How to add a folder to the open or save dialogue (customize places bar)

 
Are you also annoyed that it is quite cumbersome to access your dropbox folder when opening or saving files in Windows? – Well I’ve been for a while now and I finally took the time to solve this problem. Here’s how (there are other ways, like editing the registry directly, but this is how I did it):

1. Download PlacesBar Editor from http://melloware.com/placesbar/
   Unfortunately, PlaceBar Editor was originally written for an older Windows version so that it doesn’t directly support the Windows 7 Libraries but I’ll show you how to had Libraries to the Places Bar anyway below.
2. Install PlacesBar Editor (Duh!)
3. Run PlacesBar Editor (Don’t wanna miss that one!)
4. Well, and the rest is pretty self-explanatory. Except that you need to know that (i) you need to “save” before you can “test”, (ii) you cannot just add a folder to the default folders. Once you start changing the places bar, you got to tell Windows every single folder you want displayed as it will forget about the defaults immediately.
5. And that is where you might start wondering: but how can I add “Libraries” to the places bar (as that was the item that you perhaps liked best of all the default items)? The answer is: Libraries don’t have a regular path but they are accessed through shell commands like these:
   – shell:documentsLibrary
   – shell:MusicLibrary
   – shell:PicturesLibrary
   – shell:VideosLibrary
   or indeed (if you don’t want any specific library):
   – shell:Libraries

I used the latter, shell:Libraries, like this:

How to add Dropbox and Libraries to the Places Bar in Windows 7

And it gives you this:

Places Bar with Dropbox and Libraries

 

There you go!

 

I would like to mention that if you have Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate, or Enterprise, you don’t even need to download the Places Bar Editor from Melloware. You can just use the Group Policy Editor that is included in these versions of Windows. Just type gpedit.msc in the Search line of the Start Menu and press Enter. Then go to User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Windows Components -> Windows Explorer -> Common Open File Dialog. Then Right click on “Items displayed in Places Bar” and take it from there, similarly to the Places Bar Editor.

 

 

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