{"id":1473,"date":"2016-01-22T15:50:49","date_gmt":"2016-01-22T10:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.58.113.91\/blog\/?p=1473"},"modified":"2024-06-11T20:42:56","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T15:12:56","slug":"pin-recent-folders-places-navigation-pane-windows-10-file-explorer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-recent-folders-places-navigation-pane-windows-10-file-explorer\/","title":{"rendered":"Pin Recent folders (Recent Places) to Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 10\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Recent Places shell folder that appeared under the Favorites area in the navigation pane in the earlier Windows OS is not shown in Windows 10 and 11. Windows 10\/11&#8217;s Quick access (which replaces Favorites) shows the &#8220;Frequently&#8221; used folders rather than the &#8220;Recently&#8221; opened folders.<\/p>\n<p>The Recent Places shell folder still exists in Windows 10 and 11. Recent Places, now known as Recent folders, is handy in Explorer and Common File Open\/Save dialog boxes in various applications. Today&#8217;s post shows you how to do the following things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Option 1: <a href=\"#pin_to_quickaccess\">Pin Recent Places to Quick access<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Option 2: <a href=\"#pin_separately\">Pin Recent Places as a <b>separate<\/b> item in the navigation pane<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><a id=\"pin_to_quickaccess\"><\/a>Pin Recent folders to Quick access<\/h2>\n<p>Open File Explorer and type <code>shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}<\/code> in the Address Bar and press <kbd>Enter<\/kbd>. You can launch it via the Run dialog, as well.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-20119\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recent-places-shell-command.png\" alt=\"recent places shell command windows\" width=\"399\" height=\"206\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This opens the Recent folders shell folder. Click the <b>Pin to Quick access<\/b> button in the ribbon to pin it in the Quick access area.<\/p>\n<div class=\"rp\"><strong>RELATED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/shell-commands-to-access-the-special-folders\/\">Shell Commands to Access the Special Folders in Windows<\/a><\/div>\n<p>If needed, the pinned item can be moved to the top of Quick access.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20120\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20120\" style=\"width: 689px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20120 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recent-folders-pinned-quick-access-1.png\" alt=\"recent places or recent folders pin to quick access\" width=\"699\" height=\"272\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20120\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Fig 1: Recent folders Pinned to Quick access.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>However, one drawback is that the Common Dialog boxes\u2014i.e., the Open, Save As, or Browse dialog boxes from various applications\u2014don&#8217;t show the pinned Recent folders item.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20121\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20121\" style=\"width: 687px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20121 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recent-folders-pinned-quick-access-2.png\" alt=\"recent places or recent folders pin to quick access\" width=\"697\" height=\"278\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20121\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pinned &#8220;Recent folders&#8221; not shown in Open or Save As dialogs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To make the Common Dialogs show Recent folders, we need to amend the Attributes shell folder value (<a href=\"https:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/library\/windows\/desktop\/bb762589(v=vs.85).aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">SFGAO<\/a>). I&#8217;ve made available the registry file that does it quickly.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/pin_recent_places_quick_access.zip\">pin_recent_places_quick_access.zip<\/a>, unzip, and run the enclosed registry file.<\/li>\n<li>Log off and log back in, or do a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exit-explorer-restart-windows-10-8\/\">clean restart of the Explorer shell<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20122\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20122\" style=\"width: 688px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20122 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recent-folders-pinned-quick-access-3.png\" alt=\"recent places or recent folders pin to quick access\" width=\"698\" height=\"271\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pinned &#8220;Recent folders&#8221; shown in Open or Save As dialogs after the registry change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h4>What does the REG file do?<\/h4>\n<p>This registry file creates the following keys, adds a DWORD value named <code>Attributes<\/code>, and sets its data to <code>0x30040000<\/code><\/p>\n<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\CLSID\\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\\ShellFolder\nHKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\Wow6432Node\\CLSID\\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\\ShellFolder<\/pre>\n<h2><a id=\"pin_separately\"><\/a>Pin Recent folders as a separate item<\/h2>\n<p>If you don&#8217;t use Quick access or have already <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/remove-quick-access-other-shell-folders-file-explorer\/\">removed Quick access<\/a> from the navigation pane, you can pin Recent folders as a separate item above <b>This PC<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>To do this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/pin_recent_places_separate.zip\">pin_recent_places_separate.zip<\/a> and run the enclosed registry file.<\/li>\n<li>Log off and log back in, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/exit-explorer-restart-windows-10-8\/\">restart the Explorer shell<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Recent folders should now appear as a separate item in the navigation pane of File Explorer and the browse dialog boxes.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20123\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20123\" style=\"width: 691px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20123 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recent-folders-pinned-separate-1.png\" alt=\"recent places or recent folders pin to quick access\" width=\"701\" height=\"247\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20123\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Recent folders pinned as a separate category &#8212; above This PC and below OneDrive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The registry edit works on Windows 11 as well, as seen from the following screenshot:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-26797\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-rencent-places.png\" alt=\"add recent folder or recent places in windows 11\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The common file dialog boxes from any 32-bit or 64-bit application would also show the pinned Recent folders item.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_20125\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20125\" style=\"width: 655px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-20125 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/recent-folders-pinned-separate-2.png\" alt=\"recent places or recent folders pin to quick access\" width=\"665\" height=\"322\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-20125\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pinned Recent folders item showing up in Open or Save as dialogs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<div class=\"qt\">\n<p><strong>Additional Tip:<\/strong>\u00a0You can move Recent folders to the top of the namespace hierarchy by modifying the <code>SortOrderIndex<\/code> registry value here:<\/p>\n<pre>HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\CLSID\\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\nHKEY_CURRENT_USER\\SOFTWARE\\Classes\\Wow6432Node\\CLSID\\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}<\/pre>\n<p>Set the <code>SortOrderIndex<\/code> data to &lt;42 (hex). OneDrive&#8217;s <code>SortOrderIndex<\/code> is <code>42<\/code> (hex). Setting a lower <code>SortOrderIndex<\/code> value for Recent folders would move it above OneDrive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4>What does the REG file do?<\/h4>\n<p>This registry fix makes use of the <code>System.IsPinnedToNameSpaceTree<\/code> DWORD value to Pin shell folders as a separate category, sets <code>Attributes<\/code> to <code>0x30040000<\/code>, and adds the Recent folders GUID <code>{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}<\/code> to the Desktop namespace.<\/p>\n<p>The registry files referenced in this page change settings only for the current user profile. To reverse the changes, run the corresponding <code>undo.reg<\/code> file present inside the archive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Recent Places shell folder that appeared under the Favorites area in the navigation pane in the earlier Windows OS is not shown in Windows 10 and 11. Windows 10\/11&#8217;s Quick access (which replaces Favorites) shows the &#8220;Frequently&#8221; used folders rather than the &#8220;Recently&#8221; opened folders. The Recent Places shell folder still exists in Windows &#8230; <a title=\"Pin Recent folders (Recent Places) to Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 10\/11\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/pin-recent-folders-places-navigation-pane-windows-10-file-explorer\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Pin Recent folders (Recent Places) to Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 10\/11\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,869],"tags":[441],"class_list":["post-1473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-windows-10","category-windows-11","tag-registry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1602,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/add-custom-folder-this-pc-navigation-pane-windows\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":0},"title":"How to Add a Custom Folder under &#8220;This PC&#8221; in Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"June 20, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"You can add custom folders to the Explorer navigation pane in pretty much all versions of Windows. This post has the instructions on adding a custom folder under This PC in the navigation pane in Windows 10\/11 File Explorer. Contents Method 1: Add a Custom folder and\/or Pin it to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"add or pin custom folder in file explorer using script","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/add-custom-folder-using-script-pinned.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/add-custom-folder-using-script-pinned.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/add-custom-folder-using-script-pinned.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/add-custom-folder-using-script-pinned.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1440,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/remove-quick-access-other-shell-folders-file-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":1},"title":"Remove Quick access and User Folders from File Explorer in Windows 10\/11","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Quick access, introduced in Windows 10, replaces the Favorites feature present in the earlier versions of Windows. It lets you pin your favorite folders, and it also lists frequently accessed folders. In addition, File Explorer in Windows 10\/11 by default displays the special user folders at the top, as well\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"remove \"home\" in windows 11 explorer","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/w11-home-quick-access-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4876,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/customize-quick-access-icon-change-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":2},"title":"How to Customize the Quick Access icon in Windows 10 or 11","author":"Ramesh","date":"December 18, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Quick access is a Windows 10 feature that shows you the list of frequently accessed folders and recent files. Also, under the Quick access section in the File Explorer navigation pane, you can pin your favorite folders. This post tells you how to change the Quick Access icon from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Quick Access Home icon","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/quick-access-home-icon-w11-21h2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25947,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/drag-and-drop-not-working-file-explorer\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":3},"title":"[Fix] Drag and Drop not working in File Explorer","author":"Ramesh","date":"January 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"On your Windows 10\/11 computer, you may unexpectedly find that the drag and drop functionality has stopped working in File Explorer. This issue may occur only when dragging files or folders to a folder in the Explorer navigation pane. When dragging a file to a folder in the navigation pane,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"drag and drop not working in windows 10\/11","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/drag-drop-w10-broken.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/drag-drop-w10-broken.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/drag-drop-w10-broken.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/drag-drop-w10-broken.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4594,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-hide-shell-folder-namespace-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":4},"title":"New Ways to Show or Hide Shell Namespace Folders in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"November 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"From Windows 2000\/XP through Windows 10, you can add custom shell folders as well as hide specific shell folders from appearing in Explorer environment or Desktop using the Registry Editor or with GPOs. There are two new ways to do exactly the same task, in Windows 10. What is a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"show or hide shell namespace","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/whitelist-shell-objects-6.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/whitelist-shell-objects-6.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/whitelist-shell-objects-6.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1567,"url":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/show-only-quick-access-navigation-pane-windows-10\/","url_meta":{"origin":1473,"position":5},"title":"How to Show Only Quick Access in the Navigation Pane in Windows 10","author":"Ramesh","date":"February 3, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We saw how to remove Quick access and other Shell Folders from File Explorer in one of my previous articles. This post something similar. In this, I'll tell you how to remove all Pinned items in the navigation pane except Quick access.Hide or Remove All Shell Folders but Quick AccessDownload\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Windows 10&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Windows 10","link":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/category\/microsoft\/windows\/windows-10\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/w10\/w10-hide-all-nav-pane.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1473\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.winhelponline.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}