Want to have quick access to all your favorite folders? Do you want to open multiple folders at once in Windows 10? Would you like to create a desktop shortcut to open more than one folder at once in Windows 10? In this guide, we will see how to open multiple folders at once in Windows 10.
In Windows 10 and Windows 8/7, when you double-click on a folder, File Explorer opens up to that folder only, and there is no easy way out there to open multiple folders at once in Windows 10/8/7.
Windows 10 does allow you to pin your favorite folders to Quick Access for easy access. The Quick Access, which File Explorer opens up to by default, displays frequently visited folders in addition to recently opened files.
Although there is no straight-forward method to pin folders to the taskbar, you can refer to our pin folders to the taskbar in Windows 10 guide for directions. One can also pin folders to the Start menu in Windows 10. But these solutions won’t allow you to open multiple folders with a click or double-click.
The easy way to open multiple folders in a single location
If you want to open multiple folders located in a single location (in a drive or directory), simply select all folders you want to open, hold down Shift and Ctrl keys, and then double-click on the selection.
Thanks to Joshua for this handy tip.
Simultaneously open multiple folders in Windows 10
If you are on Windows 10 or earlier versions of Windows, you can open multiple folders at once by using this small workaround.
Complete the given below directions to open up multiple folders at once in Windows 10/8/7.
Step 1: Open up the Notepad program.
Step 2: Type @echo off at the beginning, as shown in the picture below.
Step 3: Now, at the beginning of each line type, start, leave a space, and then type or paste the path to folders that you want to simultaneously.
Tip: To find the path to a folder, hold down the Shift key while right-clicking on the folder, and then click Copy as path option.
Step 4: Finally, click the File menu, click Save option, choose a location to save the file (we recommend you save it on Desktop) and finally, enter a file name, but don’t forget to add .bat at the end of it. For instance, you can save it as folders.bat file.
Choose all files from Save as type drop-down box and then click the Save button.
Step 5: Navigate to the location where you saved your .bat file. Double-click on it to open multiple folders at once.
If you want to add more folder locations to the file, simply right-click on the .bat file, click Edit, and follow the format mentioned above to add any number of folders.
If you have any queries, please let us know by leaving a comment below.
MrElectrifyer says
Wanted to go with TaskLayout application, but at its price point of $50+ for the home license, it’s simply not worth it. This here suits my needs, doesn’t use any additional system resources, and I can create a Windows Explorer hotkey to launch the .bat file on demand.
Thanks for sharing!
WitsEnd says
A look at the help file for the START command might shed some light on what’s happening in your batch (.BAT) files. The START command is much more powerful, and much more complex, than simply a means to open one or more Explorer windows. As a matter of fact, opening an Explorer window is the very last thing that the command considers. (see below)
As you can see, the first option that the command looks for is an optional title for the window, something enclosed in quotes. So if the folder you want to open has spaces within its name, and you’ve enclosed that name within quotes as is required, the START command will pick it up as the optional title. That’s the reason others have correctly stated to put an “extra” set of quotes between START and the folder’s path. (In reality, anything can go in the title field; it need not be simply a set of empty quotes. I typically put a copy of the path within these first quotes.)
START [“title”] [/D path] [/I] [/MIN] [/MAX] [/SEPARATE | /SHARED]
[/LOW | /NORMAL | /HIGH | /REALTIME | /ABOVENORMAL | /BELOWNORMAL]
[/NODE ] [/AFFINITY ] [/WAIT] [/B]
[command/program] [parameters]
“title” Title to display in window title bar.
. . .
. . .
At the very end of the help file’s long explanation of the various command options is the following paragraph:
When searching for an executable, if there is no match on any extension,
then [it] looks to see if the name matches a directory name. If it does, the
START command launches the Explorer on that path. If done from the
command line, it is the equivalent to doing a CD /D to that path.
Gizmo says
About 3/4 of the way down these comments, Tracker mentions a utility called ‘TaskLayout freeware’.
I went to their website to check it out, it is not free it costs £37.49 – however if you scroll all the way past the screen shots (nearly to the bottom of the page) there is a utility called ‘TaskSpace’, and is free for personal use, I think it may have been the predecessor to TaskLayout.
I downloaded it to try – when you run the installer it is a 7-Zip self extracting file, make sure to type in ‘TaskSpace’ for a folder name when you are extracting it or you will end up with 10 files scattered around loose.
As for the utility, it took me a couple of goes to get used to the menus and get two explorer windows dropped into it, simply drop the second explorer window onto the title bar of TaskSpace. Also general use of the program can be fiddly, but you get used to it and can work out your own methods. One drawback though is when you close the TaskSpace window, you are left with the two explorer windows sitting there on their own which you have to close seperately.
Right click on the Tray Icon to edit the settings and save layouts.
I find it easier to have the icon displayed all the time, in Windows 10 right click on an empty part of the taskbar, click on Taskbar settings, scroll down and click on ‘Select which icons appear on the taskbar’
I am going to use it for a few days to see if its worth putting up with the drawbacks.
Joseph Horvath says
This didn’t work. I double clicked on the .bat file that I saved to my desktop but it only opened 6 (I wanted to open 6 folders at the one time) black boxes with the path to file details on it. So, it opened these 6 black boxes but not the actual folders.
What now?
Ivan says
Frank, your solution helped in my case (Windows 10), i.e. adding quotes after start and then putting whole folder address to quotes.
Now all my multiple folders open us nicely. Thank you!
Frank says
@Henry Evans
In case anyone is still trying to figure this one out. Try to place Quotes around the file path (“C:\Program Files\Folder Name\etc”) AND also quotes after the start.
start “” “C:\Program Files\Folder Name\etc”
YW.
Andy says
It didnt work in win 10 pro, with or without quote
following the instructions step by step the bat file opened command prompt for all the files path pasted inside.
Stratos says
Dear sir
What if I want to open a folder (at the same time with the others) which has other language characters? (for example ????????)
Thank you
Grass Daddy says
If you need to use spaces in the folder name, you’ll need to use quotes and the explorer application:
start explorer “C:\Program Files\Folder Name\etc”
og go lo says
There’s no point in turning echo off. It does nothing at all, other than hide the commands you sent, which doesn’t matter, since the console window closes when the folders are open anyway.
Thanks anyway. It’s practical to be able to open several folders at once.
CM says
Liz is brilliant – works perfectly and simply!!
admin says
Thanks for the handy tip, Joshua. I have added your tip to the article.
Joshua says
An easy way to open multiple folders is to just select all of them and then while holding down shift and ctrl double click on them and it opens them all up.
admin says
@ Tracker, thanks for the suggestion. Will give it a try.
Tracker says
Have you ever heard of TaskLayout freeware? Launch multiple folders with hotkey, automatically arrange folders on multiple screens, fast and simple layout save/edit.
Denise says
Liz has the best comment EVER – and it works!
Paul says
This did not show what was in the folder i.e. the file so this of little use to me as I have 1600 folders to open and check what file is loaded in each
Liz says
Or you could just right click on folder and select ‘open in new window’…
Henry Evans says
If you leave the quote marks in place on the command line beginning start you will only get command prompt windows and not an open folder.
If you take the quote marks off, you will only get the first window as a proper display, it will fail to find the second or subsequent windows.
So this did not work for me.
Jan Voamcka says
That is so stupid it is beyond belief! There should be an easy option to select
SHOW ALL OPEN FOLDERS ON DISPLAY
and I have to tell you that Edge is USELESS!!
Al says
This did not work for me.
I created the folders bat file. Clicking on this .bat file opened the window where I want to open multiple file in one click. When I highlighted the folders that I wanted to open simultaneously there was no option to say “open”.
???
i