Quick Access not showing in navigation pane since Windows 11 update

Anonymous
2022-10-07T05:34:35+00:00

I updated to the latest version of Windows 11 yesterday. When I opened File Explorer, Quick access and recent files/folders were showing to the right of the window, but the Quick Access folder option was missing from the navigation panel on the left. So if I click away from this Window I've lost Quick Access. How do I re-enable Quick Access to the left part of the navigation pane?

Please look at the screenshot before replying. Quick Access is enabled in view mode options and can be seen, but is missing from the left side of the navigation pane.

Thanks for any help.

Windows for home | Windows 11 | Files, folders, and storage

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  1. Anonymous
    2023-12-05T17:07:04+00:00

    Yes, this finally worked for me. I had to make sure I had show libraries enabled and disable show all folders. It was opposite from the default after upgrading to Windows 11. Thanks!

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-12-09T21:03:09+00:00

    FFS! I wondered where it had gone. I add folders there that I work on all the time, always found it the easiest way to access a list of folders I use regularly.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-12-09T21:27:11+00:00

    Yes, this finally worked for me. I had to make sure I had show libraries enabled and disable show all folders. It was opposite from the default after upgrading to Windows 11. Thanks!

    Thanks, yes this worked for me too. Annoyingly the quick access items are not at the top of the list like they used to be but it's better than nothing.

    I also got around it by adding some of the most used items to the Start Menu, not ideal but it does at least give you another option.

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-12-10T23:00:35+00:00

    Yes, this finally worked for me. I had to make sure I had show libraries enabled and disable show all folders. It was opposite from the default after upgrading to Windows 11. Thanks!

    THANKS SO MUCH!

    It worked for me! finally!

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-12-11T18:24:40+00:00

    Thank you Neville - I tried this, and now my 'Home' area displays Quick Access. I'm so grateful, as I used Quick Access a lot.

    Like other people, I despair when Microsoft fiddles with features and does not consider the consequences carefully enough.

    Your helpful reply could be made a bit more complete as follows?

    • select your 'Home folder' within Explorer
    • under the 3 dots to the right of "Filter", select 'Options'
    • under the General tab, Privacy... deselect all the items - you should see 'Quick access' appear in your 'Home' area.
    • if you would still like to have 'Recent' files on 'Home', then reselect 'Show recently used files' and 'Show frequently used folders'

    Microsoft: It doesn't help to introduce another concept 'Favourites' which overlaps with the existing one (Quick access). Now I have a 'Favourites' area in 'Home', but there is no 'Add to Favourites' on the context menu of files/folders in Explorer - despite lots of articles saying this is what you need to get something in Favourites. My guess is that there is another weird toggle of settings like the one that solved the Quick Access issue to solve that problem too. It all smacks of creeping functionality where no designer has overall control on what developers are doing - or the designer isn't a designer, and is just a coder.

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