▷ All windows 10 folder options and tricks

If something characterizes an operating system like Windows, it's its file explorer. So in this article we will see all the Windows 10 folder options that we have at our disposal. Thanks to them you will learn some useful tricks to further customize the Windows 10 file explorer.

Index of contents

What is Windows 10 file explorer

The file explorer is not just what you see, the folders and files that are displayed in it. It is also the means by which we can interact with the operating system without using commands.

If we did not have a file explorer, we would not have a graphical interface on our system. We couldn't visually explore our files and we wouldn't even have a desktop to interact with.

Giving operating systems GUI interface or the ability to show us graphic elements has totally facilitated interaction with computers. Thanks to this, today practically everyone is able to manage an operating system without apparent problems and be able to carry out daily tasks such as buying or accessing news thanks to the file explorer.

How Windows 10 file explorer runs

File Explorer is a process that runs on our system like any other. To identify the file explorer process we will have to do the following:

• We must right click on the taskbar and choose the option " task manager "

• We can also do this if we press the key combination " Ctrl + Alt + Esc " In any case, a window will appear showing the general state of the equipment, such as running processes or a performance monitor. If we see little information we will press on the button " More details " located in the lower left corner of the window

To locate the process in question, we must go to the " Processes " tab and locate the line " Windows Explorer ". This will be the process that deals with displaying the graphical interface of our system.

Close, open or restart Windows 10 file explorer

To close the process, all we have to do is stand on it, and right-click. We will have to choose " finish task"

Also to restart the file explorer we will have to do the exact same procedure and choose the option " Restart"

To start the file explorer once we have closed it, we will have to go to the taskbar and click on " File " and choose " New task ". Now in the text input box that opens we will write "explorer.exe" and press Enter or " OK ". In this way the task will run again and we will have a graphical interface again.

Windows 10 folder options

Once we know the basic operation of the file explorer we will enter fully into the Windows 10 folder options.

Thanks to these options we can customize the interaction of the Windows 10 file explorer and configure different options for our folders, hidden files or how we click. Let's see them all

Access Windows 10 folder options

To open all the options that are available to us, the first thing we must do is open the file explorer. We can do this by opening any folder we want.

Now we must go to the toolbar and click on " File " and then on " Change folder and search options"

In this simple way we will access the Windows 10 folder options. We have three different sections: " General ", " View " and " Search ". We will see the usefulness of each of them in the following sections

Delete quick access when opening folder

Surely the first thing we will see when we open the file explorer from the taskbar is a directory in which the latest files that we have accessed appear and also the folders. If we are tired of them appearing, from the folder options we can change this:

Located in the " General " tab, we must look precisely at the first of the options that we have " Open the file explorer in: ". We must display the list to be able to choose:

• Quick access: this is the default way, so when we open the browser we will get the recently opened items This team: if we choose this option, when we open the browser, we will be shown directly the main system directory.

Privacy

In addition, we can modify the quick access view to show what we want. To do this, located in the " General " tab, we will go to the last " Privacy " section.

• Show recently used files in Quick Access: If we deactivate this option, the last files that we have accessed in Quick Access will not be shown. Show frequently used folders in Quick Access: likewise, deactivating this option will not show the last folders we have accessed Delete: with this button we will erase the quick access history of the file exporter

Deactivating the previous options, what we will get when opening the explorer will be the frequent folders, but never the ones that we have accessed.

Open folder or file in one click

We can also open the files and folder with a single click of our mouse. So we can change the historical double click that so many calories make us lose. To do this we must go to the General tab of the Windows 10 folder options and go to the second section " Actions when clicking on an item ".

If we activate the first option, we only have to click to access a file. We will also have two sub-options:

• Underline icon titles to match browser: use to underline certain files based on our navigation preferences. Underline icon titles only when you point to them - this will basically be the same as above, but will act on all icons and folders

Open folders in different windows

The last option that we have in General is the possibility of opening each folder that we open in the same window (by default) or in a different one. For this we will go to the first section and we will have to activate or deactivate one of the two options that we have there.

Now let's move on to see the most important options we have in the " View " section of folder options

Put folder views all the same

The first section that we find in View is that of being able to apply the current view of the folder where we are to all the folders in the system. In this way we can make the entire system have the same representation of icons and folders.

• To do this, we must press the " Apply to folders " button and they will all be the same as the current one. If we want to restore the state because we do not like everything the same, we will click on " restore folders "

View or show hidden files in Windows 10

One of the most interesting options we have in this section of View, is to show the hidden files of Windows 10. This option is found in the section " Advanced Settings"

We must go to the line " Hidden files and folders " and within it, activate the option " Show hidden files, folders and drives ". In this way we will see almost all the hidden files of the system.

Show file extension and other advanced options

Another of the most notable options in this section is the possibility of showing the extensions of all the system files so that we can change them if we need to.

To do this we must locate and deactivate the option " Hide file extensions for known file types ".

The other options are somewhat less important and relevant. If you want you can take a look to see what other possibilities you have.

File Explorer Search Options

Now we will see some options of the " Search " tab of the folder options.

The first option we have is to speed up the search for files throughout the system. If we uncheck the box " do not use the index when searching for system files in file folders ", Windows will create a search index to quickly access the files we want to search for. The price to pay for this is that it will take up more disk space.

In the next section we can choose what type of locations we want to add so that the file explorer performs a search.

• Include system directories: Windows will search for files in all directories Include compressed files: Windows will also search for files within compressed files Search within file names and contents: activating this option we will also search within each file, so the search it will be more exhaustive, but also slower.

Remember that when you finish making the appropriate modifications, click " Apply " to apply the changes.

Well, these are all the Windows 10 folder options that we have to customize our file explorer.

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We hope you found this article interesting. Leave us in the comments any questions or problems you have about this topic.