Solved How to show Recent Items in Save As and Open dialog boxes


jandlightning

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OS
Windows 11
I'm running Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Version: 21H2 (OS Build 22000.527). I have added the Recent Items folder to Quick Access in File Explorer, and I would like to do the same thing in Save As and Open dialog boxes. I know this is possible because I did it in Windows 10 (but don't remember how). I'm hoping someone can tell me how to do it in Windows 11.

Thanks!
 
Windows Build/Version
Windows 11 Pro 64-bit Version: 21H2 (OS Build 22000.527)

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    8709 31.32
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Intel® Smart Sound Technology for Digital Microphones, Intel® Smart Sound Technology for MIPI SoundWire® Audio
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    1TB
WinaeroTweaker>Custom Navigation Pane Items.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS ROG Strix
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS VivoBook
Thanks for your suggestion, Edwin, but I'd like to find out how to do it manually instead of with an app.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    8709 31.32
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Intel® Smart Sound Technology for Digital Microphones, Intel® Smart Sound Technology for MIPI SoundWire® Audio
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    1TB
Figured it out with the help of Adding 'Recent Items' to File Explorer & Open/Save Dialogs in Windows 10 - αlphαrithms. I'll condense that page here.
  1. Open a Command Prompt as an administrator.
  2. Enter the following command:

    mklink /j "%USERPROFILE%\Recent Items" %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

    It will come back with something like

    Junction created for C:\Users\{username}\Recent Items <<===>> C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent

    This will put a symbolic link in your C:\Users\{username} folder.
  3. Go to that folder and pin the link to your Quick Access menu.
That's it! You should now have a Recent Items link in Quick Access in File Explorer as well as Open and Save As dialogs. If you want to shift that, or any other, pinned link around in the Quick Access menu -- say, to the top of it -- just click on the icon in the Quick Access menu and slowly drag it to the new position. As you drag it, the "tooltip" will alternate between "Copy to {folder}" and "Pin to Quick Access". Drop it when it says the latter.

By the way, if you've already pinned Recent Items to Quick Access in File Explorer, as I had done, you will now have two of them there (or at least I did). Just delete the old one.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    HP
    CPU
    11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
    Motherboard
    8709 31.32
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Intel® Smart Sound Technology for Digital Microphones, Intel® Smart Sound Technology for MIPI SoundWire® Audio
    Screen Resolution
    3840 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    1TB

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My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft 15" Surface Laptop 4
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Hard Drives
    512GB WD SSD
    Internet Speed
    384 Mbps per attached network device
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8950
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900K, 3200 Mhz, 16 Core(s), 24 Logical Processor(s)
    Memory
    32 GB DDR5
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" Samsung
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3 (BT)
    Keyboard
    Arteck (BT)
    Internet Speed
    800
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
There's very few applications that still use the comdlg32 box!
The only place I still see it is in the Registry!
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS ROG Strix
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS VivoBook
There's very few applications that still use the comdlg32 box!
The only place I still see it is in the Registry!
I had to add it to the registry :wink: My graphics program uses it.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Microsoft 15" Surface Laptop 4
    CPU
    AMD Ryzen 7
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    AMD Radeon
    Hard Drives
    512GB WD SSD
    Internet Speed
    384 Mbps per attached network device
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
  • Operating System
    Windows 11
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 8950
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900K, 3200 Mhz, 16 Core(s), 24 Logical Processor(s)
    Memory
    32 GB DDR5
    Graphics card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
    Monitor(s) Displays
    32" Samsung
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3 (BT)
    Keyboard
    Arteck (BT)
    Internet Speed
    800
    Browser
    MS Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender

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