Windows File Explorer (sometimes called Windows Explorer, File Explorer or simply Explorer) is the central hub for accessing and saving files and folders on your PC.
You can think of it as being like a digital filing cabinet for your computer. It gives you access to every file and folder on your system. Quickly.
You’re using File Explorer whenever you open a folder, open a file, search for a file, save a file or access any storage drive on your computer.
In this lesson you’ll learn how to open File Explorer, what each part of the window does, how to keep the folders you use most one click away, and how to open two folders at once, in both Windows 10 and Windows 11.
This is a free computer course provided by At Home Computer. I have many more step by step guides to help you get the most from your PC.
How to Open File Explorer
There are lots of ways to open File Explorer (or Windows Explorer, as plenty of people still call it). Here are the five you’ll use most:
- Click the File Explorer icon on the taskbar. It looks like a yellow folder.
- Press the Windows key and the letter E on your keyboard at the same time.
- Click the Start button, type File Explorer, then click File Explorer in the results.
- Right-click the Start button and click File Explorer.
- Open any folder, for example one on your desktop.
If File Explorer Is Missing from Your Taskbar
If you can’t see the File Explorer icon (the yellow folder) on your taskbar, you can easily put it back. Here’s how: File Explorer Is Missing From the Taskbar.
The File Explorer Window
When you open File Explorer, it looks slightly different depending on whether you’re using Windows 10 or Windows 11. But only slightly.
Over on the left-hand side of the window you’ll see the Navigation pane (or panel). The navigation pane lets you quickly move (or jump) from folder to folder.
The big central pane is called the File View. It shows you what’s inside whichever folder you clicked in the navigation pane.
The Address Bar
At the top of the Explorer window you’ll see the Address Bar (or Address Box).
The Address Bar shows you which folder you’re viewing in File View. In other words, which folder you have open.
For example, if I click the Pictures folder in the navigation pane, the contents of the Pictures folder are displayed in File View, and Pictures shows in the Address Bar.
When you open a folder that’s stored inside another folder, the Address Bar shows the whole route, with a small arrow between each name. Click any name along that route to jump straight back to that folder.
The arrows just to the left of the Address Bar help too. The back arrow takes you to the folder you were in a moment ago, and the up arrow takes you up one level, to the folder this one is stored in.
The Search Box
To the right of the Address Bar is the Search box. Click in it, type part of a file’s name, and File Explorer looks through the folder you have open, plus every folder inside it.
So where you search from matters. Search from Documents and it only looks in Documents and the folders inside it. If you’ve no idea where a file has gone, click This PC in the navigation pane first, then search. It’s slower, but it looks everywhere.
The File Explorer Navigation Pane
The Navigation pane shows you your main folders and the different drives attached to your computer, such as a CD/DVD drive and USB drives.
Your drives live under This PC, which older versions of Windows called My Computer or Computer. If you use OneDrive, you’ll see it in the navigation pane too.
Quite often some of the entries in the Navigation pane will be collapsed (or closed). To expand (or open) an item, click the small arrowhead beside it. If you can’t see any arrowheads, move your mouse pointer over the navigation pane and they’ll appear.
Quick Access in File Explorer
The Quick Access area is where you’ll find your user folders.
On Windows 10 computers, Quick Access will usually have your Desktop, Downloads, Documents and Pictures folders already pinned.
Whereas on Windows 11 computers, all your user folders are pinned. Desktop, Downloads, Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos.
You can add (or pin) any folder that you’re using regularly to the Quick Access area.
In Windows 11 you won’t see a Quick Access heading in the navigation pane. Your pinned folders simply sit near the top, each with a small pin beside it. Click Home at the very top of the navigation pane and you’ll find them again, in a section called Quick access.
Windows also adds folders you use a lot to Quick Access by itself, so over time you’ll notice folders there that you never pinned. In Windows 10 they appear in the navigation pane, under your pinned folders. In Windows 11, look in the Quick access section of Home.
How to Pin a Folder to Quick Access
Whatever you use your computer for, there are bound to be certain folders that you use, or access, more often than others.
These folders can be pinned to Quick Access to make saving and opening files quicker and easier. That includes sub folders (folders inside other folders), which can be pinned in exactly the same way.
To pin a folder, right-click it and then click Pin to Quick access.
The newly pinned folder appears at the bottom of the list in the Quick Access area of File Explorer.
You can put your Quick Access folders in whatever order you like by dragging and dropping them up or down the list.
How to Unpin a Folder from Quick Access
Just as you can pin (or add) folders to Quick Access, you can also unpin (remove) them.
To unpin a folder, right-click it and then click Unpin from Quick access.
Don’t worry, unpinning only removes the shortcut. The folder itself, and everything inside it, stays exactly where it was.
Quick Tip
Make the most of this. Pin the folders you’re using a lot right now, and unpin them when you’ve finished with them to make room for the next ones.
Your pinned folders also appear down the left-hand side of the Save As and Open windows, so pinning makes saving files and opening files quicker too.
How to Open Two File Explorer Windows at Once
Sometimes you’ll want to have two separate Explorer windows open at the same time. It makes comparing, and moving files between folders so much easier if you can see exactly what is already inside each folder.
The easiest way to open a second File Explorer window is to use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + E.
That’ll open a second Explorer window on top of the first.
You can then resize each window so that you can see both clearly. The quickest way is to snap them side by side, which you learned in the previous lesson.
If you already have the folder you want open, Ctrl + N opens a new window showing that same folder.
Use Tabs Instead in Windows 11
File Explorer in Windows 11 has tabs, just like a web browser. So instead of opening a second window, you can open a second tab inside the same one.
- Click the + at the top of the window, just to the right of your current tab, or press Ctrl + T.
- To open a particular folder in its own tab, right-click it and click Open in new tab.
- Click a tab to switch to it. Click the X on a tab to close it.
Tabs keep things tidy, but you can only see one tab at a time. When you want two folders side by side, drag a tab down and away from the window and let go. It becomes a window of its own.
Windows 10 doesn’t have tabs, so on Windows 10 stick with Windows key + E.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is File Explorer on my computer?
Look for the yellow folder icon on the taskbar along the bottom of your screen. That’s File Explorer. If it isn’t there, press the Windows key and E together, or click Start and type File Explorer. If the icon has vanished from your taskbar, here’s how to put File Explorer back on the taskbar.
Is File Explorer the same as Windows Explorer?
Yes. It was called Windows Explorer up to Windows 7, and Microsoft renamed it File Explorer in Windows 8. Lots of people still call it Windows Explorer, or just Explorer. They all mean the same thing.
Why did a web page called “Get help with File Explorer” open?
You probably pressed the F1 key while File Explorer was open. F1 is the Help key, and in File Explorer it opens your web browser (usually Microsoft Edge) on a page of Bing results called something like “Get help with File Explorer in Windows”. In Windows 10, the small blue question mark at the top right of File Explorer does the same. Nothing has gone wrong and it isn’t a virus. Close the tab, or if you were looking for help with File Explorer, you’re in the right place.
If it happens whenever you press one of the special keys along the top of a laptop keyboard (often the mute key), the laptop’s Fn Lock is probably on. On many laptops, though not all, pressing Fn and Esc together turns it off.
Why are folders I never pinned showing up in Quick Access?
Windows adds folders you open a lot to Quick Access automatically. If you’d rather it didn’t, open Folder Options. In Windows 11, click the three dots (See more) at the top of File Explorer, then Options. In Windows 10, click the View tab, then Options. On the General tab, under Privacy, untick the box that starts Show frequently used folders, then click OK. The folders you pinned yourself stay put.
My navigation pane has disappeared. How do I get it back?
In Windows 11, click View at the top of File Explorer, then Show, then click Navigation pane so there’s a tick beside it. In Windows 10, click the View tab, click the Navigation pane button, then click Navigation pane so it’s ticked.
Summary
That’s a basic overview of Windows File Explorer. What it is and how you can use it. Over the next few pages of the course you’ll start to see the true power of Explorer.
Want to Do More with File Explorer?
Once you’re happy with the basics, Microsoft’s free PowerToys add-on gives File Explorer a few extra tricks. PowerRename can rename a whole folder of photos in one go, and File Locksmith tells you which program is stopping you from deleting a file.
You don’t need either of them for this course, but they’re there when you’re ready. My PowerToys guide explains what else it can do.
Lesson 8
All About Folders
A place for everything and everything in its place. Using folders to keep related files together just makes sense.
Course Progress – 7 of 37
Part of the At Home Basic Computer Course — free computer guides for beginners.
Lesson 6
Move and Resize Windows
How to use Maximise, Minimise and Restore Down. Move program windows around your screen.
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