Flexible… yet confusing.
The navigation pane — that left-hand pane in Windows File Explorer — can be a cluttered mess. In fact, I suspect that for whatever reason, “cluttered mess” is the default setting.
Fortunately, you have more control over what goes there than you might realize.
Let’s examine what we can do with Windows File Explorer’s navigation pane to make it more useful.
File Explorer navigation
Windows File Explorer’s left pane can be messy, but you can fix it. Change what it opens to, turn off clutter from recent and frequent items, and pin only the folders you use. A few small changes can make File Explorer more useful.
It starts with options
Before we even look at the navigation pane, I want you to open up the Options dialog in Windows File Explorer. Click on the ellipsis at the far right of the menu bar and then click on Options.
This will bring up the Options dialog box. The first thing we’re going to examine is the “Open File Explorer to:” setting.
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When Windows File Explorer opens
This setting allows you to choose how Windows File Explorer opens by default.
Open File Explorer to: Home
This is the default.
Open File Explorer to: My PC
When Windows File Explorer opens, This PC is selected in the navigation pane, showing the PC’s connected disks.
Open File Explorer to: Leo – Personal
This third option opens Windows File Explorer to your OneDrive folder. Yours will have the blue OneDrive cloud icon, but with a different name.
Choose the setting you think will be most useful to you. Your choice applies when opening Windows File Explorer, but of course, you can change what you see as you’re using it by clicking on the Home, My PC, or OneDrive cloud item in the navigation pane.
Privacy
Back in the Folder Options dialog, you’ll see three checkboxes under Privacy. By default, they’re all checked, and by default, they each add a fair amount to the clutter you see when you open Windows File Explorer.
- Show recently used files controls what’s shown in the “Recent” section of the Windows File Explorer Home page.
- Show frequently used folders controls whether frequently used folders are included in the pinned shortcuts area of the navigation pane.
- Show files from Office.com controls whether files you’ve recently been accessing online (typically via OneDrive.com) are listed.
I recommend you uncheck them all.
In particular, I think you’ll find unchecking “frequently used folders” will remove some of the clutter from the navigation pane.
Pinning and unpinning
Windows File Explorer pins the default set of folders — Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music, Videos — in the navigation pane.
Unpin the ones you don’t use. Right-click on the item, and then click on Unpin from Quick access.
You can unpin them all, if you like. Since I avoid Windows default folders, that’s what I do.
Instead of Microsoft’s defaults, consider pinning folders you actually use. For example, say I have a folder of my own, C:\LocalDocuments. I can right-click on that folder and click on Pin to Quick access:
The result is that the folder of my choosing is listed in Windows File Explorer’s Quick access area in the navigation pane.
I find this much more useful than Windows defaults or most frequently used items.
Do this
Take a few moments to learn how to customize Windows File Explorer, and in particular, the navigation pane. You may find yourself using Windows File Explorer more frequently as it becomes a less confusing and more focused tool.
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I’ve gone even further and found a way to remove Home, Gallery, and OneDrive from the Navigation pane. On my computer, only This PC and the Recycle Bin are present. It requires changes to the registry, but there are sites that have instructions to make File Explorer work the way one wants it to. The changes will stay in place even through updates. I run Windows 11 Pro and implemented the changes in 22H2. I’m now on 25H2 and Windows Update hasn’t messed with my changes (yet!).
I’ve not played too much with File Explorer because I mainly use Total Commander, but following along with this article, I’ve set File Explorer to open to to my OneDrive folder where I do most of my work. This makes File Explore much more useful to me. All those other tweaks ae useful but now it opens where I want to be, and I can mostly ignore the other locations.
Unfortunately, the only folders to choose from on my machine are:
Home
This PC
OneDrive
Dropbox
Galaxy Tablet
Those are fine choices for me, but some people would prefer it to open to the Documents or other folder.