Windows 10: Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box in Windows

How to: Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box in Windows

How to Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box in Windows


The common open file dialog box is the window that opens when you click/tap on File (menu bar) in a program (ex: Registry Editor), and click/tap on Open, Save as, Import, or Export.

The older Windows XP style common open file dialog box has a places bar (aka: shortcut bar) in the left pane to select a location you want.

If you like, you can specify from 1 to 5 items to be displayed in the Places Bar instead of the default items.

The valid items you may specify to display in the Places Bar are:

• Shortcuts to a local folders -- (ex. C:\Windows)
• Shortcuts to remote folders -- (\\server\share)
• FTP folders
• Web folders
• Shell command for common Shell folders.

This tutorial will show you how to change the items displayed in the places bar in the common open file dialog box for all or specific users in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

*note You must be signed in as an administrator to change the items displayed in the places bar in the common open file dialog box.


CONTENTS:

• Option One: Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box for All or Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor
• Option Two: Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box for Current User in Registry Editor

EXAMPLE: Default and custom items displayed in Places bar in common open file dialog box











OPTION ONE [/i] Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box for All or Specific Users in Local Group Policy Editor
*note The Local Group Policy Editor is only available in the Windows 10 Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions.

All editions can use Option Two below.
1. Open the all users except administrators Local Group Policy Editor for how you want this policy applied.

2. In the left pane of the Local Group Policy Editor, click/tap on to expand User Configuration, Administrative Templates, Windows Components, File Explorer, and Common Open File Dialog. (see screenshot below)



3. In the right pane of Common Open File Dialog, double click/tap on the Items displayed in Places Bar policy to edit it. (see screenshot above)

4. Do step 5 (default) or step 6 (specify) below for what you would like to do.


5. To Use Default Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box
A) Select (dot) either Not Configured or Disabled, click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)

*note Not Configured is the default setting.

6. To Specify Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box
A) Select (dot) Enabled. (see screenshot below)

B) In Places to display under Options, specify from 1 to 5 items you want to be displayed in the Places Bar.

*note Item numbers correspond in order from top to bottom in the Places Bar.

C) Click/tap on OK, and go to step 7 below. (see screenshot below)




7. You can now close the Local Group Policy Editor if you like.





OPTION TWO [/i] Change Places Bar Items in Common Dialog Box for Current User in Registry Editor
1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type regedit into Run, and click/tap on OK to open Registry Editor.

2. If prompted by UAC, click/tap on Yes.

3. Navigate to the key below in the left pane of Registry Editor. (see screenshot below)
*Arrow HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32\Placesbar

*note If you do not have a comdlg32 key, right click on the Policies key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Key, type comdlg32 for the name, and press Enter.

*note If you do not have a Placesbar key, right click on the comdlg32 key, click/tap on New, click/tap on Key, type Placesbar for the name, and press Enter.




4. In the right pane of the Placesbar key, double click/tap on the Place0, Place1, Place2, Place3, or Place4 string value for the item you want to change in the Places Bar. (see screenshot above)

*note Item numbers correspond in order from top to bottom in the Places Bar.

*note If you do not have a Place0, Place1, Place2, Place3, or Place4 string value, right click on an empty area in the right pane of the Placesbar key, click/tap on New, click/tap on String Value, type Place0, Place1, Place2, Place3, or Place4 for the name of the item you want to change, and press Enter.

*note If you wanted to use a default item in the Places Bar, then delete the Place0, Place1, Place2, Place3, or Place4 string value for the item you want to be default, and click/tap on Yes to confirm when prompted.

5. Specify the item you want for this item, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)



6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 for any other items in the Places Bar you want specify or restore to default.

7. When finished, you can close Registry Editor if you like.

That's it,
Shawn


Related Tutorials

• How to Enable or Disable Places Bar in Common Dialog Box in Windows
• How to Enable or Disable Dropdown List of Recent Files in Common Dialog Box in Windows
• How to Reset Open and Save As Common Item Dialog Boxes to Default in Windows
• How to Add or Remove Back Button in Common Dialog Box in Windows

:)

 

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Just a further note about my comment, "I think you are using a later version of Word but I cannot see that being significant as I would expect it to be calling a Windows search component rather than an Office one".

A new set of tutorials confirms that this window is indeed a common Windows one not a Word one -
Enable or Disable Places Bar in Common Dialog Box - TenForumsTutorials
Enable or Disable Dropdown List of Recent Files in Common Dialog Box - TenForumsTutorials
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Denis

 

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Hello,

If the Open and Save As dialog boxes are not appearing, there might be a process or service that is conflicting with that function of Windows. We recommend that you perform a clean boot of Windows. This would aid eliminate software conflicts that occur when
using Windows.

Note: Your computer may temporarily lose some functionality when performing a clean boot. If you start the computer normally, the functionality returns. However, you may receive the original issue.

Here's how to perform a clean boot environment in Windows 10:

• Press the Start button, then type msconfig, and select
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• On the Startup tab of the System Configuration
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• Close Task Manager.
• On the Startup tab of the System Configuration
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After performing a clean boot environment of Windows, see if the Open
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• Log on to the computer by using an account that has administrator rights.
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• Click OK, and then click Restart.
• After the computer finishes restarting, determine whether the problem still occurs.
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  • If the problem does not occur, repeat steps 1 through
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  • If you still experience the problem when only one service is selected in the
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• Repeat steps 1 and 2 in this section.
• Click the Startup tab, then click to select the upper half of the check boxes in the
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• Click OK, and then click Restart.
  • If the problem still occurs, repeat steps 7 and 8, but clear the lower half of the checked boxes in the
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  • If the problem does not occur, repeat steps 7 and 8, and select only the upper half of the remaining check boxes that are cleared in the
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  • If you still experience the problem after only one Startup Item
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• After you determine the startup item or the service that causes the problem, contact the program manufacturer to determine whether the problem can be resolved. Or, run the
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If you need further assistance, feel free to ask us.

If you think this was useful, feel free to mark it as an answer to help those who are facing the same problem.

 

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To set the size, follow these steps:

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Hi, assuming you find a way to do that, note that 'Save as' dialogues are not standardised or uniform. Thus the places that appear there can be particular to a particular program.

I.e. there may not be one solution to this.

However, see
How to Customize Default Places Bar in Windows Common File Dialog Box? - AskVG