In Windows 11 file explorer navigation pane, how do I move Quick Access pins back to the top of the list?

Anonymous
2022-11-12T22:09:14+00:00

When I updated my machine to Windows 11, the quick access items were moved beneath OneDrive in the File Explorer navigation pane. This is a big inconvenience since I always have my OneDrive folder expanded and can no longer scroll to the top to access my pinned folders. How do I get the pinned Quick Access items back to the top of the navigation pane where I can – ironically – access them quickly?

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2024-09-04T19:02:38+00:00

    Hello Greg, ALL Windows 11 navigation panes are like this. The navigation pane in Win11 is terrible. It is inefficient and takes forever to find folders. Why was this even changed? I tried to navigate to  File Explorer > View > Options > Change Folder and Search Options > General tab > Open File Explorer to > Quick Access, but it does not exist.

    I'm sure I speak for many when I say we want a fix ASAP. Don't really care why or who thought it was a good idea to reorganize an area that is meant to provide efficiency for the person using it, which is different for everyone.

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  3. Anonymous
    2023-03-15T14:06:05+00:00

    After an hour of trying a few things and googling, this is what worked for me:

    1. In Folder Options, uncheck Show all folders. Reorder your quick access items to your liking now because you can't do it after the next step.

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    1. Toggle on Show All folders and (if preferred) Decrease space between items. Quick access will now be on top, but you can't reorder it! Any new items you pin will be on the bottom unless you do steps 1 and 2 again.

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    This is as close as I can get to the old behavior but a lot better than onedrive taking over the sidebar! Navigation makes no sense in W11!

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-10T11:59:50+00:00

    This is such a fundamental part of the workflow in Windows. I can't believe win 11 doesn't have an option to customize the layout!

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  5. Anonymous
    2022-12-13T18:37:00+00:00

    Noiman,

    I understand your issue perfectly, so much so that I've reinstalled a clean version of Win10 (dumping Win 11) for several reasons, File Explorer "upgrades" being one reason. The apparent inability for this XPS 13 not to be able to understand Win 11, or vice versa. In the overall scheme of things, it's probably more Interesting how the readers don't seem to get what you're talking about.

    P

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