How to Use Hidden File Explorer Features in Windows 10

Generally, we use the Windows File Explorer as an application to browse directories and files. But, it's more than that! There are several lesser-known features that enable you to save time as well as increase your productivity. In this tutorial, we'll learn about these uncommon or somewhat hidden features to get the most out of the Windows file manager. We'll learn each of these features with a practical example you can easily apply and test on your Windows machine. Almost all of these features are available in Windows 10 and 11. A good number of them also work in older versions of Windows. Let's learn about it.

📷 Mastering Hidden or Less-Known Features of the File Explorer

Some of these features directly affect your files and directories. So make sure to first take a backup of important files, and secondly, try these features first on temporary files and directories.

Read Also:
How to Add Custom App Shortcuts to the Windows Right-Click Menu

Once you get the hang of these features, working with files and directories will be much easier than before. So grab your coffee and get ready to master Windows file manager tricks you never knew before.

1. God Mode — a Single Folder With Dozens of Settings

Have you ever heard about God Mode in Windows? If not, you are going to love this one. When enabled, it creates a folder that opens several Windows settings and control panels in a single place.

Here's how to create a God Mode folder:

1. Create a new folder anywhere on your system. For a quick test, create one on your desktop.
2. Rename this folder to:

   GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

3. Upon renaming, its default icon will change. And, when you open it, you'll get a long list of Windows settings segregated by category for quick and easy access.

📷 God Mode Folder — Access tons of Windows settings in one place

You can use this folder to quickly perform several Windows-related chores like disk management, task scheduling, account management, and much more.

2. Show Hidden & System Files, and File Extensions

If you notice, by default, the file explorer does not show file extensions. Neither does it show system or hidden files. Sometimes, we need all these features turned on for effective searching and troubleshooting in general.

📷 Customize folder visibility options

Here's how you can enable all these features:

1. Open File Explorer and go to the View → Options → Change folder and search options option.
2. A Folder Options dialogue box will open. Switch to the View tab. In this tab, do the following:
   • Uncheck the Hide extensions for known file types option.
   • Select the Show hidden files, folders, and drives option.
   • Uncheck the Hide protected operating system files option. You'll get a warning while unchecking this one.

The last one should be used carefully as it will show critical OS files. Unless you are not sure about it, I'll recommend skipping it.

3. Address Bar Tricks — Run Commands Right Where You Are

Believe it or not, the address bar of the file explorer is like a small command launcher. You can execute various useful commands from the address bar.

Here are the most popular ones you can use to speed up and ease your file browsing experience.

• Type cmd in the address bar and hit the Enter key to launch the command prompt window in the current folder.
• Similarly, type powershell and hit the Enter key to launch a PowerShell window in the current folder.
• Type .. and hit Enter to open the current folder's parent directory in a new Explorer window.
• Typing shell:startup, shell:downloads, or shell:desktop followed by a hit on the Enter key opens the respective special folder.

Address bar tricks are a handy way to quickly run commands and access folders and files.

4. Shift + Right-click and the Power User Menu

While you are in the file explorer, using a combination of Shift + right-click either on a folder or the current folder's background space adds extra options to the context menu.

📷 Shift + Right Click adds extra options to the context menu

The following two extra options are visible in the image above:

• Open PowerShell window here
• Open Linux shell here

There are several other options that are available in recent Windows 10 builds.

5. Copy as Path and Quick Path Operations

One of the most common problems users face is grabbing the complete path of the current file selected in the file explorer. But that's easy to do. Here's the two-step method:

• Select one or more files. Now, click Shift + right-click the mouse button and choose the Copy as path option from the context menu.
• Complete path is now in the clipboard. Paste it anywhere you want.

"C:\Users\rajeevedmonds\Desktop\Projects"

You can use it in text editors, code editors, terminals, web browsers, or just about anywhere that supports clipboard copy-paste operations.

6. Preview Pane & Details Pane — Inspect Files Without Opening Them

If you regularly work with a lot of files and prefer to preview file contents before opening them, both the Preview and Details panes are your best bet.

📷 Use the preview and details pane to view file information without opening it

• Preview pane - You can access this pane through the View tab → Preview pane option. It lets you preview the most common types of files, viz., PDFs, text files, Office files, images, and many more.
• Details pane - Similarly, if you want to view the file's details, viz., tags, authors, modification date, size, and much more, use the View tab → Details pane option.

These panes save your time and effort. Instead of opening heavy files in large applications, you can quickly take a peek to decide if you really want to open it.

7. Smart Search Inside Explorer — Advanced Query Syntax (AQS)

Do you know that File Explorer has a built-in advanced search feature known as Advanced Query Syntax (AQS) that can be used to quickly filter the desired files and directories from a large listing?

Here are a few examples to help you understand how you can use this feature.

• kind:music - Use it to list audio files of different formats.
• type:.pdf or ext:.docx - You can use it to filter files by their extensions.
• size:>10MB - This filter lists files bigger than 10 MB.
• date:>=2025-01-01 - If a file is modified since the date used, it'll appear in the search result.
• kind:document AND size:>1MB ext:.docx - You can combine filters using AND or OR logical operators.

Here's one more example:

ext:.docx size:>6MB datemodified:>=01/01/2025

This filter lists all the .docx files that are greater than 6 MB and are modified in the year 2025.

8. Folder Templates, Grouping & Sorting

By default, Windows automatically applies folder templates depending on the type of its contents. This customizes the view of that folder to ease the browsing experience.

📷 Apply folder templates for a better file browsing experience

If you want to explicitly apply a folder template to any directory (folder), do the following:

1. Right-click on the folder and select the Properties option from the context menu.
2. Go to the Customize tab.
3. Click the dropdown menu for the Optimize this folder for option.
4. Select one of the templates you want to apply to the folder and click the Apply button.

Similarly, the Group by and Sort by options on the View tab of the file explorer enable you to list files and directories in the desired order.

This greatly helps in aggregating different types of files on a similar criterion. It's very handy for quick copying and deletion.

9. Libraries — Resurrected Power Feature

This is one of the most useful features I always use whenever required. Libraries enable you to combine multiple folders into one logical view. In simple words, you can access files and folders located at different locations on the disk through a single named library.

📷 Libraries are a great way to combine multiple folders in a single location

To enable libraries, go to the View tab → Navigation pane → Show libraries option. Check if it's already not checked.

To create a new custom library, go to the left side pane in the File Explorer and right-click the Library option. From the context menu, choose the New → Library option.

Give it a relevant name of your choice and add all the folders you want to include in this library.

10. Create Symbolic Links (mklink) — Advanced File Redirection

If you are a power user on the Linux platform, you may already be familiar with symbolic links. A symbolic link points to a file or folder located at a different location on the computer.

It is often used to point to large directories on different logical or physical disks on a single computer system. Let's see some examples of creating symbolic links. Make sure to open the command prompt with admin privileges.

To create a directory symbolic link, use the following command:

mklink /D "C:\Path\To\Symbolic\Link" "F:\Folder\Path"

To create a file symbolic link, use the following command:

mklink "C:\Path\To\Symbolic\Link_File.doc" "H:\Files\Target_File.doc"

If you are using any automated backup or syncing tool, I recommend avoiding the use of symbolic links, as they may affect the working of these tools.

11. File Ownership & Permissions — Usage of takeown and icacls

While browsing files and folders in the file explorer, you may have encountered a situation where access to some files or folders is denied. And no matter what, you can't open them! Isn't it frustrating?

To access such a folder, do the following:

Open the command prompt with admin privileges and run the following two commands, one by one, in the same order.

takeown /f "C:\path\to\target\folder" /r /d y

This command takes ownership of that folder.

icacls "C:\path\to\target\folder" /reset /T

This command resets the permissions applied previously to that folder.

12. Right-dragging & Context Menu Copy/Move

There's an excellent hidden feature that most users are unaware of. If you drag a folder or file pressing the right mouse button instead of the left, upon release of the button, you'll get a context menu with the following useful options.

📷 Right-click context menu with useful options

• Both Copy here and Move here options facilitate quick and easy file transfer.
• Similarly, the Create shortcuts here option—once again—saves time creating shortcuts across drives.

Try it once, and I'm sure you'll prefer it over other methods of copying and moving files.

13. Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

And last but not least is this handy collection of useful keyboard shortcuts to tame Windows File Explorer.

• Win + E - Open File Explorer.
• Alt + D / Ctrl + L - Focus address bar, instantly.
• F2 - Rename a file or folder.
• F3 - Start a search operation.
• Ctrl + Shift + N - Create a new folder.
• Alt + P - Quickly toggle preview pane view.
• Ctrl + W - Close explorer window.

Conclusion

File Explorer hides lots of small, useful features that add up to huge time savings if you learn them.

Start with the basics (show extensions, Preview pane, Copy as path) and add symlinks, AQS search filters, and ownership tools as you become comfortable.

Image Credit: All screenshots and image alterations by Rajeev Edmonds/FreshTechTips