Where is Explorer in Windows 10. Choose without using the keyboard
ConductorWindows 10 or, as it is also called - navigation area is a special panel on the left side of the open folder window, which is a file manager and environment for providing quick access to the computer’s file system. Many of its functions open in the Explorer window itself, but some options are hidden and can only be configured by experienced administrators through the Windows Registry.
Windows 10 Explorer consists of several sections:
- Quick access
- OneDrive
- This computer
If the computer is connected to a local network, then there will be more points below:
- Home group
If you click on any of these icons, the contents of this section will be displayed in the right window.
Brief description of Explorer sectionsWindows 10:
- Quick access. In previous operating systems this section was called " Favorites" This section shows links to the most frequently visited files and folders.
- OneDrive. Provides access to free cloud storage from Microsoft. This storage capacity of up to 15 GB is located on the Internet on special password-protected servers, and is only available when you create your account. If you store photos taken on a smartphone in this storage in a separate folder, then the volume of this folder is not taken into account in the total amount of data. You can increase the storage capacity for a fee. A very convenient function, because... You can work with storage files from any computer connected to the Internet.
- This computer. Here you can view files and folders located on your computer hard drives. If you open this section (click on the arrow to the left of the entry), a list of all your hard drives, connected devices (flash drives, memory cards, etc.), as well as folders will open:
- Video. You can quickly navigate to the folder where your movies and videos are stored.
- Downloads. This folder contains files that you download from the Internet. If you want to download these files to another folder (for example, to the Desktop), then read.
- Images. This folder stores your pictures and photos.
- Music. This folder usually stores files with various sounds and music.
- Desk. In this folder you can view what is currently stored on your desktop.
- Disk C. (I have it renamed to Windows 10 (C:). This folder contains system folders and files.
- CD—disk drive (E:). This is a drive for CD and DVD discs.
- Other drives. For me these are the drives Windows-8.1 (D:), Windows-7 (F:), Programs (G:), Storage (H).
- Net. You will have this folder if your computer is connected to a local network. If you have several computers at home or one computer and a laptop, then you can connect them to a local network.
- Home group. In order to take full advantage of the local network, you need to create a working group. Then all users of this network will be displayed in this folder.
How to open File ExplorerWindows 10
You can get to Explorer from the taskbar by clicking on the icon Conductor. It's next to the icon Task View.
Windows 10 Explorer has arrived Quick Access Toolbar. Here at the top you can attach your favorite folders for quick access in one click. Recently used folders are listed below.
To pin a folder to the Quick Access Toolbar, simply drag it to the area Frequently used folders.
To pin the current folder, click the button Pin to Quick Access Toolbar on the tab Home on the tape.
3. Change the opening of files and folders in Explorer.
In Windows 10 Explorer, the Quick Access Toolbar immediately opens. Windows users may prefer to have the folder open This computer(previously known as My computer), which includes six standard data folders, as well as any local drives and removable media.
Do you want this? No problem. On the ribbon, open the tab View, select Options> Folder options choose one of two options.
4. Use the advanced Send menu.
You can right-click on a file or folder (or multiple items) and through the menu Send do some interesting things: move or copy to a folder Documents, create a compressed file (.zip), or send as an email attachment. But the choice is not particularly encouraging.
Menu Send It turns out much more interesting if you hold down the Shift key and then right-click on the desired file/folder. The menu is simply filled with interesting things. Here, see for yourself.
5. Setting up the Send menu.
Regarding the menu Send, then you can do add and remove options in the default menu menu (ie in the short one).
To get to the desired folder, open the window Execute(Windows key + R), type shell:sendto, and then press Enter.
The first thing to do is remove the shortcut Fax Recipient. Then you can add shortcuts to your favorite folders (local and network). You can also add shortcuts to programs. For example, adding a shortcut to Notepad or another will allow you to edit any file much faster. You can also add your favorite image editor for photos.
6. Customize the quick access toolbar.
If you went straight from Windows 7 to Windows 10, perhaps the most unusual thing about Explorer may be the presence of a ribbon similar to the one found in Microsoft.
Its companion - the quick access panel - is equally worthy of attention. It appears in the title bar, above the feed. Customize your toolbar with the commands you use most often, and you can get away with using the Ribbon entirely for many tasks.
Some obvious customization options are available in the menu that appears when you click the arrow to the right of the toolbar. Less obvious and much more useful is the ability to add any command to any tab on the ribbon. Simply right-click on the command you want and then click Add to Quick Access Toolbar.
Many advanced Windows users don't know that you can right-click on an entire group of commands and add the group as a menu to the Quick Access Toolbar. Right-click on the group name and add it to your Quick Access Toolbar.
7. Advanced Search Wizard.
See the search box in the upper right corner of the Explorer window? Enter a word or two in the search field and you can find any file in the current folder containing the search terms either in the file name or within the file.
But there is an extended search syntax, complete with logical operators, parameters and operators. For example, datemodified: An operator that accepts actual dates but also understands relative dates like today, this week, last week, this month, last month.
For example, if you want to see all the Excel spreadsheets you've worked with this month, enter this in the search box:
Type: document date modified: this month.
The search syntax assumes that you want to find files that match both criteria.
8. Pin saved searches to the Start menu.
What if you would like to save your search results and open files you worked on last week or even earlier just by clicking on a shortcut? This can be done, and the search results will always be relative to the current date.
Enter date modified: (this week OR last week) in the search field. Don't forget to include parentheses and use logical OR.
Once you start the search, Conductor switches the ribbon to a tab Search, where you can click Save search terms and give these parameters a name. The search will be saved in a folder Search. Right-click your saved search and pin it to the Start menu.Right-click m
9. Use filters to find files faster.
Typing into the search field is one way to narrow your search for the file you need. Filters are an even easier way to find what you need.
Start with the folder or library you want to find, and then use the button in the lower right corner of the File Explorer window that organizes your files into a table. You will now find a small arrow next to each table column heading on the right. Click on it to see a list of filters for the data in that column.
For example, using a calendar makes searching much easier. Click on the month title to view the current month and year. By holding Ctrl, you can select multiple periods to view.
10. Group of files.
Everyone knows how to sort files: you click on a column header to sort by that value, and then click again to change the sort order.
But you can also group files by date, size, or type, making it much easier to see similar files or a set of files in a search result. This is where the command comes in handy Group on the ribbon tab View.
Each group gets its own header in File Explorer. Right-click on the title, a menu for working with the group will be available.
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Good afternoon, dear readers and guests of the blog, today we continue our study of the components of the Windows operating system, last time I told you about the “Windows Control Panel”, the next component is in turn, the history of which goes back far into history and today we will talk about “Windows 10 Explorer” or as it is also known as the explorer.exe process, we will look at questions about its launch, restart, modification and much more, I’m sure you will like it, especially for those who are just starting to understand the new OS.
What is Windows Explorer
If we turn to history and remember the definition, it turns out that " Windows Explorer" is an application (small program) necessary so that the user, using a graphical interface (GUI), can access and use files in the Windows operating system. As I wrote above, it is also called explorer, this is how it appears in the processes of the system. When it comes to manipulating files, everyone immediately remembers the “My Computer” snap-in or, as he already calls it in the top ten, “This Computer”
How to open File Explorer in Windows 10
In order to open explorer.exe (This PC), you can do this in four ways:
- The easiest method is to launch it through the attached folder icon.
- We launch Explorer through the search, to do this, click the magnifying glass icon located to the right of the “Start” button and in the form that opens, enter the first letters.
- You can press the Win+E hotkey combination and the usual Explorer window will open (Quick Access)
- A very quick option is the WinX menu; you can find it by right-clicking on the “Start” button and selecting the desired item from the context menu.
- Through the Start menu. In which you need to find the item "Utilities - Windows"
- You can open explorer.exe via the command line and powershell. Open the desired shell and enter there:
explorer.exe and press Enter
We have figured out everything in terms of launching and opening and we can move on and analyze the points of solving various problems that are possible during the operation of the system.
How to restart windows explorer
There are situations when you need to restart the explorer.exe process, for a number of reasons, the most common is the integration of a new program into it, or the desktop may freeze and the system needs to restart the process, in any case, you should be able to do this and I will teach you.
The fastest and most correct method is through the task manager. Right-click on the task area and select “Task Manager” from the context menu
We look for the “Explorer” process, select it and in the lower right corner there is a “Restart” button, it will do everything as it should.
If you just need to return Explorer to Windows 10 because it did not restart during the glitch, then you can also do the task through the “Task Manager”, this is discussed below.
In Windows 7 we used this method. Open the "Start" button and hold down the Ctrl + Shift keys on the keyboard, then right-click on any free space in the "Start" menu, as a result you will see an additional menu in which there will be an item "Exit Explorer", it will close the explorer process. exe. In Windows 10 and Windows 8.1, this number will not work in the Start menu; there is a slightly different click area.
In Eight or Windows 10, you can find the “Exit Explorer” item in the taskbar area, hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys and right-click in an empty space, you will see a menu with the treasured item.
But don’t rush to rejoice, this item does not just restart Windows Explorer, but completely exits it. The risk is that the "Start" button disappears from your screen.
As I wrote above, you will not have a "Start" button.
You can get out of this situation in this way: you need to press CTRL+ALT+Delete and in the window that opens select “Task Manager”
In the "File" menu, select "Create task" and in the window that opens, write explorer.exe and press Enter, this will return the desktop to normal.
Now if your Windows 10 Explorer slows down or disappears, you know what to do.
Explorer options in Windows 10
I also want to show you a few useful settings and functions that you might like. The first thing I want to draw your attention to is the "Send" item in the context menu of any file or folder.
- As an example, I took a regular file and decided to see what items were available in it when I tried to send it.
Now let's do the same. but before that, hold down the Shift key and you will be surprised at how many points you now have.
- How to make sure that when you call Explorer, “This PC” opens instead of “Quick Access Toolbar”. To do this, open any folder, select the “View” tab and “Options”
In the "Browse for folders" section, select "This computer"
- Recovering open folders after turning off the computer. There are situations when you have many folders open, the day is coming to an end and you need to turn off the computer, and tomorrow when you turn it on you need to manually open everything. Windows 10 will help you automate this and open all the folders in the form in which they were. This can also be done through the “Options” item. On the "View" tab, find the option "Restore previous folder windows at logon"
There's no doubt that of all the Windows 10 tools, File Explorer (formerly Windows Explorer) is the most used. And yet, many who consider themselves Windows experts are only superficially familiar with this incredibly rich built-in application.
The basic principles of file organization are simple:
- Combine files in several easy-to-access locations.
- For a more efficient search, use keywords and descriptive words in file names.
- Use powerful search tools in File Explorer.
- Have backup copies of your files.
Understanding how best to use File Explorer requires some knowledge of how Windows itself organizes files. Some of these subtleties are incredibly obvious, others are so hidden that even an experienced hand can miss them.
The file explorer, by default, has its own button on the taskbar. If you prefer to use a keyboard, use an easy-to-remember keyboard shortcut, logo Windows + E.
With a few tweaks, you can personalize the file explorer's layout to suit your style.
The ribbon located at the top of the file explorer resembles its counterpart in Microsoft Office, but has one key difference - it is not customizable. The only thing you can do is double-click on any of the tab titles to hide its contents. With feed content hidden, headers resemble an old-fashioned menu bar, but there's more room for a content area.
The navigation panel on the left is assembled into nodes that expand and collapse on demand. If you prefer the older style of a tree view with a single hierarchy, select This PC, then on the View tab, go to the Navigation Pane, then select Show All Folders.
With the "Show all folders" option, the navigation bar looks like the image below. (Note that a shortcut menu is shown here to make the listing more compact.)
After selecting the "Show all folders" option, only two anchor points will be displayed in the navigation bar: Quick Access and Desktop.
An optional element, hidden by default, an area that appears to the right of the content area. Depending on the option you select on the View tab, in the Panel group, a preview of the current element or details about it will be displayed. The image below shows the preview area for a high-resolution photo saved in JPEG format. Windows 10 has filters to preview most photo formats, Office documents, PDF files, and other common document formats.
The following image shows the part panel for one file.
If the detail panel is selected, you can edit metadata for the current file. Save and Cancel buttons appear at the bottom of the panel.
Changing Quick View
Sometimes you want to see a list listing detailed information about a file, and sometimes you want to see thumbnails of all the files in a folder. No problem, in any file explorer window, using the small buttons in its lower right corner, you can switch between detail view mode and thumbnail view. Detail view is especially useful if you want to filter the contents of a folder.
As mentioned earlier, you can't customize the Ribbon, but you can position the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) however you want. By default, QAT appears in the title bar, above the feed. If you want to move it lower, click the down arrow to the right of it and then the "Show Below Ribbon" button. QAT in this new position is a modified option, so you can always move it back above the tape.
The same menu contains a short list of the most frequently used commands, which can always be added to quick access. To add commands that are available on the ribbon, but not in this menu, right-click on the desired command and select “Add to Quick Access Toolbar” in the context menu that appears.
And further, one of the little-known secrets of setting up QAT. You can add groups of commands to the Quick Access Toolbar. For example, go to the “View” tab, at the bottom of the “Panels” group, right-click on the desired shortcut and select “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”. Now, when you click on this shortcut in QAT, you will be able to select the preview area or the details panel.
Organize files using the Quick Access option
The shortcut option always appears at the top of the navigation bar. Its only task is to provide you with quick access to frequently used files and folders. Having secured the location of the items you need, you can customize it.
The quick access option is one of the most important additions to the file explorer. As mentioned earlier, organizing files located in different places is one of the first steps towards overall organization. Once you have identified these locations, attach shortcuts to them in the quick access point and easily open what you need.
In order to pin the desired drive, folder, library or section to the quick access list, right-click on it and select “Pin for quick access” in the context menu. To remove an unnecessary item, right-click on it in the quick access list and select “Remove from quick access”.
Recently opened folders appear at the bottom of the Quick Access list. If the Quick Access heading is selected, the pinned and recent folders for that group will appear at the top of the content pane, with recently opened files underneath them.
You can view this list of recent files (and even pin a shortcut to your Quick Access Toolbar) by going to %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent. You can get to this location even faster by opening the Run field and entering shell:recent. You can find some additional shortcut settings in the Folder Options dialog box. Where, at the very top, you can specify whether you want new Explorer windows to open as a quick access or as standard as “This PC.”
If you need to, uncheck one or both options in the Privacy section at the bottom of the folder options window, which will prevent recently opened files and folders from appearing in quick access. Click the Clean button to clean out the Recent folder and remove all shortcuts (except those you've attached).
Using Libraries and Known Folders
The longer you use your computer, the better you understand the hierarchy of folders, which begin with drives and letters.
But, if you are ready to give up old habits, you can significantly increase your productivity using the Windows 10 file explorer. The secret is to master the so-called famous folders of your profile - user documents, downloads, music, pictures, videos, and so on. And most importantly, learn to use libraries, which are a very effective way to collect files from several folders located in different places into virtual folders in which it is easy to search and filter information.
In a clean installation of Windows 10, the archives are hidden. If you don't see the "libraries" link in the navigation bar, go to the "View" menu and check the "Show libraries" option. By default, the library mainly displays duplicate documents, music, photos and videos from the user's profile. If you don't plan to customize these libraries or create your own, you can keep them hidden. But there are many advantages to using libraries.
Adding folders to the library
To view and manage folders in an existing library, to make the Manage tab visible (under the Library Tools heading), first click on it, then select Manage Library. The image below shows the results for the Documents library with files taken from four folders - the default Documents folder in the user's profile, two separate OneDrive synced folders, and a shared folder called the company name located on a network file server.
The document library expansion option in the navigation bar shows a separate entry for each folder contained in the library. To view individual folders you can use these links. More importantly, all folders in the library are automatically indexed, meaning you can search and filter content from multiple sources as if they were in the same folder. Additionally, all files in the library are supported by the File History feature.
To add a folder to an existing library, first click on the Manage Library button, then the Add button, and then navigate to the folder you want to include in the library. An easier way is to right-click on the desired folder and select “Include in Library” from the context menu. This option shows a list of existing libraries.
Right-click on the folder and to add it to an existing library, use the context menu, or to create a new library, use the “Create New Library” option at the bottom of the menu.
The attentive reader will undoubtedly notice that the list of libraries available in the context menu contains two of them that are not on the navigation panel. The Photos app, for its own use, creates camera and photo libraries, something that other apps can do as well.
To create your own library, use the “Create a new library” option at the bottom of this menu. Or, alternatively, click the library title in the navigation bar, then right-click in the content pane and select New, then select the library. Once you open a new library, click "Include in Folder" and add the directory you want, to add multiple folders, select the manage library option.
Moving data folders to another location
You can move known user profile folders - documents, downloads, music, pictures, and so on - to another location. This is especially useful if you are using a desktop PC with two physical drives. For example, as a system drive - a small, fast solid-state drive (SSD), and a regular hard drive with a larger capacity for data files. The effect of moving is most noticeable if your collection of digital music or photos is too large to fit comfortably on the system drive where it usually resides. The process is very simple. Open your user profile (the easiest way is to enter %UserProfile in the address bar), right-click on the folder you want to move, and in the context menu, select the “Location” tab. Next, a dialog box will open.
Here you can enter the path to the moving folder or click the “Move” button and point to the location you need (with the ability to create a new folder). To change the location, click Apply or OK. When you do this, you will see a dialog box as shown here:
Answer - Yes, if you do not want the folder (and its contents) to be saved to your user profile. Repeat this process for any other roaming folders in your profile. By the way, it is quite normal to mix and match locations for these famous folders. In fact, this tweak is also convenient because you can easily see the current location for all folders.
- In the file explorer address bar, type %UserProfile%, open your user profile, then press Enter.
- Switch to detail view if necessary.
- Right-click on the header of any column, then select “Next” at the bottom of the context menu that appears. The Part Selection dialog box will open:
- Select the folder path from the list and click OK.
The contents of the File Explorer window should now look like the following image. Here, you will immediately see that the download folders and pictures have been transferred.
By adding folder paths to the list displayed in the detail view, you will immediately see where each of the user profile folders is located.
Hello friends! Over the past month, you have asked me a lot of questions about the work of Windows 10 Explorer. Mostly the questions are:
Just recently one incident made me laugh. I asked one novice user to show how to set up Windows 10 Explorer and imagine, he did it without any difficulties, it turned out that he attended some crash courses on working in Windows 10 for novice users and the first thing they taught there was... is to use the explorer. I also asked my friends (terry system administrators) to show how the Windows Explorer is configured in the operating system and to my surprise, they all did not do it right away, the fact is that many experienced users believe that the Windows 10 Explorer is configured exactly the same as in Windows 8.1, but this is not entirely true.
If you open Explorer in Windows 10, you can do this in several ways, for example, the Explorer button is located on the taskbar, left-click on it and Explorer opens
or right-click on the Start menu and select File Explorer
and will open by default« Quick Access Toolbar» , which will display your most frequently used folders (ten) and the files (twenty) you've recently worked with.
Note: If you open File Explorer in Windows 8.1, the default folder will open“This PC” with folders (Videos, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, Desktop) and drives: (C:), (D:), etc.
How to hide recently opened folders and files in the Quick Access Toolbar
Open Windows 10 Explorer.
View -> Options -> Change folder and search options.
On the General tab, section ConfidentialityUncheck "Show recently used files in the Quick Access Toolbar"" And "Show frequently used folders in the Quick Access Toolbar"»
Click "Apply" and "OK".
Now there will be only a few folders in Explorer (which you placed there yourself) and, if you wish, you can even delete them manually. Right-click on any folder and select Remove from Quick Access Toolbar.
You can delete unnecessary folders here in exactly the same way.
Clearing Explorer History
You can also clear the “Quick Access Toolbar” history using the “Clear” button
How to add to "Quick Access Toolbar" required folder
If you need to add to“Quick Access Toolbar” any folder, you can do this by simply dragging the mouse ( Drag"n"Drop). Just take and click on the required folder with the left mouse button and without releasing the mouse, take and drag the folder into "Quick Access Toolbar"
How to make it so that when you open Explorer, the “This PC” window opens in Windows 10
If you don't like the fact that when you open File Explorer by default in Windows 10, it opens« Quick Access Toolbar" rather than the "This PC" window ", then this is also a fixable matter.
Now I will show you how to change this setting and your Explorer will open the “This PC” window by default, displaying hard drive partitions and folders: Videos, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, Desktop and a number of other objects, by the way, data folders can also be hidden, I will also show you how to do this, as a result, your Explorer will open only the “This PC” window, displaying the drives.
