Mastering Windows 11 Quick Access!From Add to Remove | And Engineer

Windows 11 quick access

Quick access refers to an additional function of File Explorer that has been installed since Windows 10. You can display recently used files and frequently used folders.In Windows 11, you can use Quick Access as before.

Quick Access is an additional feature of Explorer, so launch Windows Explorer to use it.Quick access is pre-enabled, so when you start Explorer, it will be displayed at the top of the home screen.

The default folder icons shown in Quick Access include “Desktop”, “Downloads”, “Documents”, “Pictures”, “Music”, and “Videos”. They are also displayed in the left navigation pane.

Windows 11 22H2 and later Explorer has a change in the display.Previously, it was also displayed in “This PC”, but with the version upgrade, “This PC” is no longer displayed.The display can be judged to be simplified, more or less based on the application.

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Try Windows 11 Quick Access

From here, we will actually use Quick Access in Windows 11.Since it is enabled by default in Windows, you can use it without worrying about operation.The specific approach will be shown later.

To view Quick Access, launch File Explorer.See the diagram below. Click the Explorer icon on the taskbar to launch Explorer (①). The first thing displayed on the home screen is Quick Access (②).

[Ffigur]: Display quick access

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Quick access is displayed by default when you launch File Explorer.To use it, click on the icon shown.Clicking in the left navigation pane or double-clicking an icon in the right folder view pane displays the specified folder.

To register for Quick Access, select the relevant folder as shown in the figure below, and click “Pin to Quick Access” from the right-click menu.Folders can be added to Quick Access, and files such as documents can be added to Favorites.

[Ffigur]: Register for fast access

The following figure shows the menu and explorer display after registering for quick access. The content registered in Quick Access can be seen in the right-click menu of the explorer icon on the taskbar (①②). It is also displayed in the explorer that is actually opened (③).

[Ffigur]: Confirmation after quick access registration

You can change the display order of folders registered in Quick Access.See the diagram below. Select the folders to rearrange from the left navigation window, and drag and drop them in any order (①②).

When dragging and dropping, if you drop it on another icon, it will move to that folder, so make sure you drag and drop. It is successful if you drop it in the space between the icons shown in the folder.

When the drag and drop is completed, the display position of the left navigation window is changed and the order of the right folder display window is also updated (③④⑤).

[Ffigur]: Quick access sort

You can remove Quick Access from “Unpin from Quick Access”.This item is performed from the right-click menu in the left navigation window (①②).

Likewise, you can also select “Decrypt from Quick Access” by displaying the right-click menu from the folder selection in the folder display window on the right (③④).

[Ffigur]: Remove Quick Access

This approach is the same for the right-click menu of the explorer icon displayed on the taskbar. See the diagram below. To open a folder, you can open the folder directly by displaying the right-click menu from Explorer on the taskbar (①②).

Follow the same steps to remove quick access. Display the right-click menu of the Explorer icon on the taskbar and display the right-click menu again. You can also click “Unpin from Quick Access” here to remove the registration (②③).

[Ffigur]: Use and remove Quick Access from the taskbar

Take advantage of quick access option settings

With the explanations so far, you should be able to understand the basic operations of Quick Access. From here,As an application, we will explain the Explorer option settings.We will explain below how to use the Explorer option setting.

I have presented the procedure for registering for fast access.If you cannot pin to quick access with the registration method presented, we recommend checking the option settings in Explorer.

The specific approach is shown in the following figure. Click “…” in the upper right corner of Explorer and select “Options” (①②).

Folder options will be displayed, so check that “Show recently used files” and “Show frequently used folders” are checked in the items displayed in “Privacy” (③).

[Ffigur]: Confirmation of browser option settings

If it is not checked, it will not be displayed correctly in Quick Access, so add a check and click “OK”.

By default, Quick Access is automatically added. It will be added based on the access history, so if you think it was added without permission, it is in a state of being automatically added.If you do not want it to be automatically added to Quick Access, uncheck the checkbox for the desired option setting.

The specific approach is shown in the following figure. Click “…” in Explorer and select “Options” (①②). Folder Options will be displayed, so uncheck “Show recently used files” under “Privacy”.

Then, the contents of “Recently used items” that were displayed until now will no longer be displayed (③④).

[Ffigur]: Change Explorer option settings

Go to Folder Options and uncheck “Show recently used files” and “Show frequently used folders” under “Privacy”. See the diagram below.

By unchecking both folder options (①②), the display of the left navigation window will be simplified (③④). The automatically added items neatly disappeared from “Quick Access” and “Recently Used Items” (⑤⑥).

[Ffigur]: Stop automatic addition to quick access

As mentioned above, the default setting will automatically add from the usage history. If this display is cluttered and you want to clean it up, you may want to try this optional setting. You can also delete the history itself by clicking “Clear” to the right of “Clear Explorer history” in the privacy item.

If you do not understand what you have changed, you can restore the default settings by clicking “Restore Defaults” at the bottom of the folder options as shown in the following figure (①②).

[Ffigur]: Restore Quick Access settings to default values

Customize and take advantage of quick access settings

Quick Access is an additional File Explorer feature available in Windows 10 and later. You can manually add it to Quick Access or turn off the automatic add feature.Windows 11 continues to improve the experience, but if it doesn’t meet your needs, consider customization a necessary task.

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