Windows 10: Backup and Restore Quick Access Toolbar in Windows 10 File Explorer

How to: Backup and Restore Quick Access Toolbar in Windows 10 File Explorer

How to Backup and Restore Quick Access Toolbar in Windows 10 File Explorer


Information The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) is a small, customizable toolbar that exposes a set of Commands that are specified by the application or selected by the user.

After you have show above or below the Ribbon, you may wish to back up your QAT settings. You will then be able to restore or apply the backup to any account on any Windows 10 PC.

This tutorial will show you how to backup and restore File Explorer Quick Access Toolbar settings in Windows 10.



Note The Quick Access Toolbar settings are saved to the QatItems binary value in the registry key below. The downloadable .bat file below exports the Ribbon key below to back up QAT to a Quick_Access_Toolbar_Backup.reg on your desktop.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Ribbon


CONTENTS:

• Option One: To Back Up File Explorer Quick Access Toolbar Settings
• Option Two: To Restore File Explorer Quick Access Toolbar Settings

EXAMPLE: Quick Access Toolbar in File Explorer







OPTION ONE [/i] To Back Up File Explorer Quick Access Toolbar Settings
1. Click/tap on the Download button below to download the .bat file below.
*Arrow Backup_File_Explorer_QAT_settings.bat

Download
2. Save the .bat file to your desktop.

3. Unblock the .bat file.

4. Run the .bat file to apply.

5. You will now have a Quick_Access_Toolbar_Backup.reg file created on your desktop as the backup of your Quick Access Toolbar settings. Save it to where you like to keep it stored at.





OPTION TWO [/i] To Restore File Explorer Quick Access Toolbar Settings
1. Double click/tap on the Quick_Access_Toolbar_Backup.reg file from Option One to merge it and apply the backed up QAT settings to the current user account.

2. If prompted, click on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

3. If File Explorer is currently open, then you can either navigate to another folder or close and reopen File Explorer to apply.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Add or Remove Quick Access Toolbar Items in Windows 10 File Explorer
• How to Show Quick Access Toolbar Above or Below Ribbon in Windows 10 File Explorer
• How to Reset Quick Access Toolbar to Default in Windows 10 File Explorer

:)

 

Backup/restore Explorer navigation pane Quick Access?


Hi try this from the excellent Tutorials section -- do have a look.
File Explorer Quick Access Toolbar - Backup and Restore in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Further:
You can use Win 10 as a desktop PC much like Win 7. The control panel remains, but is slowly migrating to Settings, and there are features like the Action Centre which are obviously different.

You can avoid:
- the start menu - use Classic Shell (free) and you'll be much happier. (Still lets you use the Win 10 start menu)
- universal apps (they are not exe's- different
- Cortana

It's really not worth trying to uninstall stuff you don't use.

Appearance: this is what I've done. There is far less flexibility with Win 10, but see the Customisation section to see some things others have done.






Note the Win 7 Orb.

 

Windows 10 Tweaks

Pressing “Windows+Pause Break” (it’s up there next to scroll lock) opens the “System” Window.

Windows 10: In the new version of Windows, Explorer has a section called Quick Access. This includes your frequent folders and recent files. Explorer defaults to opening this page when you open a new window. If you’d rather open the usual This PC, with links to your drives and library folders, follow these steps:

• Open a new Explorer window.
• Click View in the ribbon.
• Click Options.
• Under General, next to “Open File Explorer to:” choose “This PC.”
• Click OK

credit to Lifehacker.

 

Quick Access Crashes Explorer

Hi Bill,

Quick Access is a new feature in Windows 10 File Explorer navigation pane which helps users quickly navigate to locations which are frequently used. However, if you're having issues with Quick Access, you can try to disable and enable it. To disable Quick
Access, follow these steps:

• Type File Explorer Option in the search box.
• Click on File Explorer Options.
• Under General tab, choose This PC in the Open File Explorer to: drop down menu.
  
• Uncheck Show recently used files in Quick access and
  Show frequently use folders in Quick access.
• Click Apply an OK.
• Restart the computer and re-enable Quick access.

Let us know how it goes after performing the suggested troubleshooting steps.

 

Remove Quick Access Toolbar

Hello rsny,

If you like, you could remove all items from the Quick Access toolbar to effectively remove it other than its menu arrow.

How to Add or Remove Quick Access Toolbar Items in Windows 10 File Explorer

 

Backup/restore Explorer navigation pane Quick Access?

Thanks, unfortunately that's not what I was looking for, it's a tutorial for backing up the toolbar buttons, not the Quick Access (a.k.a. "Favorites") folders in the navigation pane.

Luckily I just found a way to do it, basically you need to copy all files in:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Then, on the new system, delete any files in the same folder and paste the backed up files overwriting any left-over files.

Again, you'll encounter one of those "mystery" path problem, so typical of Microsoft, where the path displayed in the addresss bar and the actual path are not the same:

Displayed: C:\Users\Manuel\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent Items\AutomaticDestinations
Actual: C:\Users\Manuel\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations

Furthermore, if you go to:

C:\Users\Manuel\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\

The "AutomaticDestinations" folder is nowhere to be found, even if you configure Explorer to not hide protected system files. It's one of those special and very typical Microsoft mystery folders that exist but don't exist. There is clearly no logic behind this system where not all folders are the same... I do hope Microsoft go bust ASAP and major software developers start writing code for Linux, then we won't have to deal with Microsoft's nonsense.