Adding to favorites in file explorer - Windows 11

The Windows 11 File Explorer menu is now a complete dog's breakfast - Mine is so lengthy and with so many folders and subfolders always open that it is impossible to find anything or to go directly to where I actually need to go. All I want to see in my Explorer menu is my drives and the regular Window system folders. Now I have to scroll through dozens of random folders and entries just to get to 'My computer'.

Now they have 'Quick Access' which is a different thing to 'Favorites'. 'Favorites' might actually be useful if you could locate commonly used folders there. But it appears that you can only put files there. (Seriously?)

Another completely useless 'feature' added by Microsoft that just makes the system more bloated and difficult to use.

John, since you are not a Microsoft employee, I apologize in advance for the following rant.

I am sooooo sick of the "modern is better" trend in software. It takes years to get used to todays complex software (and Windows is as complex as you can get). And just when you have it all figured out and setup in a way that you like the developers change it all around and use the excuse that it's a "modern interface".

I've come to believe that they do this for their own advantage.

Well...F**k that.

I just retired from a technical job in the industrial controls business and the software developers in that industry are doing the same thing.

It just sucks.

And I have the advantage that I'm a technical person and can figure stuff out.

But the vast majority of users are not and they ALL struggle.

How many of us technical people are called on by friends and family to save them from drowning in the technology they use every day. I can't be the only one.

ITS EXAUSTING

I would LOVE to see the results of a Microsoft focus group study that proves me wrong and that all this change is better.

Hi there, I am John J.D., a fellow Microsoft user like you.

I understand your concern. To add a file to your favorites in Windows 11's File Explorer, you can locate the "Favorites" section in the "Home" tab.

If you're not seeing any favorites or have trouble adding them, could you please provide more details or even a screenshot to help me better assist you?

Additionally, you can check out this link for a step-by-step guide on how to manage favorites in File Explorer on Windows 11: https://www.elevenforum.com/t/add-and-remove-fa...

Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

John J.D.

Note: This is a non-Microsoft website. The page appears to be providing accurate, safe information. Watch out for ads on the site that may advertise products frequently classified as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Products). Thoroughly research any product advertised on the site before you decide to download and install it.

As an industry profesional for over 30 years, I fully agree with you. Not only is the interface a complete mess now, with some perfectly functional settings moved from the Control Panel (which I believe is to be completely retired soon) but actual functionality is severely impaired, to the point that certain simple things just don't work anymore. It is my view that Microsoft has become so Kafkaesque in it's construction that they are doing things that nobody fully understands (not even them), and when they break nobody actually knows how to fix them. Windows networking is a particular bugbear. It has become a mixture of luck, circumstance and black magic to get it to work properly.

I agree with HHScottsman, except for the swearing. Not necessary. I've been in the IT industry for 22 years and what Microsoft is doing with their updates is so ridicules and frustrating and unnecessary.

If Apple would focus on networking more such as simplifying the process of setting up servers in a corporate environment and lowering the cost of doing this, they could easily knock Microsoft out of the picture. Microsoft is trying to copy Apples OS but doing a very poor job at it. The only reason I still use Windows computers is because my work requires it.