Turn On or Off Show all folders in Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 11/10

If you want to customize File Explorer to your preference on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC, you can make Explorer Navigation Pane expand to open folder, show or hide Quick access and Favorites from the navigation pane, show the Preview Pane for Explorer, show Details pane in Explorer, and as well disable File Grouping in Explorer. In this post, we will show you how to turn On or Off Show all folders in File Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 11/10.

Turn On or Off Show all folders in Explorer Navigation Pane

On Windows 11/10, PC users can select to show all the folders on your system in the navigation pane, including your user folder, Control Panel, Libraries, and Recycle Bin. We can turn On or Off Show all folders in File Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 11/10 in 3 quick and easy ways. We’ll explore this topic under the methods outlined below in this section as follows:

1] Turn On or Off ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane via File Explorer

To turn On or Off ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane via File Explorer in Windows 11/10, do the following:

• Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
• Right-click or press and hold on an empty area inside the navigation pane on the left.
• Click/tap on Show all folders to check (turn On) or uncheck (turn Off – default) the option per your requirement.
• Exit File Explorer when done.

2] Turn On or Off ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane via Folder Options

To turn On or Off ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane via Folder Options in Windows 11/10, do the following:

• Open Folder or File Explorer Options.
• Click/tap on the View tab.
• Scroll down to the Navigation pane section.
• Now, check (on) or uncheck (off – default) Show all folders per your requirement.
• Click/tap Apply > OK.

3] Turn On or Off ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane using .BAT file

Since this is a registry operation as you will edit the registry using the reg.exe command, it is recommended that you back up the registry or create a system restore point as necessary precautionary measures.

To turn On ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane using .BAT file in Windows 11/10, do the following:

• Press Windows key + R to invoke the Run dialog.
• In the Run dialog box, type notepad and hit Enter to open Notepad.
• Copy and paste the code below into the text editor.

@echo off

REG Add HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /V NavPaneShowAllFolders /T REG_DWORD /D 00000001 /F

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

• Save the file with a name and append the .bat file extension (eg; TurnON-SAF.bat) to create a batch file.
• On the Save as type box select All Files.
• Now, run the batch file with admin privilege (right-click the saved file and select Run as Administrator from the context menu) or simply double-click the .bat file to run it.
• Once the batch file runs, you can delete it.

To turn Off ‘Show all folders’ in Navigation Pane using .BAT file in Windows 11/10, do the following:

• Open Notepad.
• Copy and paste the code below into the text editor.

@echo off

REG Add HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced /V NavPaneShowAllFolders /T REG_DWORD /D 00000000 /F

taskkill /f /im explorer.exe
start explorer.exe

• Repeat all the same steps as above, but this time, you can save the batch file with .bat extension (eg; TurnOFF-SAF.bat).
• Once the batch file runs, you can delete it.

That’s it on how to turn On or Off Show all folders in File Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 11/10!

TIP: You can also synchronize the navigation pane & Folder structure of File Explorer with the main pane to make navigation easier on your system. If you want, you can also remove the OneDrive icon from Explorer, remove Dropbox from Explorer Navigation Pane, add or remove Network from Explorer Navigation Pane, add Recycle Bin to Explorer Navigation Pane, add User Profile folder to Navigation Pane of Explorer.

How do I get File Explorer to show all folders?

To make the navigation pane show all folders on your Windows 10 computer, do the following.

• Open This PC in File Explorer.
• Enable the navigation pane if required.
• Right click the empty space on the left to open the context menu.
• Enable the option Show all folders.

Read: How to clear Recent Files and Folders in Windows

How do I turn on the navigation pane in File Explorer?

To turn on the navigation pane in File Explorer on your Windows 11/10 computer, do the following:

• Press the Windows key + E hotkey to open Windows Explorer.
• Click the View tab.
• Click the Navigation pane button in the ribbon.
• In the drop-down menu, you can click to check or uncheck the “Navigation pane” option.
• When it’s unchecked, the navigation pane will disappear from Windows Explorer.

Why can’t I see my folders in File Explorer?

If you can’t see your folders in File Explorer on your Windows system, the folders are probably hidden. Do the following:

• Press Windows key + S to open Windows Search.
• In the search box, type folder options, and hit Enter.
• In the Folder Options window, click on the View tab.
• Check the option Show hidden files, folders or drives and uncheck the Hide protected operating system files.

How do I get File Explorer to normal view?

To restore the default folder view settings for every folder using the same view template on your PC, do the following:

• Open File Explorer.
• Click on the View tab.
• Click on the Options button.
• Click on the View tab.
• Click the Reset Folders button.
• Click the Yes button.
• Click the Apply to Folders button.
• Click the Yes button.

Hope you find this post helpful!