Feature: Add support for creating custom sidebar groups

[Victor-root]

What feature or improvement do you think would benefit Files?

✨ Feature

Add a dedicated User Folders section to the sidebar for standard Windows folders:

• 🖥️ Desktop
• 📄 Documents
• 📥 Downloads
• 🖼️ Pictures
• 🎵 Music
• 🎬 Videos

🎯 Why?

Currently, these folders need to be pinned manually if users want quick access to them. This mixes standard Windows user folders with custom pinned locations, which makes the Pinned section less useful.

This proposal separates those concepts:

• 📁 User Folders: standard Windows folders
• 📌 Pinned: user-managed shortcuts

The section should be shown or hidden from the sidebar context menu, consistent with the other sidebar categories.

The folder paths should be resolved through Windows known folders instead of manually building paths from the user profile directory, so moved, redirected, or OneDrive-backed folders work correctly.

Requirements

• ✨ This proposal will add a dedicated User Folders section to the sidebar for Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos.
• 📌 This proposal will keep User Folders separate from the existing Pinned section.
• 👁️ This proposal will allow the section to be shown or hidden from the sidebar context menu, consistent with other sidebar categories.
• 🧭 This proposal will resolve folder paths through Windows known folders instead of manually building paths from the user profile directory.
• 💾 This proposal will support folders moved to another drive, redirected folders, and OneDrive-backed locations.
• 🌍 This proposal will use system-provided known folder display names so labels follow the user's Windows language.
• 🛡️ This proposal will preserve existing pinned items and will not automatically pin or unpin anything.

Files Version

4.1.1.0

Windows Version

10.0.26200.8524

Comments

🔗 Related issue / PR

Related to #1516, which requested better sidebar access/control for standard user folders such as Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and Music.

A working implementation was initially submitted in #18555, but the PR was closed because this feature request should be discussed first according to the contribution guidelines.

I’m opening this issue so the proposal can be reviewed before submitting the implementation again. The goal is to make the feature easier to evaluate with an already tested implementation available, while still following the project process.

🖼️ Screenshot / prototype

I tested a local prototype and this is the expected behavior:

🌍 Note: The folder names in the screenshot are shown in French because the Windows user profile is configured in French. The section uses the system-provided known folder display names, so these labels follow the user's Windows language.

[yair100]

Currently, these folders need to be pinned manually if users want quick access to them

The folders in question are pinned by default in Windows. Also, it would be good to have some clarification as to why they should be treated differently than other pinned folders.

[Victor-root]

You're right, the wording could be clearer.

The issue is not that these folders are unavailable. The issue is that they are currently treated as part of the same Pinned area as arbitrary user shortcuts.

I think they should be treated differently because Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, Music, and Videos are standard Windows known folders rather than normal user-created pinned locations. They are stable, system-defined entry points, and users often expect them to remain easy to find regardless of how many custom folders they pin.

When many custom locations are pinned, these standard folders can become visually mixed with unrelated shortcuts, which makes the sidebar harder to scan. A dedicated User Folders section keeps those common Windows folders in a predictable group while keeping Pinned focused on user-managed shortcuts.

The section would still be optional/show-hideable from the sidebar context menu, so users who prefer the current behavior could hide it.

[yair100]

It sounds like this is really requesting support for custom sidebar groups. I'll update the title to reflect that.

[Victor-root]

Thanks, but I want to clarify that this is not a request for custom sidebar groups.

The intended scope is much smaller and more specific: one built-in, optional User Folders section for Windows known folders only:

• Desktop
• Documents
• Downloads
• Pictures
• Music
• Videos

The reason I think these should be treated differently from normal pinned folders is that they are not arbitrary user-created shortcuts. They are standard Windows known folders and common system entry points.

The problem is that when these folders live in the same Pinned section as custom user locations, they can become visually mixed with unrelated pinned folders. If the user has many pinned locations, the standard Windows folders are no longer easy to find in a predictable place.

A working implementation already exists in #18555. It adds this built-in User Folders section, resolves the paths through Windows known folders, keeps the Pinned section unchanged, and makes the section show/hideable from the sidebar context menu like the other categories.

So if this smaller scope is acceptable, there should not be a need for someone else to design or implement the feature from scratch — the PR can be reviewed and adjusted based on maintainer feedback.

Could the title be changed back to something closer to the actual scope, such as:

Feature: Add a dedicated Windows known folders section to the sidebar

or

Feature: Add a built-in User Folders section to the sidebar

[yair100]

You can rename the section 👍

As a sidenote, it's a bit hard to read through such long comments, let's try to keep it shorter in the future 🙂