Click on the Explorer icon on the taskbar and Windows 10 will load up an Explorer window. However, it is often useful to have more than one Explorer window open at the same time, so that you can copy files between them. But you can’t do that with the icon, unless you right-click and choose to open a new Explorer window from the pop-up menu. Fortunately, you can quickly open new windows with these tricks.
Using a shortcut: if the Explorer window has focus, simply press [Ctrl] +
[N] and a new Explorer window will open. You can then press it again to open a third window and so on.
Using a link: if you are not a fan of keyboard shortcuts, you can create another icon on the taskbar that will open an extra Explorer window. To do so:
- Right-click on a blank area of the desktop and choose New >
Folder. Name the new folder after the folder you want to link to (e.g.
Downloads) and then add .exe to the folder name (so it becomes
Downloads.exe, for example). - Drag the folder to the place you’d like to put it on the taskbar.
- Now, open Windows Explorer by pressing [Windows Key] +
[E] and navigate to the folder you’d like to open with your shortcut. Right-click on the folder’s address in the address bar at the top of the window and choose
Copy address as text. You can now close the Explorer window. - Right-click on the shortcut you placed on the taskbar, then right-click on its name and choose
Properties. - Click into the target field and delete the text that is currently there, then press
[Ctrl] + [V] to paste the path to the folder you copied in step 3. Click on
OK to save the changes. You can now open a second Explorer window to the folder specified by clicking on this icon.