How to Recover the Recent Folders Missing in Windows 10?

Why did my recent files disappear?

Windows users will be familiar with Quick Access, which facilitates users to visit their frequently-visited files and folders.

Actually, like the Google website history, Windows will also record your visit and modification history. It records the folders you recently opened and stores the shortcuts in “Recent folders”.

Every time you open This PC or File Explorer, you can access the folders you have last visited or modified via Recent folders.

But, sometimes, it went wrong as well. After some users reported that Windows 10 File Explorer Quick Access folders missing, a bunch of users noticed that the Recent folders were gone, too.

This folder might get lost due to misoperation or malfunctioned File Explorer, making it invisible. In addition, if your target files were lost or deleted already, you may also lose access to them even if you find the Recent folder.

But don’t worry; this article will be of some help to fix the Windows 10 don’t show recent files issue.

How to recover the Recent folders missing in Windows 10?

What to do if recent files Windows 10 not showing in Quick Access? This part gathers several methods.

Method 1. Recover the Recent files folder via the run window

If Windows 10 don't show recent files, you could add them back to Quick Access manually. The Run window can help you.

Step 1. Press Win+R to open the Run window > enter shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99} > OK.

Or, you could directly input shell:::{22877a6d-37a1-461a-91b0-dbda5aaebc99} in the File Explorer directory box.

Step 2. Then you will be guided to the Recent folders window > click Pin to Quick access.

Or, right-click on the Quick access > Pin current folder to Quick access.

Thus the Recent folders access will be pinned on the sidebar. Right there, you could access your pictures, downloads, etc. You could also find where are all your documents saved there.

Method 2. Directly navigate to this folder location

Another way to add back the recent folders missing from Quick access is easy as well. You could directly navigate to the folder location.

>> Start This PC or File Explorer > input C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows in the directory box > press Enter.

And then, you could add this folder back to Quick access by following the method above.

How to recover lost or deleted recent files?

Now, with the Recent folders added back to Quick access, users could visit their wanted files easily. But some of them find their target files were not in the Recent folders, which might indicate that the files were removed from the hard drives.

Rest assured, this section offers 3 methods to help you if you have accidentally deleted files in File Explorer.

Method 1. Check the Recycle Bin

The first action you may take is to look into the Recycle Bin.

Notes:✎...

If deleted files or folders are not in the Recycle Bin, the files may be permanently deleted.

Step 1. Double-click Recycle Bin on the desktop.

Step 2. Find your target files > right-click the file > Restore.

Method 2. Restore previous versions of the target folder

The previous versions feature can also help users restore deleted files.

Windows PC records the changes you made to the hard drive; once the files get deleted, corrupted, lost, or damaged, you may restore previous versions of the files or folders to get them back.

Notes:✎...

Please navigate to the original folder but do not try to restore the folder in the Recent folders because the folders in Recent folders are just shortcuts.

Step 1. Open File Explorer > go to the original location of the files or folders you have deleted > back to its upper folder.

Step 2. Right-click this folder > Restore previous versions > select an earlier version > Restore.

Thus the folder will revert to its earlier version. Also, you could restore previous versions of Word documents using it.

Method 3. Recover deleted or missing files efficiently

The Recycle Bin will only be helpful when the files are not removed again due to Recycle Bin emptying; also, the previous versions are only available for C: drive files.

What if the lost or deleted files were from other local or external hard drives? How to restore them efficiently without any backups?

Seeking assistance from expert Windows data recovery software is a better option. MyRecover is one of the tools that can assist you in recovering deleted data from File Explorer.

It will be simple to recover missing and deleted files from internal and external HDD, SSD, SD card, USB flash drives, and other storage devices.

User-friendly. It is simple to use and requires no knowledge or data recovery experience. 

Comprehensive. It applies to deletion, disk formatting, emptied recycle bins, system crashes, and so on. 

Efficient. It recovers over 200 data kinds, including images, movies, documents, zip files, etc. 

Compatible. It is accessible for users of Windows 11/10/8/7/Server and NTFS, fat32, exFAT, ReFS, etc.

Notes:✎...

It will be a better bet to store the recovered files in another drive different from the source drive.

Step 1. Download and run the app > Hover the mouse over the drive saved deleted files before, and click Scan.

Step 2. Sort the detected files by Size, Type, Date modified, Path, etc. Extensions and filenames can help you target your data faster.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files/Recycle Bin > go to the original location > choose the files you want > click Recover x files. Or go to Other missing files > select specific data types to restore.

Except for dealing with local drive files, this useful tool can also help recover data from external hard disks.

To sum up

This article offers help for those who have the Recent folders missing from Quick access. They can add the Recent folders back to Quick access by using the Run window or by directly visiting the folder location.

In addition, if the files are still inaccessible, you might as well figure out if the files were deleted.

If so, you could check out the Recycle Bin, turn to the previous versions, or use the professional data recovery tool – MyRecover for Windows to get back your essential data.

What’s more, for the sake of data safety, it is suggested to back up your important files from time to time using efficient data backup software for Windows.