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
    2023-03-09T13:05:49+00:00

    NP, stuff happens.

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  2. Anonymous
    2023-03-10T20:07:49+00:00

    I woke up this morning and my quick access was back near the top of my file explorer. So yay for that.

    But now I can't get rid of the separated "home" file, and I also don't need these separating lines that add extra space between the categories. I just don't get what they're thinking. Why can't they just listen to what we want and allow us to customize? Microsoft is slowly turning into Apple, and I'm not happy about it.

    I wish I could say the same for me. The top of my explorer window is:

    Home

    Onedrive - Work

    Onedrive - Personal

    <break>

    Pinned folders

    <break>

    My Computer/disks

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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.

    Image

    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!

    Image

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  4. Anonymous
    2023-03-16T21:11:51+00:00

    Today I have one OneDrive at the top, and the OneDrive I use the most at the bottom. Yesterday both One Drives were at the top, but I keep them collapsed so I can work from Quick Access.

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  5. Anonymous
    2023-03-23T18:33:32+00:00

    Couldn't agree more! Microsoft really started screwing this File Navigation up when they go rid of the "shortcuts" and replaced them with "quick links" that forced you to use the name of the folder instead of being able to rename to whatever you wanted as is the case with a shortcut. I like to "indent" my quick access shortcuts by using "......." in front of the file name to give it some kind of outline hierarchy. Now if I want to do that I have to rename the actual folder! I believe that started in Windows 10. Now with Windows 11...they've been able to even screw that up!!! That is the problem with a corporation getting so big...they could care less what the individual user wants/needs!!

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