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How to Remove Quick Access in File Explorer

You can easily remove Quick Access in File Explorer if you are not using it and think it’s a waste of space. Here is how to do it.

File Explorer is one of the best things about the Windows operating system. It has a lot of options, makes managing files and folders easy, and is pretty fast and capable too. No other application in Windows is used as frequently as File Explorer.

To make navigation easier, File Explorer has the Quick Access navigation pane. The Quick Access navigation pane hosts general folders like Documents, Pictures, etc. You can also pin your custom folders to the Quick Access navigation pane for easy access.

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As helpful as it is, if you are not using it, you can remove Quick Access from File Explorer.

Once you remove quick access, it will free up the sidebar space for other menus like This PC, Network, and Libraries without having to scroll down.

Let me show you how to remove quick access in File Explorer in Windows without ado.

The steps below work the same in Windows 10 and 11.

Steps Remove Quick Access in File Explorer

The File Explorer’s Folder Options tool has no options to get the job done. However, like many things, you can do it with a registry edit. The good thing is that editing the registry is simple and easy for this specific purpose. All we have to do is create a new registry value and modify its value data. Let me show you how.

  1. Press the Start icon on the taskbar.
  2. Search and open the “Registry Editor.”
  3. Go to the following folder.
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
  4. right-click on the “Explorer” folder.
  5. Choose the “New > DWORD (32-bit) value” option.
  6. Use “HubMode” as the new value’s name.
  7. Double-click on the HubMode value.
  8. Type “1” in the Value Data field.
  9. Press the “Ok” button.
  10. Close the Registry Editor.
  11. Reboot Windows.
  12. With that, you removed Quick Access in File Explorer.

Steps with more details:

Launch the Registry Editor from the Start menu. You can also use the run command regedit to open the Registry Editor. Simply open the Run dialog box (Win + R) and use the regedit command in the blank field.

Copy the below path. Next, paste it into the address bar of the Registry Editor, and press the “Enter” key on your keyboard. This action will take you to the Explorer folder, where we need to create the new registry value.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer
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Once you are here, you will see many values on the right panel. Since we need to create a new value, right-click on the “Explorer” folder on the sidebar and select the “New -> DWORD (32-bit) Value” option.

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The value is created with no name. Name the new value as “HubMode.”

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After creating the value, we must modify it to make the necessary changes. Double-click on the newly created value. Type “1” in the Value Data field and press the “Ok” button to save changes.

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Close the registry and open the file explorer. You should no longer see quick access in the navigation pane.

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If you are still seeing the navigation pane, either restart the Windows Explorer process or restart the entire system.

To restart the Windows Explorer process, open the task manager by right-clicking on the taskbar and selecting the Task Manager option. In the task manager, go to the Processes tab, find the Windows Explorer process, right-click, and select Restart.

That is it. After you restart, Quick Access is removed in the File Explorer.

Restore Quick Access in File Explorer

To restore Quick Access in File Explorer, either type “0” in the Value Data field in step 8 or delete the “HubMode” value we just created. Of course, restart the system to make the changes take effect.

That is it. It is that simple to remove quick access in File Explorer in Windows.

I hope this simple Windows how-to guide helped you.

If you are stuck or need some help, comment below, and I will try to help as much as possible.

If you like this article, check out the below Windows guides:

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