Enable user to pin Folders to the recent lists for Open and Save As
** Please bring back functionality from the old Microsoft Office suites (not just xls).
** For alphabetic sorting of files in the recent lists, please don't vote here. Instead, see https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10261443-recent-files-pane-in-excel-2013-was-pretty-good-b
Specifically: it is useful to have a list of recently-accessed folders from which to open files. Such folders were available on the older versions of Microsoft (MS) Office, but not in the 2016 “upgrade”. (i.e. MS Office 2016 contains only a list of the recently opened files.)
Constantly having to navigating BACK to a recently used folder to open / save a file is very annoying.
I'm not the only one seeking a return of the "recently-used" folders.
See: http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2016-excel/how-to-show-recently-used-folders-on-save-as/6d263530-f7be-434a-a684-ecf921cc1584
The lost-functionality I mention here is a constant annoyance. But it is not the only feature that has been lost. e.g. MS Office 2010 and 2016 cannot do tasks that MS Office 2003 was able to accomplish.
(2016-07-11 Dan [MS]: updated title and description to differentiate this idea from the idea about sorting files alphabetically in the MRU: https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10261443-recent-files-pane-in-excel-2013-was-pretty-good-b)
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A little late on marking this suggestion as Complete, but you can now pin folders to the recent list in both the Open and Save dialogs.
58 comments
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Rockhopper
commented
@Steve K - Please explain how to do this. As of today (7/2/2020), my install of Office 2016 still only allows pinning of files - not folders - on the 'recent' list in the Open dialog.
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Frank Van Hevel
commented
Indeed luckily now we can pin our folders;
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Mike_884
commented
I am still running version 2005 (12827.29268) pinning folder was / is availabe.
So it has been removed in 20320 or 20336 then? -
Anonymous
commented
This function is gone missing since a recent update. I always could pin folders within the various office programmes. @Steve K
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Doug
commented
The Quick Access route is one answer, but involves more clicks in use than actually pinning the folders into Excel directly.
Steve K seems to be suggesting that you can pin folders, but I still don't think this is the case (or he's referring to Office 365 still.. not 2016) -
Anonymous
commented
Navigate to the folder you want to pin
Right click on Quick access
Select "Pin current folder to Quick access"
Does that help?
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Julie Williams
commented
please provide instructions on how to do this- I can browse folders, but my recent list only shows files that can be pinned. where can I see the folder locations so I can pin them?
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Anonymous
commented
Not being able to open or save into last used folder is very annoying.
Also not having new documents appear in correct alpha/numeric order is very annoying as well -
Dr. Beatrix Schwarz
commented
With the newest version of Office 365 you now have a list of the recent used folders and can pin them. For me the problem is solved.
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Amanda Hopkins
commented
This is the thing more than anything else that keeps me with Windows 7 (although not being able to uninstall bloody Edge and Cortana are close runners-up).
Why the **** should I have to click a mouse seven or eight times to (for instance) save a file when I used to be able to do it in two clicks: RECENT PLACES and then the folder I want — ready and waiting in there. I am forced to used Win10 at work, and some days, if I've had to do enough work on different files, I have bad "mouse hand" — all because some jobsworths at MS decided that if they didn't use this function, obviously no-one else wanted it either.
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Kelly
commented
If anyone is still following this, please search "pinned" on this forum and find the post with just 12 votes I think. It's another post for Excel 2016 for recent files sorting alphabetically. I would think most companies are using 2016 and not 365 but maybe I'm wrong. I'm using 2016 for work and usually have 15-20 files pinned. Having them sorted by date/time and not alphabetical is really frustrating. If I'm using 15-20 files daily, they keep rearranging themselves by the last time I opened it. -_- I hate going backwards in efficiency.
The link in the post above is for Office 365. The one that says "pinned" in the title is for 2016. I know this one is for folders but I'm trying to find the people who also want recent files pinned by alpha not date.
"Please allow pinned items to sort alphabetically" is for 2016. Go to Feedback and then search pinned. Thanks... Sorry for the edits. :)
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Tom Brennan
commented
Recently used folders are back in Excel in Office 365 Version 1708 Build 8431.2270. Not sure if they appeared earlier.
This may not be any help for users of Office/Excel 2016, but it is at least a sign that Microsoft may have taken this feedback on board.
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Straton
commented
Here's a partial workaround but it is serviceable in the absence of a real solution and it doesn’t require administrator permissions to edit the registry:
1) Browse to the folder "C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Office"
2) Right-click the folder there named "Recent" and select "Pin to Quick access"That folder should now show up in the Office applications' Quick access list for the Open and Save-as dialogs. The "Recent" folder is different from the "Recent Places" list but many of your recently accessed folders will be there and you can also click on any of the files listed there and select “Open file location” to get at other recently accessed folders.
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dornemam
commented
Put folders back in the recent list. Do this in all office products. I teach, I have many folders on my computer, each a different semester, different class, different subject, in all office products, documents, spreadsheets, presentations. Individual files in the list are helpful, but folders instead of files would have been better.
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Anonymous
commented
looks like it was fixed and then agreed that it mssed the cut three times and then no further info as to why this missing block of code did not get put back in.
It certainly dosn't 'do what is says on the can' anymore.What a waste of effort all along !
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Anonymous
commented
one of the worst changes ever, and surely never any rerece to Cust Experience
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Anonymous
commented
Recent Files pane in Excel 2013 was pretty good, but Excel 2016 broke it (Pin pinning recent files no longer sorts alphabetically) This post no longer takes votes.
Pinned files are still not sorted alphabetically. Please fix this! -
Anonymous
commented
I really hope this gets changed. Such an inefficient process of having to browse through all our directories only to save to the same one 35 times a day.
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Anonymous
commented
After Open, select Computer instead of Recent Workbooks, and you can pin folders & see recent folders. Unfortunately, I have not found a way to revise the order the Pinned folders appear in.
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Carol
commented
I work in the accounting department and we have hundreds of folders and thousands of files. By pinning both files and folders I can save hours of productivity time in the average month. I'm very frustrated with the downgrade to Office 2016 and haven't encountered any improvements over 2013 yet. Unfortunately, I don't have a choice to go back to the prior version.