Add Specific Folders to Open Dialog Box (XP Home only)

When you use certain Windows applications (such as Notepad) to open a file, on the 

left side of the Open dialog box are a group of icons and folders (such as My 

Documents, My Recent Documents, Desktop, My Computer, and My Network) to 

which you can navigate to open files. A registry hack will let you put just the folders 

of your choosing on the left side of the Open dialog box. Note that when you do this, 

it will affect XP applications such as Notepad and Paint that use the Open and Save

other applications that don’t use the common dialog boxes. Run the Registry Editor 

common dialog boxes. However, it won’t affect Microsoft Office applications and  

and go to 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion 

\Policies\comdlg32.

This is the key that determines how common dialog boxes are 

handled. 

You’re going to create a subkey that will create a customized location for the folders, 

and then give that subkey a series of values, each of which will define a folder 

location.

• To start, create a new subkey underneath HKEY_CURRENT_USER
  
  
• Create a String value for it named Place0. 
• Give Place0 a value of the topmost 
  \Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\comdlg32 called Placesbar, 
• Create another String value for Placesbar called Place1. 
• Give it a value of the second 
  folder that you want to appear on the Open dialog box, for example, C:\Projects. Next,  
  folder that you want to appear on the Open dialog box. 

You can put up to five icons 

on the Open dialog box, so create new String values up to Place4 and give them 

values as outlined in the previous steps. When you’re done, exit the Registry. You 

won’t have to reboot for the changes to take effect. If you do not want any folders to 

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ Policies\

comdlg32, 

create a new DWORD value called NoPlacesBar and give it a value of 1. 

appear in common Open dialog boxes, you can do that as well. In   

Exit the Registry. If you want the folders back, either delete NoPlacesBar or give it a 

value of 0.

NOTE :- Take the backup of your registry (by one of these Software's) before doing any tweak.