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I just got done upgrading Windows 8 to Windows 10 and I've found that the 'Favorites' panel in Windows Explorer got replaced with a 'Quick Access' panel and I can't seem to find a way to rename the pinned items in Quick Access like I could for favorite items under Windows 8.

Some of my pinned items are program-generated folders and I really don't have the option to rename them.

Am I missing something or did the rename feature get left out?

Loman
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    It looks like it was left out. – Julien Jul 30 '15 at 11:17
  • For some reason, my Mail entry got called "Correo" instead of "Mail" and I cannot change it. This is absolutely not a functionality problem, but still makes very mad. – Marcelo Aug 07 '15 at 03:27
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    If you check the Users[username]\Links folder, you may still able to find the renamed shortcuts. Not the best solution, but I added the Link folder to the library so that I can access to it. but still not as good as the old favorites feature. – dsum Sep 25 '15 at 16:17
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    It seems this problem is bothering quite some people... http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/rename-pinned-items-in-windows-explorer-quick/ddf15e5b-d8e4-4d17-aced-86048da6ced4 – Antonio Aug 04 '16 at 15:46
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    Simply annoying. Mac OS' Finder has a similar behaviour - for a long time I was happy that Windows 7 did not do that - I also often deal with different folders with the same name. – jingtao Sep 19 '16 at 10:08
  • It's possible to re-enable the favorites folder but it seems that the dropdown links don't work correctly, so it's not a valid solution to the problem. – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft Aug 15 '18 at 21:04
  • Process Monitor suggests that the raw data is stored in file %appData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations\f01b4d95cf55d32a.automaticDestinations-ms which, according to https://stackoverflow.com/questions/4429944/decrypt-read-modify-automaticdestinations-ms-and-or-customdestinations-ms, is a Structured Storage file. I've tried many tools (HexBrowser, olefile, jmp, FlexHEX, OpenMcdf, Compound File Explorer, etc) in an attempt to edit these files safely but I have to find success. NirSoft's JumpListsView can read the file so I've suggested that they make an editor. – mythofechelon Mar 09 '20 at 15:50

5 Answers5

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Sort of a hack, but I ended up using mklink to create Directory Junctions with the names I wanted, since they took away my beloved Favorites.

So, if I have a directory "c:\dir1", which I want to be named "Directory 1" in the Quick Access list, I would run:

mklink /J "c:\whatever\Directory 1" "c:\dir1"

Then you'll see "Directory 1" in "c:\whatever", which you can add to Quick Access, and it will be named "Directory 1".

NightShovel
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    This works great, thanks! Still bothers me, since I used to have folders in my Dropbox in my favorites list, this way those show up with the link symbol in the lower left instead of the sync status ... pretty annoying. – MoritzLost Oct 09 '15 at 20:45
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    This doesn't seem to work anymore, or at least not for directory links (mklink /D) e.g. for network shares... – Tobias Kienzler Feb 22 '16 at 15:07
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    @TobiasKienzler I wanted links to network shares myself. My workaround was to create the junction at the server in question instead of the computer where I want the quick access link, then pin the junction – MrVimes Apr 09 '16 at 10:18
  • Here you can find a complete example of how to hack it with mlink. – sentenza Nov 09 '16 at 07:20
  • Bear in mind that you may have to create the symlinks in the root of a drive if they point to very long paths. – mythofechelon Mar 03 '17 at 10:46
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    Is there any way to make symbolic junction links behave like shortcuts? Currently, if I create symbolic junction link D:\symlinks\Tools pointing to D:\Users\ben.hooper\Dropbox (Personal)\Public\Tools and browse to it then I actually browse to D:\symlinks\Tools and can't move up to folder D:\Users\ben.hooper\Dropbox (Personal)\Public. – mythofechelon Mar 03 '17 at 10:50
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    @MoritzLost It seems that middle-clicking the shortcuts / links causes the destination folder to open "properly" thereby showing Dropbox's sync symbols. – mythofechelon Mar 24 '17 at 19:29
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    A great work around! The only caveat is that the path of the newly created link is not having the original path instead it has new one (e.g. if you check the path in cmd) – dan Jul 31 '17 at 10:50
  • @dan - takes an extra click, but once you are in the folder, you could make a shortcut to the "real path", click on that. Related, linking to the parent of the folder is often convenient enough - then click on the folder. Especially if several useful folders there. – ToolmakerSteve Jul 17 '21 at 11:27
  • @mythofechelon It seems that middle-clicking the shortcuts / links causes the destination folder to open "properly" thereby showing Dropbox's sync symbols. I'm using Windows 10 and middle clicking on these doesn't do anything. Are your settings set to open files/folders via single click, because mine aren't, and that might explain it. – Daniel Kaplan Sep 12 '23 at 21:58
  • I find this example easier to understand at a glance: mklink /J "c:\Path\To\New\Link" "c:\Path\To\Existing\Directory" Sharing it here because I may not be the only one. – Daniel Kaplan Sep 13 '23 at 22:49
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To me it looks like that Quick Access items are not shortcuts anymore. They behave differently and just show the items directly instead of showing traditional shortcuts. This means when going to edit Properties, you are indeed editing the items themselves.

This is disappointing of course. I had a couple folders with the same name (in different locations) that are tied to programs so I can't rename them directly.

Scott DePouw
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    Ditto - I have six "Plugins" folders for different versions of an application I develop for. Now the favoritebar is pointless... – thomthom Aug 15 '15 at 22:08
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    I believe Scott's is the correct answer to this question (i.e. you can't do it), so I suggest that Loman should accept this answer. By the way, I just tried to pin a shortcut and that doesn't solve the problem either because it pins the folder that the shortcut points to rather than the shortcut itself. – HansA Aug 19 '15 at 00:27
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    @HansA Technically correct, I am afraid :/ Actually, I cannot even pin the shortcut itself... – Tobias Kienzler Feb 22 '16 at 15:07
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    @HansA It seems a better answer emerged. – Antonio Aug 04 '16 at 15:48
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    @thomthom that's Microsoft concept of super intelligent ideas of shiny new features. – v.oddou Dec 18 '17 at 08:31
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Sort of a kludge, but it works:

  1. Add the desired directory to a Library

  2. Rename the library as you wish

  3. Pin the Library to Quick Access

dr_
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    This may be a kludge, but it doesn't require any external software so, I kind of like it. How do I "add the desired directory to a Library" please? – nurdglaw Jul 06 '18 at 13:55
  • I played with this idea, a lot of the available information talks about libraries as a collection of shortcuts but if you create a new library and add folder locations to them they are "shortcuts" to that exact folder, consequently renaming the "shortcut" renames the folder! – boardtc Nov 06 '18 at 14:43
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    Consider splitting into two answers, since it describes two very different methods, and that makes the answer hard to read and interact with. – Mathieu K. Apr 12 '19 at 16:50
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    I'm upvoting for the update. IMHO it is superior to your first solution; consider removing your original answer or moving it to the bottom since it obscures the more useful information? – Daniel Kaplan Sep 12 '23 at 21:21
  • @ MathieuK and Daniel_Kaplan: Done. – dr_ Oct 04 '23 at 06:55
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Third party application is Clover, you may want to try that and use the bookmark functionality. Bookmarks can be renamed into the name of your liking.

mathijsuitmegen
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I used the solution described in my previous answer for a while, then I found it cumbersome to maintain and now I have done this:

  1. Created a "Favorites" folder anywhere in my hard disk and pinned it to Quick Access (you can even change its icon to make it look like a star)

  2. Put inside it all the shortcut I want to access rapidly

It kinda restores the Favorites feature but with the hassle of an additional step.

dr_
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