Any way to re-arrange shortcuts in File Explorer's Quick Access toolbar?

mwidunn · Jul 10, 2026

Does anyone know of any way -- maybe, a freeware tool or something -- that would allow the shortcuts in File Explorer's Quick Access toolbar to be re-arranged?

F.Y.I. I'm using Win11 whose File Explorer has been tweaked back to the Win10 version.

Thanks!

Edwin · Jul 11, 2026

mwidunn said:
Does anyone know of any way that would allow the shortcuts in File Explorer's Quick Access toolbar to be re-arranged?

Remove all of them..., then add them, one at a time, in the order you wish them to appear.

mwidunn · Jul 11, 2026

So, your answer would be . . . : no?

Edwin · Jul 11, 2026

mwidunn said:
So, your answer would be . . . : no?

My answer is:
you can (re)arrange them by removing all...

... then adding the desired ones, one at a time..., doing so in the order you wish them to appear on the bar...

mwidunn · Jul 11, 2026

Edwin said:
My answer is: you can (re)arrange them by removing all, then adding the desired ones, one at a time, doing so in the order you wish them to appear on the bar.

Thank you, I appreciate it.
But, I already knew that I could do this. I don't want to, though. I was wondering if there were any way, like we can re-arrange pinned items in Taskbar.
So, . . . Is your answer to my question: "no"?

OAT · Jul 11, 2026

mwidunn said:
Thank you, I appreciate it.
But, I already knew that I could do this. I don't want to, though. I was wondering if there were any way, like we can re-arrange pinned items in Taskbar.
So, . . . Is your answer to my question: "no"?

Edwin · Jul 11, 2026

mwidunn said:
I was wondering if there were any way, like we can re-arrange pinned items in Taskbar.

No.

mwidunn said:
So, . . . Is your answer to my question: "no"?

I guess so.

dalchina · Jul 11, 2026

- so you've got the same answer to this post on tenforums and elevenforum..

Any way to rearrange shortcuts in File Explorer's Quick Access toolbar - Windows 10 Help Forums

Does anyone know of any way -- maybe, a freeware tool -- that would allow the shortcuts in File Explorer's Quick Access toolbar to be re-arranged? F.Y.I. I'm using Win11 whose File Explorer has been tweaked back to the Win10 version. Thanks!

www.tenforums.com

- although my answer there was never acknowledged.

Personally I can't think I've ever really used QuickAccess.. and if you want a way to reorganise shortcuts, there are plenty of other options.

hdmi · Jul 13, 2026

This will save the registry value to an XML file so you can edit with Notepad:

Powershell:

$filepath = "$env:UserProfile\Desktop\QAT.xml"

$bytes = (Get-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Ribbon' -Name 'QatItems').QatItems
$xml = [xml][System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetString($bytes)
$StringWriter = New-Object System.IO.StringWriter
$XmlWriter = New-Object System.XMl.XmlTextWriter $StringWriter
$XmlWriter.Formatting = 'indented'
$XmlWriter.Indentation = 2
$xml.WriteContentTo($XmlWriter)
$XmlWriter.Flush()
$StringWriter.Flush()
$StringWriter.ToString() | Out-File $filepath

To read from the (edited) file back into the registry:

Powershell:

$bytes = [System.Text.Encoding]::Unicode.GetBytes(([xml](Get-Content $filepath)).OuterXml)
Set-ItemProperty -Path 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Ribbon' -Name 'QAtItems' -Value $bytes -Type Binary

It seems that elements with visible="false" appear above the ones with visible="true" (if any). The ones with visible="false" are those that are unchecked in the menu list (in the menu that opens when you click on the little upside down "eject" button on the right of the toolbar). These ones appear in ascending numerical order it seems. There's only six controls that appear in the menu list, but they aren't the only ones that you can add to the toolbar.

So, by using Notepad and my Windows PowerShell script code snippets above, you should be able to adjust the order of XML elements with visible="true".

P.S., opening a new File Explorer window reflects the registry change (no need to kill the explorer.exe).

Any way to re-arrange shortcuts in File Explorer's Quick Access toolbar?

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