How to Remove Quick Access & File History from Windows 11/ 10 File Explorer

Windows 11/10 comes with a nifty feature–Quick Access–which helps you quickly reach your recently and most used files and folders. While this is useful, it’s also a privacy issue if everybody at your home shares the same PC, as they get to see all the recent activity. This guide will share how to remove Quick Access & File History.

The good news is that this feature can be removed and disabled. Also, if you want to open My Computer or This PC instead of quick access when you open File Explorer from the taskbar, you can set that too. Let’s look at this video quickly, followed by details in the post.

Video: How to Remove Quick Access in Windows 10

How to Remove Quick Access & File History from File Explorer

Follow these methods to remove the Quick Access and File History from the navigation bar of the File Explorer.

• Remove Quick Access and Switch to This PC
• Disable File History from Quick Access
• Registry Method to Add or Remove Quick access in Navigation Pane of File Explorer

You will need admin permission to execute some of these.

1) Remove Quick Access and Switch to This PC

• Open the File Explorer from Taskbar.
• On the top menu bar, go to Views Tab and select options.
• In the General Tab, Look at the first option.
• You can choose to open file explorer in This PC or Quick Access.

2) Disable File History from Quick Access

• Open the File Explorer from the Taskbar.
• On the top menu bar, go to Views Tab and select options.
• In the General Tab, Look for Privacy Section.
• Here you need to uncheck two boxes. One says Show recently used files in quick access, and the second says Show frequently used folders in quick access.
• Before you save and close, use the clear button to remove the existing file history.

3) Registry Method to Add or Remove Quick access in Navigation Pane of File Explorer 

Open Registry Editor and navigate to the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Change the value of HubMode DWORD to 1 to remove. If you want to add, use 0.

Here is one thing you should know. These options are not just hiding that recently accessed file history. They completely stop tracking. Try opening a few files after disabling them and re-enable them. You will not see those files listed at all.

While the recent file list is helpful when you manage many files, one gets to know which files you were working on. I hope this resolves the problem.