.
This was absolutely the BEST tutorial I've ever followed! Great job putting it together and explaining it so well.
😃💻 THANK YOU !!! 😃💻 - I've spent hours watching other videos and instructional articles, and interacting with Chat GPT and Bing AI, but still hadn't managed to get this to work reliably. I was about to install an old copy of Windows on my second computer so that I could use Recent Folders on it. Your succinct, straight-forward instructions have fixed the issue - and I'm now happy to install the latest Windows on my second computer. 😃😃😃
I am absolutely happy that I was able to restore this feature with your help! Thank you so much!
I spent many hours looking up for this solution. Your video is fast, precise, clear and complete. New subscriber, thanks!
No wonder I couldn't find the 'first line of text'. It's in the description above. I was looking at this video through a Bing result not RUclips. It's makes a difference and a lot more sense. Thanks for this helpful turtorial.
Perfect instructions for a very valuable functionality. I am wondering why MS is ignoring this for years.
Thank you and congratulations for this video!! I truly don't understand how this is not the default for windows...
These youtubers deserve an award🎉
Thank you very much... you make it seen so easy to understand step by step showing in video, My life make it more easy with this recent save now.
Thanks, I'm pleased this has assisted you. I appreciate your feedback.
Super job, very clear and worked a treat.
This was a Perfect tutorial. Crisp and succinct, and worked flawlessly. Before I found you I had followed a very similar set of instructions for Win10 which didn't work because the Step 16 values were different, and then I found this video. THANK YOU thank you thank you!!!
Great to hear!
Wonderful Video! I've been looking for clear, concise instructions to return this to my quick access choices. Thank you!
Hi, thanks for a detailed and easy to execute video.
So easy to use recent folder for the work flow and I wonder why Microsoft hide it with every update?
Very clear instructions, and worked like a charm. Thanks!
Awesome. I just did this for the second time after Windows 11 got rid of it during an update. It should be automatic on the start menu for all APPs. Thanks AP
I will note for others that in my case having having 'Expand to open folder' checked under the explorer folder options (1:02) suppressed my seeing the 'recent folders' icon in the navigator pane (1:31). Unchecking the 'Expand to open folder' restored the icon.
Thank you, very clear and it seems to work. If it keeps working, this will save me so much time!
Fantastic video, thank you so much! Would love to see a video on restoring "recent items" as well.
Fantastic! It has improved my work flow quite a bit. Many many thanks.
Thank you, worked like a charm. It was annoying to lose that feature from Windows 10.
Amazing!, very thorough detailed, and helpful, I spend more time in my day navigating to folders, hopefully, now I can get that wasted time back. Thank you
You're very welcome!
Получилось! Спасибо автору, всё сделал по его инструкции, пох что на английском, итак всё понятно. Появился удобнейший пункт меню "недавние папки" - привык к нему в виндоус7. И мучался от его отсутствия в Виндоус11.
saving me so much time, thank you!!!
wonderful Video with support! You have make me works faster with this good function that we have been using for so long and now with your help, it makes me work easier. Thanks a lot.
Woo Hoo ! Thanks mate !
Thank you, sir! Much appreciated.
After restarting, it actually did start to work. [PREVIOUS COMMENT: With Win 11 22H2, the first command ("shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}") does nothing now. There is no "recent folders" that I can find now in Win 11.]
I commented on another video but perhaps this one is more relevant. To recap, I am constantly switching among many folders. However, until I open a file or folder 4 times, it does not appear in Quick Access (Windows 10). Alternatively, if you wait a little while, say maybe 10-15 minutes, after opening a folder, it will appear in Quick Access. Somewhere in the registry there must be a value which says to add a folder to Quick Access once it's been accessed 4 times (it nearly always appears in Quick Access after opening the folder the 4th time), or there must be a value which says to wait until a certain number of seconds have passed before adding it to the Quick Access folder. I simply want to change either or both of those values to Quick Access regains the "quickness" we once had with previous versions of Windows. Tell me you know where to find it!!!!!! :-)))
Awesome, thanks for the uber-helpful informational video.
Many thanks for this How To video, well done.
Also i add hotkey to recent folder
right click on recent folder add to start menu
- then right click on recent folder in start menu it shows location then u will have this folder in explorer and can add hotkeys in right click menu
P.S if u dont see recent folder in start menu go to start menu settings and change style "show more pins"
I assiduously turn to you for restoring recent folders on my various windows devices and each time something comes along to overwrite these settings in registry. You are a hero.! Excellent easy to folow tutorials. Do you have any fix for the fact that quick access seems to move my recent folders shortcut from the top - where I too position it - to the bottom of my quick access list? It seems to do it each new session.
But if not - not to worry. This is excellent stuff and really valued.
Thanks for the feedback, Ricky. I cannot replicate your particular issue of pinned Quick Access folders moving to the bottom by itself after logging out and back in. I've looked online and those who are also experiencing your issue have not received a solution, it seems. As I can't replicate it there's not much I can do unfortunately. In File Explorer you can try disabling "expand to open folder" (just Google it for the steps), and also try disabling the Quick Access option "Show Frequent Folders in Quick Access. Not sure if these will help, but it's worth a try. The next test would be to create a new (extra) local user account (with administrator rights) on your PC to test with. Sometimes quirky things in your Windows login can be resolved by creating a new local login account and seeing if it repeats there.
sorry I did not read thru the comments!!! thank you so much for this registry "hack"!!!
Excellent video, thanks a lot mate!
Glad it helped!
This is excellent. I have used this for years to fix this problem that occurs on every Windows update. A question: is there a script of other method to do these steps that is easier or automatic on updates?
Thanks for your nice feedback, Fred. I've not been able to create or find a script that can automatically perform all the required steps of my instructions, unfortunately.
Thank you so much! This is awesome!!!
The Recent folder moved! (again...) The Recent folder was a sad casualty to change. Microsoft moved its location, but they somehow forgot to tell everyone where this new location is. Like many system folders, its new home is a Hidden System folder located at %HOMEPATH%\Recent. Typing that path into our browser will take us to it. That, or unselect the "Hide protected operating system files" in Options / View dialog, so we can actually browse to it.
Thanks a lot ! It seems to work on win10 too. I have no idea why they removed this feature by default.
Thanks for sharing a cool tricks !! 🥰
Appreciate this, its very helpful!
thanks! worked, well done
This is life saving
Great tutorial! Is there a way to add "Recent Items" folder (i.e., %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\)? How to add it to the dialog boxes of applications?
You da man! Thank you!
Having delayed upgrading to windows 11 was pleased to see this, However, the "Quick Access" group has disappeared from the left hand side of file explorer!
Quick Access has been replaced with Home now in the latest Windows 11 version, but which is essentially the same thing. Check to ensure you have "Show All Folders" ticked as per my instructions in the video.
Bless you sir.
thanks for your solution👌👌👌👌👍👍
Its very cool! THANKS!!!
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you! 🤗
Brilliant!
thank you sir!
Well, I tried this, but it did not work for me. I probably have some other setting that is messing it up. I have folders that I've pinned to the same place as where the Quick Access menu is found, but it doesn't say "Quick Access". Anyway, I followed the steps, and Recent Folders is gone from even the 'Show All Folders' option :(
Thank you!
My quick access folder is not visible and nor does my recent files folder. also I am denied the access to make any changes in Shell Folder. what should I do?
I've tried this and it works without problems, but I'm having an issue where "Recent Folders" clears its history. As in, I will start the computer and find out that "Recent Folders" is empty. It will hold folders for days and then empty itself again.
just what i was looking for, thanks mate, but i cant seem to "add" folders to it, like i had in win 7, used to be able to drag and drop a folder to the left under recent and it would add, but now it has the red round "nope" circle
Or, you can simply look in the home forlder, it shows recents.
Thank u so much so much
This is great! It worked on Windows 10 (22H2 - 19045.4355)
Thanks a lot
Windows 11 22H2 : does not work, no quick access shortcut is visible...
Okay, so this is working for me, but weirdly, not on Firefox? For example, if I try to save on Chrome, it will show in the Quick Access bar from the Save As window. If let's say I try to save a Notepad file like you did, it will work as well. If let's say I open Photoshop and do Save As, it works there too.
Only Firefox... but the thing is.... I use Firefox as my main browser.............. Any fix?
Brilliant! But I can't understand why Microsoft make this so hard.
I recently updated to the H22 version of windows 11 and, to no surprise, the registry was wiped and the recent folders "fix" was gone. It does, however, work but with a little twist. Now on the left hand side of the save as dialog box, there are the following icons in descending order...Home, Desktop, Libraries, This PC, and Network. After clicking on the Home icon one of the options there is Recent folders. Not a huge inconvenience, but since I use this feature quite frequently I was wondering if it is possible to replace on of the 5 listed icons with a Recent folders icon. Any possibility? Even if not, I am extremely grateful for the fix as is!
I recently updated, too. At first, there was no "recent folders" AT ALL. It was completely gone. Not even inside the "Home" icon. But I restarted, and then this all worked.
I tried your windows 10 version but did not work.
I followed your instructions about 10 months ago, and everything worked exactly as it was supposed to. But suddenly, now when I click "Recent Folders," nothing is there. The folder is there in Quick Access, but there is never anything in it. What gives?
Microsoft releases monthly and annual updates, some of which annoyingly reset some settings back to their original system defaults without asking you. In the large Windows 11 2H22 update they have renamed Quick Access to now be called Home. Further I see that the recent monthly update (2022-12) has removed my Recent Folders from under Home for me. I was able to restore it just by following steps 2 & 3 in my RUclips description above. I found the registry settings had not changed so they didn't need re-doing.
@@techvideosbythephinx3801 Thank you, Mr. Phinx! I discovered what happened. The "Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer" was turned off. (In Settings--Personalization--Start).
Your videos on this are a Godsend!
Hey man! I unchecked "Show all folders" again and my file explorer stopped working. And when i turned it back on, it loads and says "please wait.." can you tell me what happen?
one question , how do you know all of this crazy registry path and value to change
it is completely absurd to me that this feature was removed in versions later than W7. Makes absolutely no sense.
wouldn't let me change the attributes to 3004000! Now what???
Is this still the same in September 2023? Thanks
How may I add recent files also the same way? thx!!
Hi, have you noticed, that Quick access is now Home in Win 11? I can´t find out how to organize pinned folders and Recent folders bring up to the top. Could you help? Thankx
Yes in a recent update Microsoft renamed Quick Access to Home. All steps in my video and method still work, including reordering the pinned folders under Home to relocate Recent Folders to wherever you want it to reside in the pinned folder list under Home.
Hi, exactly what I was looking for, thanks! But unfortunateIy I can only do this successfully for the first registry key, if I want to change the permission control of second key (the Wow6432Node key, after I changed the owner) I get an access denied error. The result is that the recent folder appears in open/save as dialog of some apps, in others they don't. Any help appreciated :)
Hi, I tested tonight by reinstalling a fresh Windows 11 and applying the latest updates and my instructions still work fine for me. The only thing that has changed is they've renamed Quick Access to Home and stopped the ability to easily re-order the folders that appear under Home. I'm thinking you may need to restart your PC and attempt to change the permissions owner in the second registry key again to "administrators" then give Administrators full control over the registry key, as per my instructions in the video and in the text version under the video. If that doesn't work, I'm sorry I'm not sure what is causing your particular registry issue.
@@techvideosbythephinx3801 Hi, I already did several reboots and the permission owner is still the administrator, but I'm still not allowed to grant full access to this key :( Thx anyway, hopefully someone will come around with an answer some day.
Doesn't work. Wish I'd never let it upgrade to Windows 11. Alway always always have a 2 day process of research and mucking around to get Recent Folders back again. Damn you Microsoft!
Brilliant!