Windows 10 Quick Access Not Working, Not Responding, Slow to Open

Quick Navigation to Quick Access Not Working:

Overview - What Is a Quick Access

Windows 10's Quick Access view in File Explorer displays a list of frequent folders and recent files, replacing the old "Favorites" list. This feature allows users to pin their favorite folders for easy access, but some users experience issues with it not working.

We previously addressed the issue of missing Windows 10 Quick Access folders, and now we're tackling another problem: Quick Access is not working, broken, not responding, or becomes extremely slow to load/open.

What to Do First When Quick Access Not Working 

If you're experiencing Quick Access malfunctioning issues, it's crucial to recover your data first to avoid losing files and installed programs. To do this, download Qiling data recovery software on your Windows 10 PC and launch it automatically after installation. This will help you deal with Quick Access problems without risking the loss of your important files.

Then, follow the details to recover files from quick access:

• Free Download
• Windows 11/10/8/7, 100% Secure

Step 1. Launch Deep Data Recovery in Windows 11/10/8/7, select the file types you want to recover and click "Next" to begin the recovery process.

Step 2. Choose the place where you lost data. Then, click "Scan".

Step 3. After the scan, use the file format filter to locate the files you need, and then click the "Preview" button or double-click a file to preview its content.

Step 4. To recover lost data, select the file that was accidentally deleted, check the box next to it, and then click the "Recover" button to restore the data to a safe location.

Two Fixes - Quick Access Not Working/Responding, Crashing All the Time

If Quick Access isn't working properly, try disabling and re-enabling it or manually deleting related files in the %appdata% folder to resolve the issue.

1. Disable Quick Access

You should ask File Explorer to open files or folders to This PC instead of Quick Access.

• Step 1: To access Folder Options, open File Explorer, click on the "View" tab, then select "Options" and finally "Change folder and search options".
• Step 2: To clear File Explorer history, go to Privacy, uncheck the options "Show recently used files in Quick Access" and "Show frequently used folders in Quick Access", and then click "Clear". This will remove all history from File Explorer.

2. Clear/Delete Related APP Data Files

Step 1: To access specific folders, launch File Explorer and paste the following folder paths into the Address bar and hit Enter. For example, to access the Windows folder, you would paste "C:\Windows" into the Address bar and press Enter.

• %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\AutomaticDestinations
• %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations

Step 2: To delete all the files in an opened folder, you can select all the files by pressing `Ctrl+A` on Windows or `Command+A` on Mac, and then press the `Delete` key. Alternatively, you can also right-click on the folder and select `Delete` or press `Shift+Delete` to bypass the Recycle Bin.

You can also navigate to this to delete them:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Ribbon

How to Fix Quick Access Is Slow to Load or Open

To speed up Quick Access, clear the File Explorer history and disable Quick Access, then unpin large folders like Desktop, Downloads, and Windows from Quick Access.

To unpin a selected folder from Quick Access, right-click on the folder and select "Unpin from Quick Access".

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