Windows 10 Tutorials: Restore Recent Places Function to Windows 10

 

 

Having to work with multiple applications and documents is what PC computing is all about, and Windows 10 has streamlined and overhauled the way users can customize functionality to suit this need. The following tips illustrate how to best optimize Windows 10 to either temporarily or permanently get quick access to the “Recent Folders” function either in your menu bar or within the “Save As” dialog box from the “Edit” menu tab.

Adding Recent Places to Windows 10

Part 1: How to get “Recent Folders” displayed in Windows 10 permanently

1.) Start a run dialog box by either right-clicking the “Start” button and choosing “Run”, or by pressing the WinKey + R keys.

2.) Copy and paste the following line into the “Run” dialog box, then press Enter: shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}

 3.) File Explorer will open and display the “Recent Folders” icon. You’ll see that it’s located below the Recycled Bin on the left hand side of the screen.

4.) Right-click “Recent Folders” and select “Pin to Quick Access“. You can additionally select “Pin to Start” if you wish. When you close File Explorer, “Recent Folders” will remove itself from below the Recycled Bin, but will still remain under the “Quick Access” tab.

 5.) You can now use Quick Access to drag the Recent Folders icon to any position on your desktop now.

 

Part 2: The Simple way to get Recent Folders working in “Save As” dialog boxes in Windows 10

Recent Folders in Windows 10 has now been revived, but just like the “Recent Items” folders, by default it is hidden from “Save As” dialog boxes in Windows 10. (I’ve already posted a fix today – August, 29, 2015 – How to get Recent Items working in “Save As” dialog boxes for Windows 10 which you can find posted here and here). Below is the first of two ways I’ve figured out how to get the Recent Folders tab in Windows 10 to appear in Save As dialog boxes (the second way to enable permanently is in Part 3):

1.) Within a “Save As Dialog” box, right-click the folder name at the top and to the left of the search box. Next, select “Edit Address”. The path should display text and become highlighted blue.

 2) Replace the highlighted text by copying and pasting the following line, and then press “Enter”: shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}

Now Windows 10 will enable you to save inside one of your recent folders! This is especially useful when working with multiple documents that use different applications simultaneously.

 

Save as Recent Folders in Windows 10

Part 3: How to enable “Recent Folders” to work in “Save As” dialog boxes in Windows 10 permanently

Important: The following steps are for advanced users and experienced administrators only. These steps will alter key permissions and settings in your computer’s registry. I’ve made the decision to share these steps because people have been requesting it, and I went through the trouble to figure the process out. Proceed at your own risk.

Below are the steps for the second-and permanent-way to get “Recent Folders” to work in “Save As” dialog boxes in Windows 10:

1.) Perform a system restore point backup of “C Drive” prior to beginning

2.) Complete all the steps in “Part 1” from above.

3.) Open the registry (regedit.exe) with Administrator privileges

4.) Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\ShellFolder

5.) Right-click “ShellFolder” and select “Permissions”

6.) Click on “Advanced”

7.) At the top, click “Change”

8.) Type in “ADMINISTRATORS” and then click “Check Names”

9.) Click “OK”, then “OK” again for the next two boxes.

10.) Within the “Group or User Names” section, select “Administrators” so that it is highlighted in blue

11.) Tick the box corresponding to “Allow Full Control”

12.) Click “OK” to close the permissions box

13.) On the right side of the Registry Editor, double-click “Attributes”

14.) Replace the existing Hexadecimal number of “20040000” with “70010020” and then click “OK”

15.) Now navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99}\ShellFolder

16.) Repeat steps 5 to 14 again but this time for this particular “ShellFolder” registry key

17.) Close the Registry Editor completely

Now all Windows 10 software applications will allow you to “Save As” in the Recent Folders under the Quick Access menu tab. This is perfect for saving documents across applications faster and easier than before. Please note that the above process is permanent, and any users fearful of losing vital data in this process should perform complete backups before beginning this process to either an external drive or to a cloud-based memory storage service. Make sure to not unplug or power-down any devices while loading the above commands.