Quick Access Files/Folders Missing

Case 1. "Hi, I found that my Quick Access files and folders from both the Frequent Folders and Recent files disappeared. I don't remember what I did while tweaking. Can you tell me how to fix Windows 10 Quick Access files and folders missing problem? I can't even search for some of the pinned files on the original location. What a bad day!"

Case 2. "I am experiencing a strange issue with pinned folders in Quick Access since upgrading to Windows 10. The folders that the user has pinned to quick access disappear, but it is not an issue for everyone." (from TechNet)

  • If you lose recent files or frequent folders, follow Fix 1 to get back data.
  • If your Quick Access Pins are missing, follow Fix 2 to troubleshoot this problem.
  • If you haven't figured out where the problem started, refer to the given solutions one by one.

Workable Solutions Step-by-step Troubleshooting
Fix 1. Recover Quick Access Files

Step 1. Run the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard.

Step 2. The scanning process starts if you click "Scan".

Step 3. Click the "Deleted files" on the left ...Full steps

Fix 2. Advanced Troubleshooting

Option 1. Reset Quick Access folders. 

Option 2. Make Recent Folders displaying...Full steps

How Does Windows 10 Quick Access Displaying Files and Folders

After upgrading to Windows 10, users can enjoy a new feature called Quick Access in File Explorer. The Quick Access displays computer files in two groups, including Frequent folders and Recent files. Both of the groups are fixed, and this is what you usually see when navigating here. 

windows 10 quick access files and folders

Some users stopped seeing their recently opened files in this area. It brings them much inconvenience. They're eager to know why files and folders stopped showing up or were even lost.

To solve this troublesome issue, we provide useful solutions below:

Fix 1. Retrieve Windows 10 Quick Access Recent Files/Folders

If Quick Access doesn't showcase permanently deleted files or folders, this solution is recommended. The truth is that you can't delete any file from its area directly. But removed files will not be displayed anymore. This is why some of you don't see them and think it's a bug. So, do you recall some special moments that would remove all recently removed files? For example, virus infection, disk formatting, partition loss, etc.

In this event, you can only try to do a system restore to retrieve missing files or folders to Quick Access. It's not suggested to do so because you'll lose more saved data and installed programs. 

Try to recover deleted files and pin them to Quick Access again. All you need is reliable EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard. This easy-to-use software can get back recent files in only three steps. It can undelete files, photos, pictures, images, audio, and videos from a USB flash drive, HDD, and external hard drive. 

 Download for Win Recovery Rate 99.7%
 Download for Mac Trustpilot Rating 4.8

Follow the details below to retrieve permanently deleted files and folders from Quick Access:

Step 1. Select a location and start scanning

Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, hover on the partition/drive where the deleted files were stored. Click "Search for Lost Data" to find lost files.

select a location where you deleted files

Step 2. Select the files you want to recover

When the scanning has finished, select the deleted files you want to recover. You can click on the filter to display only the file types you want. If you remember the file name, you can also search in the search box, which is the fastest way to find the target file.

Choose recoverable files

Step 3. Preview and recover deleted files

Preview the recoverable files. Then, select files you want to restore and click "Recover" to store the files at a new storage locations instead of the disk where the data was previously lost. You can choose a cloud storage, such as OneDrive, Google Drive, etc., and click "Save" to save your recovered files.

Recover deleted files

To pin folders to Quick Access:

Right-click on wanted files and select "Pin to Quick access".

Fix 2. Advanced Troubleshooting - Quick Access Pins Are Missing

Sometimes the problem arises when some misoperation disables grouping for Quick Access. And to get the disappeared recent items back, you have two options to go. 

Option 1: Reset Quick Access Folders

  • Right-click on the Quick Access icon.
  • Click "Options" and click the "View" tab.
  • Click "Reset Folders" and click "OK".

reset folders in Windows 10 quick access so as to fix quick access files folders missing problem

Option 2. Make Recent Folders Displaying in Windows 10 Quick Access 

Open the File Explorer and type the following code in the Address Bar and Press "Enter".

Click to copy

This opens the Recent folder's shell folder. Click "Pin to Quick access" in the ribbon, to pin it in the Quick access area. The pinned item can be moved by dragging it to the top of the Quick access hierarchy if you want.

pin recent files to quick access

Conclusion

The files in Windows 10 Quick Access missing problem often come up without giving a sign at first. You even don't have a chance to be well prepared for it. But you can recover files by yourself when the files missing from the Quick Access list. EaseUS data recovery software can always Recover lost or deleted files, photos, audio, music, and emails from any storage device effectively.

 Download for Win Recovery Rate 99.7%
 Download for Mac Trustpilot Rating 4.8

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Updated by Cedric

Cedric Grantham is a senior editor and data recovery specialist of EaseUS. He mainly writes articles and how-to tips about data recovery on PC and Mac. He has handled 10,000+ data recovery cases and is good at data recovery of NTFS, FAT (FAT32 and ExFAT) file systems, and RAID structure reorganization.

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Approved by Evan Galasso

Evan Galasso is a digital forensics and data recovery engineer with over 10 years of experience in the field. He presents opinions on the current state of storage media, reverse engineering of storage systems and firmware, and electro-mechanical systems of SSDs and HDDs.

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