[Did You Know] You can Remove “Libraries” from Windows Explorer Navigation Pane in Windows 8.1 and Later

When Microsoft released Windows 7, they re-designed Navigation Pane in Windows Explorer and added following 5 items to it:

  • Favorites
  • Libraries
  • Homegroup
  • Computer
  • Network

Microsoft didn’t provide any option to show or hide these items from Navigation Pane and we had to depend upon Registry tweaks to remove unwanted items as described here.

But Microsoft added a new option to hide “Favorites” in Windows 8 Explorer Navigation Pane as shown in following tutorial:

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Windows 8 Allows You to Remove “Favorites” from Windows Explorer Navigation Pane

Still options to hide Libraries and other items were missing in Windows 8. Now with the release of Windows 8.1, Microsoft has added another useful option to show or hide “Libraries” in Windows 8.1 Explorer Navigation Pane.

By default libraries are hidden in Windows 8.1 Explorer Navigation Pane but you can use this new option to toggle libraries appearance.

Simply open Windows Explorer and right-click in Navigation Pane and click on “Show libraries” option as shown in following screenshot:

Show_Hide_Libraries_Windows_8_1_Explorer.png

It’ll immediately show or hide Libraries in Windows 8.1 Explorer Navigation Pane.

Another nice addition to Windows 8.1 by Microsoft.

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PS: If you want to remove 6 folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos) from My Computer (or This PC) window, you can remove them easily using a simple Registry tweak given in following tutorial:

[Tips] Tweak and Customize Windows 8.1 Explorer “This PC”

Published in: Windows 8

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

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  1. Great one indeed , but at time of installation of 8.1 , does the setup create default libraries ( docs , pics , music , vids ) or not???

  2. How about hiding folders in “This PC”.
    I find it very annoying especially in navigation pane.

  3. Hi!
    I posted the same on W7..
    Impossible to make disappear libraries in “Navigation Pane” —> “Show libraries”
    I dare not erase the key altogether (security)
    Any tip
    Thank and a hip hap happy new year

  4. Hi VG,
    In the Public folder, there is a hidden library for RECORDED TV, and yet, the SHOW IN NAVIGATION is grayed/greyed out. I think recall I was able to enable this in Windows 7, but in windows 8.1, it is not possible. I am sure there is a registry tweak to fix this, can you assist with showing it in the NAV Pane?

    Note:
    The Library is handy to some yes and no. No to the those who have one folder type for each kind of file store their files in, and Yes if you have multi-partitions or Disks with Doc, Music, video etc, folders in different areas for overflow, which the library will consolidate all your Music, Docs, Video to one central location making multi-tasking easier. And no, if you don’t network with a LAN using file sharing to other devices, like phones and Smart TVs and Yes, if you do. For the simpleton, libraries are not useful.

  5. ^^ Just copy the Recorder TV folder from Public folder and paste it into your user Library folder. It’ll appear in navigation pane.

  6. Your tweaks and tips are more useful than any other I’ve found.

    I’d like to *restore* Libraries in the Navigation tree, but the tweaks and built-in switch for doing so (Win 10) don’t work, nor does the “Add to libraries” folder content menu entry. I can, however, so the libraries folders in certain places as well as directly add folders to them via the dialog box.

    Any idea how I can restore them to the Navigation Pane?

  7. When you double click on This PC, drives are listed C: D: etc, ie in order of drive letter but when Desktop is clicked, left hand window displays drives by alphabetical discription or label name. How can we either rearrange this display or change how windows chooses to list drives and folders in the left pane? It would be a really nice feature to just be able to drag whatever drive to whatever position in that window including dropbox, onedrive, libraries etc, especially BD-Rom Drive (which happens to be F:) and DVD-RW Drive (which is G:) and rarely used. These appear before any of my physical hard drives based on assigned drive labels. I can rename hard drives to change this position whithin the hard drives but not to appear above the dvd, bd drives, libraries, unless I rename harddrive with something that precedes BD or DVD something.
    Any feedback appreciated
    Trevor Watson

  8. ^^ For me the drives in navigation pane appear as C:, D:, E:, etc. Can you share a screenshot of your problem?

  9. Yes it works in Windows 8. Problem is when I did this I found I could no longer change my user account picture or lock screen wallpaper, because Windows searches in Libraries not in My pictures folder. So I had to put it back to restoring the Libraries for this reason.

  10. Well I have disabled the Libraries again in Windows 8 because I really don’t like them. They just clutter up Explorer. But the problem I am having now I have disabled them is that every time I want to change my User account Picture or select custom wallpapers from the My Pictures folder Windows cannot find them. Even though my Pictures and Documents folder is still there in my User account folder. It seems that Windows searches for these from the Libraries folders and not from the default folders.
    How do I solve this without having to re enable Libraries again?

    Andrea Borman.

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