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
    2025-03-21T15:55:41+00:00

    Thanks, David!
    I don't have OneDrive active anyways.

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  2. Anonymous
    2025-03-21T15:47:22+00:00

    Does your OneDrive have an arrow to the left, showing that it is "expanded"? I think that if you "collapse" your OneDrive, then your Quick Access items will be more readily seen.

    This doesn't necessarily fix the issue of OneDrive showing above Quick Access, but I think it's an easy enough work-around.

    I know I'm replying to an over two year old post, but I just found this since I am similarly looking for how to deal with this.

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  3. Anonymous
    2025-02-17T01:27:37+00:00

    Hi, I think I've found something similar to a solution. In the options menu, you click on the view tab, scroll down to navigation options and then check "show all folders" (I think the "expand to open folder" is not very suitable for the idea of keeping the pinned quick access folders on the top of the navigation pane). Having checked "show all folders", you'll have again the "Home" icon on top of the navigation pane but If you expand it you'll find the pinned folders above the OneDrive folder (instead of vice-versa which is quite annoying)

    Hope it helps.

    Cheers

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  4. Anonymous
    2025-02-15T12:11:38+00:00

    I seems to find a way which can do this.

    First, make sure that the most recently opened folders are displayed in the home page.
    Then, type "Home\XXX" in the address bar ("XXX" refers to any of the most recent folders)
    At this point, it should expand out of a folder, and the expand symbol will appear next to the home folder. Click to expand the home folder and that's it.
    But every time you close and reopen the folder window, the state is reset, so you need to do the above steps again.

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  5. Anonymous
    2025-01-24T15:30:24+00:00

    Same tip as @gxsgirl95 and it's brilliant. I can actually use the sidebar again.

    I still can't drag anything to that top section, but at least OneDrive doesn't constantly expand to take up the full height of the sidebar.

    Correction: I confused two settings. The one @neil vectorr.com's suggests is interesting but it seems to disable Quick Access.

    It's this setting that makes the top section behave the way I want it:

    File Explorer > Folder Options > View > Navigation Pane > untick "Expand to open folder"

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