Randomly the Windows Explorer jumplist will disappear in Windows 7

Anonymous
2009-09-30T05:14:52+00:00

I've been reading about and i havent found an answer: my windows explorer jumplist just disappear. It only shows the options "Windows Explorer, Unpin from taskbar, close all windows" but frequently and pinned locations are gone.

I havent installed ccleaner or tuneup or anything like that. I also havent change the any setting; the jumplist just disappear one day to another. However, other jumplists works fine (eg windows media player, google chrome, even control panel works fine).

Any idea?

I also tried to unpin windows explorer from taskbar and I noticed that in the start menu the list doesnt shows too.

I hope someone can help me, im not the only one who have the same problem and until now, there´s not solution.

Thanks! Sorry for me english im from Argentina.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Files, folders, and storage

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Anonymous
2010-03-26T20:41:33+00:00

Just delete the files in the folder:

%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

R estart your PC, and begin (again) to use Explorer for save recent places.

You can see my "step by step" in my blog:

http://bromerot.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!E6F8F80C074BDD47!950.entry


A programer is a digital artist.

Just had this problem and this fixed it for me. I wanted to add a few notes in case it is useful to others having this issue... (Sorry, I can't tell if your blog entry addresses any of this as it is not in english...)

Getting to this folder can be a little tricky. Pasting "%APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations" into the run box, which would normally work, won't in this case. Neither will pasting it into the target of a shortcut. Additionally, you won't find it if you try to normally browse to it as the "Recent" folder shows up as "Recent Items" and displays the special Recent Items folder in Explorer if you browse to it, rather than the true contents of "Recent". So you must get there by typing the full path (without the %appdata% variable) into an Explorer address bar or a run box. If you don't know the full path of %appdata% you can get there in 2 steps by typing %appdata% into an explorer address bar, then once you get there, adding " \Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations" to the end of the address shown in the address bar.

I didn't find it necessary to reboot. The changes were immediate. I only tested the ability to pin things to the jumplist. It's possible the recent files requires a reboot but I'm not convinced that that is necessary

It is possible to fix just Explorer (or any application) that does not have a working jumplist without losing any changes you made to jumplists of other applications. Here's how I did it:

Rather than delete the files in this folder, MOVE them to a temporary folder somewhere else. All the jumplists of all the applications will now be empty. Now pin something to the jumplist of the application you want to fix (in my case Windows Explorer). 1 new file should appear in the folder. You now know the name of the file controlling the jumplist of that application. DELETE this file from the temporary folder where you had moved everything. Now move the remaining files back to their original location. This restores the jumplists of all the other applications so you will only have to rebuild the one.

If you make regular backups of your system drive, you can also restore the files from this directory from a backup made before you lost the jumplist, in which case you won't have to necessarily reconstruct the list. In fact, if you use the above procedure to determine which file needs to be fixed, you should be able to restore just that one file. I have a Windows Home Server that does daily backups, so I restored the 1 file from yesterdays backup and everything is now working again as it was.

Incidentally, on my computer the file for Windows Explorer is "1b4dd67f29cb1962.automaticDestinations-ms". Not sure if this is the same on all systems, though...

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Anonymous
2009-10-02T11:20:35+00:00

I would try unchecking both options, and Apply, then restart Windows and recheck, and apply.

If no help, you can create a new user account and copy your settings. Crreate two new admin accounts, log on to one, and copy the old to the other new account. (Control Panel/User Accounts/"Manage another account"


Rating posts helps other usersMark L. Ferguson MS-MVP

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  1. Anonymous
    2010-11-24T20:03:33+00:00

    did you get any help ... word jump list for me is gone. nothing i do restores it ... jump lists for other office 2010 products are fine. word worked until this morning. did system restore to undo last update ... didn't help.

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-11-20T23:06:51+00:00

    For me, it's Word's jump list that has disappeared.  Would this solution work?  If so, I'm going to need a little bit of help to understand your directions, being fairly computer illiterate.

    "So you must get there by typing the full path (without the %appdata% variable) into an Explorer address bar or a run box. If you don't know the full path of %appdata% you can get there in 2 steps by typing %appdata% into an explorer address bar, then once you get there, adding " \Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations" to the end of the address shown in the address bar."

    What is an explorer address bar?  What's a run box?

    " Now pin something to the jumplist of the application you want to fix."

    Erm, how?  The problem is that there isn't a jump list .  How do I pin something to something that isn't there?

     

    Hi A C H

    Press the Windows Logo Key+E to open Windows Explorer. The Address bar is the long box between the 2 Arrow icons on the left and the Search Bar on the right.

    Click an empty spot in the address bar and press the Backspace Key to remove all of the text in that bar. Copy the following line:

    %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

    Right click in the blank address bar and select Paste, Press the Enter Key.

    This will open the AutomaticDestinations folder. At the top/right of the window under the Search Bar, click the View Menu drop down arrow. Select the Details view.

    If you are using Word 2007 look for this file:

    adecfb853d77462a.automaticDestinations-ms 

    If you are using Word 2003 look for this file:

    a8c43ef36da523b1.automaticDestinations-ms

    Right click the file and select Delete from the menu.

    Exit Windows Explorer.

    Start opening and closing several files in Word. Right click the Word Taskbar Icon and see if the JumpList has re-appeared.

    Let us know the results.


    Ronnie Vernon MVP – Windows Desktop Experience

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-11-20T21:53:50+00:00

    For me, it's Word's jump list that has disappeared.  Would this solution work?  If so, I'm going to need a little bit of help to understand your directions, being fairly computer illiterate.

    "So you must get there by typing the full path (without the %appdata% variable) into an Explorer address bar or a run box. If you don't know the full path of %appdata% you can get there in 2 steps by typing %appdata% into an explorer address bar, then once you get there, adding " \Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations" to the end of the address shown in the address bar."

    What is an explorer address bar?  What's a run box?

    " Now pin something to the jumplist of the application you want to fix."

    Erm, how?  The problem is that there isn't a jump list .  How do I pin something to something that isn't there?

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