Quick access is a new feature in Windows 11/10 File Explorer navigation pane. In Windows 8.1 Explorer’s Navigation Pane, you used to have Favorites, but now Quick Access seems to have replaced it. This feature is useful because it helps users quickly navigate to locations you use frequently, as well as those you’ve recently used.
Windows users may have noticed that, by default, File Explorer opens to Quick Access. Windows 11/10 makes it fairly easy for power users to tweak the operating system to their liking. It seems that the majority of user feedback to Microsoft is centered around users demanding the choice to easily enable or disable different UI elements. So, if you want, you can open Explorer on This PC instead of Quick Access.
If you want, in the interest of privacy, you can also disable quick access in the navigation pane, as it were. What you can do is prevent Explorer from showing recently and frequently used files and folders there. Let’s see how.
Disable Quick Access – Do not show folders
To disable Quick Access in Windows 11 or Windows 10 File Explorer:
- Launch Explorer
- Click Open Folder Options from the Ribbon
- Locate Privacy under the General tab
- Uncheck the two boxes that disable this feature.
- Show recently used files in quick access
- Show frequently used folders in quick access
- Click Apply and restart Explorer.
What you need to do is turn off the display of recently and frequently used files and folders in File Explorer.
To remove the Frequent Folders and Recent Files list from Quick Access, open File Explorer, click the View tab in the ribbon, then click Options, then click Change folder and search optionsto open Folder Options.
You will need to uncheck the following two checkboxes present in the Privacy section:
- Show recently used files in quick access
- Show frequently used folders in quick access
Click Apply and Exit. The action will instantly remove these two sections from Quick Access in File Explorer.
Clear quick access history in explorer
To clear your quick access history, tap the Clear button once morest Clear File Explorer history.
You can also unpin pinned items such as Desktop, Downloads, etc. on the left side of the navigation pane.
In this way, you can prevent Windows 11/10 from showing recently and frequently used files and folders in Quick Access and thus maintain your privacy.
See this post if Quick Access is not working or broken.
What is the difference between Quick Access and This PC?
This PC and Quick Access are very different in the way This PC displays connected devices and drives. On the other hand, the Quick Access view provides access to frequently used folders and recently used files.
Why does Explorer open in quick access?
It is intended for easy access to your recent work. Thus, it is kept as the default File Explorer view in Windows 11. However, if you are not using it, you can change this default setting.
