How to disable automatic pinning of folders to quick access

Question

How to disable automatic pinning of folders to quick access

Milan SMRCEK 30

Milan SMRCEK 30 Reputation points

2025-09-12T10:01:07.1033333+00:00

Dear Kha-n,

thabk you for yours, will do the recommended.

Appreciate your help!

best regtards

Milan

Answer accepted by question author

Kha-N 8,265 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Milan SMRCEK,
Thank you very much for your response and the images you provided.

Based on your description and screenshots, it appears that the folder was automatically pinned in File Explorer. If I’ve misunderstood, please feel free to correct me.

If the folder was auto pinned, you can disable this behavior by following these steps:

Open File Explorer.
Click the ellipsis icon (three dots) in the toolbar and select Options.
In the Folder Options window, go to the General tab.
Under the Privacy section at the bottom, kindly uncheck these options below:
- “Show recently used files”
- “Show frequently used folders”
Click Apply, then OK to save your changes.

User's image

Additionally, I found a helpful video walks through this process, feel free to check it out if you prefer visual guidance.

Note: Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. The sites are not controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft cannot make any representations regarding the quality, safety, or suitability of any software or information found there. Please make sure that you completely understand the risk before retrieving any suggestions from the above link.

Kindly let me know if you have any questions or updates when follow my suggestions. I would love to assist you further.

If my suggestions are able to assist you, kindly consider marking the answer as accepted. This will help other members of the community who may face similar issues.
Warm thanks.

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3 additional answers

Your answer

Milan SMRCEK 30 Reputation points

2025-09-12T10:01:07.1033333+00:00

Dear Kha-n,

thabk you for yours, will do the recommended.

Appreciate your help!

best regtards

Milan

Answer 1

Milan SMRCEK 30

Dear Kha-n,

thanks for your message.

The issue I have is that the system is pinning any folder I open to the quick access.

User's image

I prefer manually pin what I need for daily business. However the system seems to think whatever folder open, it needs to be pinned into Quick Access.

I would likem to disable this feature and be able to pin forlder to the Quick access only manually.

Thanks in advance

Milan

0 comments

Answer 2

Scott S 11

This help is so-lame. Your tech and AI don't understand the issue. It's not whether to stop files/sfolders from appearing in the Quick Access section, it's that every file/folder is being PINNED... PINNED. Not sure how else to explain it... PINNED, not simply appearing in, but PINNED.

Hornblower409 16,975 Reputation points

2026-10-14T01:29:08.4733333+00:00

@Scott S said

This help is so-lame.

And out of date. This post is more than a year old. You need to start a new thread using the "Ask a question" button at the top of this page to create a new Question and include the details for your specific problem.

This provides much higher visibility to your issue than adding on to an existing post, which is only seen by people who are already following this question.

Answer 3

Kha-N 8,265 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Milan SMRCEK,

Welcome to the Q&A forum, and thank you for reaching out to us.

Based on your description, it sounds like you’re looking to disable the automatic pinning of folders to the Quick Access bar in Classic Outlook. If I’ve misunderstood, please feel free to correct me.

To assist you further, could you kindly provide a screenshot of the issue you’re experiencing? Kindly make sure the screenshot does not include any personal or sensitive information.

Looking forward to your response.

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

MAHR-AIPA 0 Reputation points

2026-02-17T22:32:36.52+00:00

"disable the automatic pinning of folders to the Quick Access"

I am literally looking for this. How can this be configured?
Paolo Cremonesi 0 Reputation points

2026-04-30T08:07:47.44+00:00

I think the issue reported by Milan is different. In the Quick Access navigation pane, there are two types of folders: (i) those explicitly pinned by the user and (ii) the most used folders. Till a few months ago, the two categories were clearly distinguishable. The folders pinned by the users were showing a pin symbol; those automatically inserted by Windows exhibited no pin symbol, as in the example attached. In the last few months, both "manually pinned" and "automatically inserted" folders have the pin symbol, creating confusion. At least, this is what happens on my Windows.