Quick Folder Access in Windows

Does your desktop even closely resemble that of the picture? If so, then it’s time to make a change. Although I myself have been victim of the ‘messy-desktop’ syndrome in the past, I have since changed my ways. While it is true that there is nothing really wrong with having your desktop littered with icons, wouldn’t you want a better and faster way of accessing your folders? In this post, I will go over how you can do exactly just that.

A lot of us love to put folders and files on our desktop for fast access. Who actually wants to drill down folder after folder to locate their files? However, organizing your files and folders instead of placing them on your desktop actually proves more useful. You’re just going to have to trust me on this. It’s something that once you try it for yourself, you’ll instantly know why.
Two free little utilities I will be talking about makes it a breeze to find and open your most accessed folders. You can then organize your folders and files to your liking and have confidence that you will be able to open them in about 2-3 seconds. This can be accomplished because instead of relying on your knowledge of the actual ‘location’ of the folder itself (whether it be on your cluttered desktop or buried deep within some other folder elsewhere), the two utilities rely on mouse clicks to present you with a list of those folders for you to select. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if the folder you are seeking is buried under five or ten directories deep, accessing the folder is just a couple of clicks away. Well, rather than explaining it with words, let’s take a look at our two utilities in action to have a better understanding.

# Direct Folders
With Direct Folders installed, you can simply double click any open area on your desktop to bring up the menu interface. From here, you will see the list of all the folders you have configured for quick access. Clicking on any one of them will instantly open that folder! As you can see, you can now organize your folders any way you see fit and yet still have direct and quick access to them. The point of this is to allow you the freedom to store your folders in locations besides your desktop. Direct Folders also works within a folder you have opened so you can freely jump from one folder to another with breeze. For example, you can now quickly access a folder, copy/cut a document, jump to another folder and then paste the content all within seconds! Also, Direct Folders can list/launch your applications as well. So, if your quick launch toolbar is getting full, create a separator within Direct Folders and then list your applications under it so you can easily distinguish between them. They have a video on their website showcasing how Direct Folders can work for you so be sure to check that out for more information.
Direct Folders do offer a free version which should suffice for most users. The paid version allows more customization. For example, using your own icons to represent a folder, creating sub-folders and checking free drive space.

# Folder Guide
Folder Guide works pretty much the same as Direct Folders with two big differences. First, instead of double clicking an open area of your desktop, you access Folder Guide in your right click menu. Secondly, it seems to be more simplistic than Direct Folders. Also, Folder Guide directly integrates itself into your Windows context menu so you don’t have to worry about starting a program or anything, other than when you want to actually configure the folders you want for quick access. The menu is very simple and right to the point. Just move the folders to their location of your choice and then point to it in Folder Guide. Now you just have to right click on an open area of your desktop and you will see a new Folder Guide menu. Highlighting your mouse over it will then reveal all of your folders. Very simple and effective.

Organizing your desktop and computer in general will save you time and improve your work flow. This is no different than having a messy room. Sure you’re comfortable now but if you actually take the time to clean it out, you’ll wonder how you ever lived in such a messy environment in the first place. With these two great utilities, finding the right folder is just a couple of clicks away. It just depends on whether you prefer to double click or right click.