File Explorer sidebar gets significant improvements in Windows 11

Windows 11 version 22H2 includes a new Explorer sidebar design and layout that gives users more control over the links that appear in the File Explorer sidebar.

Microsoft released a new Windows 11 Insider build this week with several improvements to File Explorer. Ashwin has highlighted the tabbed File Explorer interface that many users have been waiting for.

Another area of ​​File Explorer being improved in the build is the File Manager's sidebar. The sidebar lists links to various locations, including all connected and mapped partitions, optical drives, quick access links, OneDrive, network shares, and user folders.

The first thing you might notice is that Microsoft has added separators to better differentiate sidebar groups. There's also a new "Get Started" section at the top, with a link to Microsoft's OneDrive file hosting and sync service below. OneDrive appears by default, even for local accounts and users who are not signed in to the OneDrive app.

Uninstalling the OneDrive app on your system will delete the OneDrive entry in the File Explorer sidebar. User folders are listed under "Start Quick Access," and when you expand "This PC," you'll notice that user folders are no longer listed in that group. The PC lists all mapped local drives, with optical drives shown separately from hard drives.

Group titles are no longer displayed, such as Quick Access. It's unclear if these will be added in a later version or gone forever.

All user folders can be removed from the sidebar by right-clicking the item and selecting "Unpin from Quick Access."

The ability to display libraries still exists. Right-click an empty spot in the sidebar and select Show Libraries to add them. There, you'll find options to hide this PC and networks, as well as expand all folders in the sidebar or just the current folder.

Windows 11 adds a new desktop root entry in the sidebar when you select "Show all folders" in right-click preferences. Click the arrow icon of the desktop root entry to collapse and display all sidebar folders and links.

Our colleagues at German tech site Deskmodder discovered that the change will be included in Windows 11 version 22H2, which Microsoft plans to release later this year. The possibility of not including changes is still slim, but seems unlikely at this time.

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