Word 2016 and Excel 2016 - Customize the File > Open menu

Anonymous

Hello,

How can I customize the File > Open menu in Word 2016 and Excel 2016, please?

Add a Place works only for the cloud.

As for This PC, it shows me a list of folders I am not interested in, and that apparently I cannot remove.

On the contrary, I'd like to add different folders, which are not even in the C drive but on a D drive.

The only customization I found is in Options > Advanced > File Locations, in there I changed the location for Documents to my D drive, but it does not affect the File > Open menu at all.

And in Excel 2016, this command is not even there under Options.

Thanks and regards,

Marco

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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K MVP Volunteer Moderator

You can bypass this entirely by checking the box for "Don't show the Backstage when opening or saving files" at File | Options | Save. You can then use Ctrl+O or an Open button on the Quick Access Toolbar to go directly to the classic Open dialog, which is an Explorer window in which you can add Favorites to the Navigation pane. When you start Word, the Open dialog will default to the folder you have specified as the default location for your documents; if you open a file from a subfolder, it will become the default for the next open operation.

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Jay Freedman 208.2K Volunteer Moderator

When you "add Favorites to the Navigation pane" (renamed as Quick Access in Windows 10) and pin them there, they show up in the Open and Save dialogs of Office programs. That is equivalent to pinning them on the File > Open page of the Backstage, the thing that has been (unfortunately) removed. That's one of the reasons to avoid the Backstage as Suzanne suggested.

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84 additional answers

Doug Robbins - MVP - Office Apps and Services 323.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2015-10-19T06:38:12+00:00

This is the Quick access group that appears at the top of the folder pane in the Open dialog

If you right click on Quick access, the following list of actions appears and by using the Pin current folder to Quick access, you can add the places that you require to that group. You might note that in the Quick access list shown in the above screen shot, there a two "Downloads" folders. One of those is on the machine on which I took the screen shot and the other is on another computer that is connected to my wireless network.
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Charles Kenyon 170.8K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2015-10-18T23:01:02+00:00

I've become a big fan of the Recent Files in backstage. (I've added it to my QAT.) If set up appropriately, it will let you show up to 25 files and 25 recent locations. These can be pinned to the list. If you don't pin it, you can still reach it quickly with Ctrl+F (or Alt+F), R.

In Windows 10 there is a Quick Access group available through file explorer. This can be used in the File Open dialog as well.
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Suzanne S Barnhill 279.2K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator

2015-09-28T15:06:44+00:00

Yes, it's a mystery to me why checking that box doesn't make any difference if you go through File | Open. I guess theoretically you're already in the Backstage when you do that, but it is counterintuitive.
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