Favourites Not Working in File Explorer

Question

I'm finding that some files I hadn't pinned or favourited are showing up under Favourites in File Explorer, and one file that was pinned is repeated nearly three dozen times. Temporarily deleting the file changed the cloud icon into a shortcut icon.

Answer 1

Hi Giraffe20,

Thank you for posting on Microsoft Q&A forum and taking the time to explain what you’re seeing. I can understand how frustrating it is when File Explorer starts showing the same file multiple times in Favorites, especially when the file icons change after you remove something. I know that can make it hard to trust what you’re seeing.

At the moment, there isn’t an official Microsoft announcement confirming a service‑wide issue with File Explorer Favorites. What we do see, though, is that Favorites may sometimes behave unexpectedly when recent activity, cached data or cloud‑synced files are involved.

I can see that Q&A Assist has already shared a few helpful suggestions, so I’d like to gather those here and add a couple of additional recommendations to help stabilize how Favorites are displayed in File Explorer:

First, let’s refresh File Explorer itself. This clears temporary display data that can cause duplicate or “stuck” entries. To do this, right‑click the taskbar, open Task Manager, find Windows Explorer and select Restart. File Explorer will briefly close and reopen.

Next, it helps to clear File Explorer’s history so it can rebuild the Favorites list cleanly. Open File Explorer, select the three dots (…), choose Options and on the General tab look for the Privacy section. From there, select Clear then close File Explorer and reopen it.

After that, if a specific file still appears more than once, remove the visible duplicates from Favorites, restart File Explorer one more time and then add the file back once. As a general tip, pinning folders rather than individual files tends to be more reliable, especially for items stored in OneDrive or other cloud locations because it avoids repeated recent‑file references.

If the behavior continues after trying this, let me know which version of Windows you’re running (you can check under Settings > System > About) and whether the file is stored locally or synced with OneDrive.

I’ll be happy to take a closer look with you.

---

If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".  

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 2

It sounds like you are experiencing some issues with the Favorites section in File Explorer. This can sometimes happen due to glitches or bugs in the operating system. Here are a few steps you can try to resolve the issue:

1. Restart File Explorer: Sometimes, simply restarting File Explorer can resolve display issues. You can do this by right-clicking the taskbar, selecting "Task Manager," finding "Windows Explorer" in the list, and clicking "Restart."
2. Check for Windows Updates: Ensure that your Windows 11 is up to date, as updates often include fixes for bugs.
3. Remove Duplicate Favorites: You can manually remove the duplicate entries by right-clicking on them in the Favorites section and selecting "Remove."
4. Reset File Explorer Settings: You can reset File Explorer settings to default, which may help clear up any configuration issues. To do this, open File Explorer, go to the "View" tab, click on "Options," and then under the "General" tab, click on "Restore Defaults."

If the problem persists after trying these steps, it might be worth checking online forums or Microsoft support for further assistance.