How to Hide Recent Files and Folders in Windows 11
To hide recently used files “Recent Items” and frequently used folders “Quick Access” displayed on the home screen of Windows 11 Explorer, deselect “… Show” in Folder Options . This page introduces how to hide and delete recently used files and frequently used folders.
Please refer to the following page for how to hide the recently used items in the start menu.
Hide recent files/folders
Explorer home screen
Recent Items and Quick Access , which shows recently used files and folders on the Explorer home screen , can be hidden in the Folder Options settings.
” menu button in Explorer and then click “Options” to open Folder Options.
Hide recent files in Recent Items
Click “Apply” or “OK” to complete the setting.
Hide quick access favorite folders
Under Folder Options General, click Show frequently used folders to remove the check mark.
Click “Apply” or “OK” to complete the setting.
Customizing Explorer Favorites and Quick Access
Favorites can be added by “pinning” files to Favorites. Only files can be added, but executable files such as apps can also be added to Favorites, so if you add the shortcut icon of the app to Favorites, you can also launch the app from Explorer’s Favorites. By “hiding frequently used folders” and “pinning to quick access” your favorite folders in quick access, you can customize quick access for easy use.
Remove display of recent files/folders
Remove all display of recent files and favorite folders
When Folder Options appears, click Clear File Explorer History.
If you click “Apply” or “OK”, you can remove all but the default display of recently used files ( recently used items ) and frequently used folders ( quick access ) on the Explorer home screen. . How to delete the folders displayed by default in Quick Access and hide them is introduced in the next section, “Delete Individually”.
Remove individual views of recent files and favorite folders
To remove the display, click the right-click menu, click “Remove from Recent” to remove recent files, and click “Unpin” to remove frequently used folders.
“Quick Access” Remove display of frequently used folders individually
1. Right-click the folder you want to remove from the Quick Access view.
2. Click “Unpin from Quick Access” to remove the display of frequently used folders individually.
With this method, you can delete them individually, such as the desktop and video folders, which are displayed by default in Quick Access and cannot be deleted by executing “Delete All” above, so you can also delete all displays in Quick Access. .
“Recent Items” Remove display of recently used files individually
1. Right-click the file you want to delete under Remove from Recent Items.
2. You can remove individual recent files by clicking “Remove from recent”.
Explorer Tips:
Problems of Explorer, such as slow Explorer and hardening when opening a tab, are introduced on the following page.
What to do when Windows 11 Explorer is slow/freezing Explorer has a preview window function that allows you to view and check the contents without opening the file. Please refer to the following page for setting and usage.