Windows 10 File Explorer navigation pane automatically expands/collapses folder tree

I have recently come to Windows 10 from Windows 7 (and Classic Shell). I am not an IT professional, nor enthusiast, but I know my way around a PC.

When I click on a folder in the file explorer navigation pane tree, it automatically expands the folder in the tree. It also automatically collapses the previous folder I had selected. This drives me nuts, as I am used to deciding for myself when to expand and collapse the tree.

How do I make it:

— just show the folder contents in the right pane when I select a folder in the tree

— only expand the folder when I tell it to

— leave expanded folders expanded when I select a different folder in the tree

(in other words, behave like Windows Explorer)?

PS — I will start throwing things at anyone who mentions the «Expand to current folder» setting, as this is not the answer.

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My folders stays expanded until I close them, even the folders subfolder tree. The options you are looking is.. not. the «Expand to open folder». Everyone duck!

Right click Quick assess in folder pane select option, General Tab. I think it has something with single click and double clicking the icon. But if you use the little arrow to expand you can leave all folders expanded. If you close out file explore it will launch to previous view. At least for the session.

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*puts down box of rotting fruit*

I see the setting to which you refer, but that isn’t the answer either. It changes the behaviour of items in the right pane, not the explorer tree. I also see that if you use the arrows to expand folders they do indeed stay open. Partial success, but not what I was hoping for.

I am starting to suspect that if I’m lucky there will be a registry hack, more likely this is item 935,581,034,622,734 on the Great List Of Baffling Microsoft Decisions. Ever get the feeling that their developers don’t actually USE the products they develop?

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I get what your saying about changes the behavior of items in the right pane.

But I’m telling the truth I can double click a folder icon in the tree view, not the arrow. Tree expands and I double click a different folder icon in tree view be it drive letter, folder etc. and the previous open folder in tree view stays open. Without registry hack.

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I think I found it.

1. Right-click «Quick Access» and select «Options».

2. Select the «View» tab.

3. Scroll down to the bottom and turn on these options:

V — Expand to open folder

V — Show all folders

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1. Right-click «Quick Access» and select «Options».

2. Select the «View» tab.

3. Scroll down to the bottom and turn on these options:

V — Expand to open folder

V — Show all folders

It isn’t that. Part of me suspects it may be Windows 10 Classic Shell interfering in some way. I know people who run Windows 10 without it and they don’t have this issue.

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1. Right-click «Quick Access» and select «Options».

2. Select the «View» tab.

3. Scroll down to the bottom and turn on these options:

V — Expand to open folder

V — Show all folders

It isn’t that. Part of me suspects it may be Windows 10 Classic Shell interfering in some way. I know people who run Windows 10 without it and they don’t have this issue.

And it turns out I was right. I had Windows XP Simple selected as my Classic Shell navigation pane style because I prefer the XP look, but this behaves as I described. The other XP option (that does behave like I want) is no longer available because apparently Microsoft broke it.

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If I got it right this threat is about «automaticaly expanding» the folder tree in the left part of the Explorer, when clicking Folders in the right part of the Explorer. At least that was my issue when I started checking this. I missed it as well, and I found the solution here: https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/17027-how-enable-expandable-folders.html

The trick is to right-click a «free» area in the left side Explorer tree, to see this 3 Options:

You Need the bottom Option, in english it is «expand to current Folder»

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This did not work for me. The issue is that individual files are not directly visible in the right pane under the folder in which they live. Selecting this option does nothing to change the split view of the folder in the left pane and the files in the right pane. I have found no solution anywhere at all, and apparently Windows users just have to live with this?

The only way I can see a classic file tree with the files visible directly under their folders in the SAME pane is if I open my text editor (Atom or Brackets) and use their navigation pane instead of File Explorer. Microsoft really blew it with this one.

If I got it right this threat is about «automaticaly expanding» the folder tree in the left part of the Explorer, when clicking Folders in the right part of the Explorer. At least that was my issue when I started checking this. I missed it as well, and I found the solution here: https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/17027-how-enable-expandable-folders.html

The trick is to right-click a «free» area in the left side Explorer tree, to see this 3 Options:

You Need the bottom Option, in english it is «expand to current Folder»

Windows Explorer navigation pane changing position when viewing sub directories

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Ok, tried it, using Home Premium.

You say click the plus — there are no plusses. What are you using?

What happens here is that when the folder expanded is at the bottom it moves up enough for the subfolders to show. If there is more than a window-full of subfolders, the folder moves to the top.

The focus remains wherever it was before starting this exercise.

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Mr. Wlmitty and whoever cares,

I have this scrolling problem too. This is one of the first thing I noticed after upgrading from Vista Home Premium. I use Windows Explorer a lot, a really lot. This does annoy me and I would really like a fix. F. Sexton below obviously does not understand what we mean so I will try to reiterate the issue:

On a busy drive, go to the bottom of the folder pane and open a busy folder by double-clicking it’s name in the pane. All the sub-folders will scroll off the bottom of the pane rather than move to the top of the pane as Vista Explorer did/does. I have a laptop with Vista right next to me and I verified that it’s Explorer does in fact move the working directory UP from the bottom to the top of the pane and shows as many of the sub-folders as will fit.

BTW, by «plus» we mean the right arrow next to the folder name, i.e. it used to be plus and is now an arrow. Now if you single-click the arrow and open the folder that way, the pane works as expected — it moves the folder of interest up enough to display the sub-folders.

With Windows 7 Explorer, I use the single-click option to open folders, and I have to scroll the screen some amount of extra times to see the sub-folders that I want to work with. This is counter-productive if you ask me.

I will actually go so far as to put this problem at the top of my «Hate List» right here and now. I am building one, oh yes, I am building a good «Hate List» already. Sorry to say it’s getting as long as my «Like List» too.

File Explorer Navigation Pane missing in Windows 10

Windows File Explorer is a program that is very integral to Windows operations. Here, you see different files, folders displayed in a hierarchy. The program lets you easily copy, move, rename, and search for files and folders. For example, you can open a folder that contains a file you want to copy or move, and then drag the file to another folder or drive. File Explorer is a File manager. It finds immense use in daily operations, ranging from opening files to transferring them to a different location such as USB drive.

The explorer is divided into the following areas:

1. Navigation Pane – Seen on the left-hand side, navigation pane lists all the folders, library items and network connections
2. Details Pane – provides details such as creation& modification date, size, etc. about files selected in the explorer.
3. Preview Pane – The Preview pane gives a sneak preview of media and document files.

Explorer Navigation Pane missing

Sometimes, your Windows Explorer may not display the left-side Navigation Pane properly or may appear all grayed out – a possible reason could be file or registry corruption. What do you do under such circumstances? Well, you may try this:

1. Run System File Checker
2. Re-register the shdocvw.dll file
3. Check the Navigation pane setting.

1] Run System File Checker

2] Re-register the shdocvw.dll file

You may need to re-register the shdocvw.dll file which is used by Windows to add some basic file operations. The shdocvw.dll file is a system file that helps perform the navigation, history maintenance, favorites maintenance, HTML parsing, etc. So see if re-registering this dll file helps you resolve the issue.

Open an elevated command prompt, type the following and hit Enter:

After the command successfully runs, restart your computer. Your Explorer should now display the left folder pane properly.

3] Check the Navigation pane setting

If you are using Windows 10/8, you may want to check if you have by mistake unchecked the option to show the Navigation Pane.

Open File Explorer > View tab > Navigation pane > Ensure that the option to show Navigation pane is checked.

Make Explorer Navigation Pane expand to open folder in Windows 10

When you click on the File Explorer icon in Windows 10, it displays a navigation folder on the left, and Quick Access details on the right. If you notice, the folders list in the navigation pane does not list all the folders inside it. It only expands when you click on the small arrow pointing to the left. In this post, we will share a tip which helps you make Explorer navigation pane automatically expand to open the folder in Windows 10.

Make Explorer Navigation Pane expand to open folder

We are talking about automatically expanding the folder in the left navigation pane when you click on Windows 10 File Explorer. There are three ways to do it:

1. Use Navigation Folder or use the menu
2. Change folder & search options.
3. Change via Registry Settings.

Use these tips smartly. Some of them work temporarily, while some are a permanent solution. The registry hack should be used if you are configuring a computer remotely.

Just before we go ahead, let’s get to know a bit about each of these options:

• Show libraries: Displays all the libraries.
• Show all folders: It displays all the folders, including those which are on the desktop in the left-hand pane.
• Expand to the current folder: It does two things on the left navigation panel
  • Automatically display the root of the selected folder (in the right pane) along with a list of all the folders inside it.
  • When you click on any of the folders listed on the left pane, it will automatically expand in Explorer navigation pane.

1] Use Navigation Folder or use the menu

Once you open the File Explorer, right click on an empty space on the left side, and you can choose between — Show libraries, Show all folders, and Expand to the current folder.

The second option is to use the File Explorer menu. When on File Explorer, switch to View tab available on the ribbon menu. Then click on the Navigation pane menu, you will have the same option as above. Choose Expand to the current folder.

2] Change folder & search options

In the File Explorer, click on the file menu and select Change folder & search options. It will open the Folder Options window. Switch to view section, and then scroll to the end. Here you will have the option to expand to open the folder, check it. Click, OK, and you are done.

Next time you click on any folder, the Navigation Pane will Expand the folder on the left pane.

3] Change via Registry Settings

Use Registry editor when you have to change options on a couple of computers remotely. If you are not well versed with editing Registry entries, do not use it.

• Open the Start menu, and type Regedit.
• It will display the Registry Editor listing. Click to open it.
• Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced
• There are two settings which you can choose to change
  • NavPaneShowAllFolders relates to Show all folders option.
  • NavPaneExpandToCurrentFolder relates to Expand to the current folder option.
• Change the value from 0 to 1 to enable it.
• Click OK and exit to see the changes.

Too many expanded folders can be overwhelming. So unless you have a task which requires to view all the folders, keep this off.