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Tips and Tricks to Make Full Use of Favorite Links
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Introduction
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Using favorite links, or shortcuts to folders, saves your time in looking for your frequently used files and folders in the file system.
After you've organized them, the favorite links are not only directly accessible from Windows Explorer, they also show up in a file dialog when you open or save a file with a program, such as Notepad in Windows 7 or Vista. It then allows you to open or save a file directly to your frequently used folder, quick and fast, without the need to navigate through the file system.
These tips and tricks are helpful for adding favorite links into this legacy type of file dialog, or even running third-party software which gives you one more place to add favorite links in a file dialog for ease of accessing files and folders. |
In actual fact, it's rather easy to 
But not all applications are doing the same. Some applications are using a file dialog without displaying favorite links irrespective of the operating system running on your computer, just like the screenshot on the left.|
Tips and Tricks to Make Full Use of Favorite Links in a File Dialog
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Add Favorite Links in Legacy File DialogA legacy file dialog has five link buttons in the left pane called "Places Bar". By default it doesn't include favorite links which are more useful to users. You can easily edit Places Bar buttons using a Places Bar editor such as Melloware PlacesBar Editor. (Note) Under the Windows tab, the Editor allows you to select system folders from the drop-down list or choose your own folders. For Windows 7 and Vista:
Save the above settings and bring up the legacy file dialog again, it shows the favorite links as the first button in the Places Bar and allows you to directly access your files from the folders you want. Add Favorite Links in FileBox eXtenderSome applications use a file dialog without a Places Bar or simply with no side pane for direct access to the favorite links. In this case, certain useful add-ons such as FileBox eXtender can be used as a good way to access the favorite links to your folders for opening or saving a file. I've installed FileBox eXtender (Version 2.00.04) and used it without a problem. That said, I notice that FileBox eXtender sets the Favorites section of Windows Explorer in Windows 7 as a shortcut to System32 (C:) in the drop-down list. The above shortcut is not helpful, but you can easily create a new item with FileBox eXtender and manually add a shell folder as a target shortcut to the favorite links depending on the systems below. For Windows 7 and Vista:
For Windows XP and 2000:
On the right is an illustration of FileBox eXtender running in Windows 7.
This article is applicable to: Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7. |
For Windows XP and 2000:
After adding the shortcut, you will see the favorite links available on the drop-down list from FileBox eXtender's favorite icon.|
Notes
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In my XP machine, I kept bookmarks in other browsers so the Favorites folder contained links to file folders only.|
Related Products and Links
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Tags
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favorite links, favorites, windows explorer, internet explorer, common file dialog, file dialog box, open and save as file dialog, file open and save dialog, local group policy editor, places bar, placesbar editor, filebox extender. |
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Comments
I keep a shortcut to the Favorites folder on my taskbar. For me, it's the quickest way to open sites, and it does not take up screen real estate.
I haven't found a more convenient way in Firefox or Chrome. So for most of my surfing I still to IE.
Right on! What I do also!
Most Vista users -- and by "most," I mean the statistical VAST MAJORITY of them -- are Vista "Home Premium" users. And Vista Home Premium does not come with, nor can be retro-fitted to it, the Group Policy Editor (gpedit.msc). The Group Policy Editor is only present in the "Business" and the "Ultimate" and the "Enterprise" versions of Vista.
This is a classic example of a Vista Ultimate or Business User who's a techno-geek (and I use that term not negatively... for I, too, am a techno-geek) not stopping to consider that not everyone's (in fact, most people's) copy of Vista is not as cool and full-featured as his.
Of course, the Group Policy Editor is nothing but a specialized registry editor which has been limited to modifying only certain parts of the registry. If one knew both where to find the relevant registry entries, and what to do with them, one could just use the REGEDIT utility, found in all Windows versions, to make the necessary changes to the registry to accomplish what is the subject of this page's article in chief.
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Gregg L. DesElms
Napa, California USA
Many thanks for the heads up, DesElms.
I've added a PlacesBar Editor in the article and hope that it suits most users. The Group Policy Editor is now described in the footnote.
Group Policy, rather better used in server based environments, is NOT stored in the registry. It is held separately and applied, if it exists, at boot time. This allows server based environments to modify policy at will. Why anyone would want to use group policy on a standalone PC, where normal registry edits will do, is beyond me.
Rik - Category Editor, Best Free Windows 7 / Vista 64 bit Software and Site Technical Support Manager
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