Brace Yourselves Updates Are Coming

I can’t be the only one who has suffered a degree of frustration following Microsoft’s February update to Office 2016.

Before the update, it was possible to pin files, and folders in the Open and Save As… screens. I used this for many different locations, as many are buried under levels and levels of parent folders.

For some of my users, you would think the world had ended, and life had lost all meaning for them.

So, I searched, and I searched, and I searched… Although you can still pin files, you cannot pin folders. This is a piece of functionality that someone in Microsoft decided was no longer required.

There are plenty of forums bemoaning this fact, and no one at Microsoft has come up with a work around which does not involve backing out the update. Until now…

Cue smug face…

I may have come up with a reasonable alternative…

On Windows 7 and Windows 8, in Windows Explorer, there is a section in the Navigation Pane labelled “Favourites.” In Windows 10 it is labelled “Quick Access”

If you add a location into “Favourites” or “Quick Access” you can access it with one click when you select “Browse” in Office 2016 Open or Save As… screens.

I have added a folder called “EmailReports” into my Favourites, which is on a network share 2 levels down, as can be seen from the URI below.

Adding locations into Favourites or Quick Access is quick and easy.

Navigate to the location, right click on Favourites (or Quick Access in Windows 10) in the Navigation Pane, and select Add current location to Favourites (or Quick Access in Windows 10)

(If you are using a touch screen tablet, do a long press on Favourites (or Quick Access in Windows 10) and the right click menu will appear)

Good luck, and happy pinning…