How to Open Excel Hyperlinks (to Folders) Without Showing the Navigation Pane in Explorer

When you click on a hyperlink in Excel that points to a folder location, it always opens the folder with navigation pane enabled, even if the user has disabled the navigation pane. This is because Excel invokes the "explore" verb instead of “open”, when launching a hyperlink to a folder. To prevent the navigation pane from being shown when clicking a hyperlink in Excel, use the steps:

Click Start, type Regedit.exe and press ENTER

Navigate to the following location:



HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Folder\Explore

In the right-pane, rename LaunchExplorerFlags to LaunchExplorerFlags-Old

Exit the Registry Editor.


One small request: If you liked this post, please share this?

One "tiny" share from you would seriously help a lot with the growth of this blog. Some great suggestions:
  • Pin it!
  • Share it to your favorite blog + Facebook, Reddit
  • Tweet it!
So thank you so much for your support. It won't take more than 10 seconds of your time. The share buttons are right below. :)

Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

Leave a Comment