Windows 10: Removing long-ago deleted items from Quick Access folder

My quick access bar shows two folders that I deleted ages ago, but when I try to unpin them from the bar, they won't go away.


Kind of annoying.


Help, please.

:)

 

Quick Access - "Location is not available"

I solved the problem without following steps 1, 2, and 3. The solution is stupidly simple and it doesn't make any difference as to whether the problem item in the Quick Access list is pinned or unpinned.

1. Create the folder in the same path where Quick Access reported it to be unlocatable. The folder will be empty.

2. Delete the folder you just created. The Quick Access item that WAS listed in Quick Access disappears!!

Note that #2 does not remove or delete the item from Quick Access. It deletes the empty folder you just created *from the machine* (i.e., it goes to the Recycle bin) and as a consequence of the deletion, it disappears from the Quick Access list.

 

Quick Access bar

Hi,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Community.

We would be glad to help you with the issue you are facing today. I understand the difficulty.

Remove items from Quick access.

I would suggest you to follow the below steps.

• Right click on the file or folder.
• Select the option “unpin from the quick access”

To pin items to an item already on the quick access bar.

Follow the below steps.

I would suggest you to create folder in the desktop screen & place all the files or folder which need to pin to the quick access.

• Open the quick access.
• Select the Desktop option.
• Right click on the folder & select the option “pin to quick access”

Hope this helps in resolving the issue. If the issue persists, do get back to us. We will be happy to assist you.



Thank you.

 

Quick Access not searching Pictures folder


Summary, that last suggestion didn't work.

• I moved the pictures to another folder temporarily.

• Then I tried to remove the Pictures folder with option one at Add or Remove Folders from This PC in Windows 10 | Windows 10 Tutorials. Even after rebooting, the Pictures folder remained.
• So I tried using option two. Same thing: reboot >> Pictures folder still there.

• Since there were no troubleshooting steps for this scenario, just for the heck of it, I ran through the restore steps. Copied some pictures into the Pictures folder, ran a Quick Access search and initial problem remains: Searching all of QA doesn't find any files in Pictures folder, running search on just the Pictures folder does. I want to run a global search and find matching files in any/all of the Documents, Music, Videos, and Pictures folders.

That article dates from 2015 and I'm guessing is out of date. I hope it didn't create potential future problems in my registry.

Bottom line: I'm still looking for a fix.