Activate autocomplete in Windows/file Explorer

Windows/file Explorer has a useful Autocomplete feature that’s disabled by default. After enabling it, you can start typing the name of any location on your PC into Explorer’s search bar at the top. Before you finish typing you’ll see suggested options that you can click to open.

To enable this feature, you first need to open your PC’S Registry Editor as an Administrator. Click inside Windows’ search field at the bottom left of your desktop, type regedit, right-click the ‘regedit’ option that appears, click ‘Run as administrator’, then click Yes.

Now navigate to the following key using the dropdown menus on the left: HKEY_CURRENT _USER\S OFTWARE\ Microsoft\ windows\c urrentversion\ Explorer. If you don’t see an Autocomplete key in the Explorer dropdown menu, right-click the Explorer dropdown menu, move your cursor to New, click Key, then name this Autocomplete.

Next, click your Autocomplete key, right-click any blank area on the right, move your cursor to New, click String Value and rename this Autosuggest. Double-click this, type yes in the ‘Value data’ field (see screenshot), then click OK and close the Registry Editor.

From now on, whenever you start typing inside Windows/file Explorer’s search field, you’ll see a list of suggested locations – click the one you want. You can remove this feature by setting Autosuggest’s ‘Value data’ field to ‘no’, or by right-clicking Autosuggest and clicking Delete.