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Prior to a recent Windows Update, upon opening File Explorer, I got "Quick Access" at the top, "Favorites" in the middle and "Recent" at the bottom. Now, I must select either Recent or Favorites and it defaults to Recent always. Favorites are more important so if I could at least have it default to Favorites, that would be good enough. The best solution is to have it displaying all 3 sections as before. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.
I agree with the OP (PeteComp). While I understand that companies sometimes change visual presentations because, among other reasons, if you don't change the UI, nobody notices, I wish Microsoft would give us the option to adjust such changes to match the "old" visual presentation we became accustomed to over many years.
In this case, we would like to change the default from always displaying Recent files as the default, to display Favorites instead.
I installed the latest update this week and found this cursed change myself. This is so unfortunate as I can now see less information at once and it requires clicking between tabs to see the same information or to compare the information between the tabs. As the original poster noted, it would at least be nice if we could select a default tab.
For years I've read about MS Explorer replacements, but I've never wanted to experiment with them as Explorer is such a core component; however, now may be the time.
Sorry for the delay in responding. The "problem" is not a big deal. However, if you look at image from my original post, my favorite folders are pinned to the Quick Access section at the top. BEFORE one of the last rebates, the next section said Favorites and my favorite files were listed. Then beneath that, there was a third section of Recents. Now, when I open File Explorer, there are only TWO sections: Quick Access and then I have to choose either Recent or Favorites (or Shared). I use the Favorites more than Recent so I want Favorites to be the default OR get it back to the way it was before with 3 sections with Favorites being the second section.
Again, it's not a big deal. Now I have to click on Favorites, the I can choose from my favorite files. It's just not the way it was before. If there was an easy fix, I would appreciate it. If not, it's just an extra click (but annoying).
Thanks again for your help.
Thanks for your reply. My favorite folders and files are already pinned. I just want it to default to my Favorites folder like it used to do. It's not a big problem, but annoying. Thanks.
I contacted Microsoft support today (14th June 2025), asking for help with restoring the ability to add 'Open File Explorer' to Favourites, a feature that was previously available.
Currently, the only default options are Home and This PC, requiring frequent scrolling when saving files, particularly from your Documents folder.
After checking, this is a known issue that has affected multiple users, especially following recent Windows 11 updates.
Microsoft engineers are aware of the problem and are actively working on a resolution. While there is no official fix at the moment, temporary workarounds such as adjusting Quick Access settings or folder views may help improve navigation until an update is released.
Hope this helps...
