Add a newly opened tab to Recent

I want to create a shortcut/link from a selected file (@OriginalPath) to another folder (TargetPath), so I open this TargetPath in a new tab, then switch back to the OriginalPath and run the shortcut/link command, which opens the "Select Destination Folder" menu.
However, the Recent list has no TargetPath! It only gets added when I close this new tab or navigate to another folder (e.g. folder up or enter a subfolder).
Is there a way to enable updating the Recent list immediately when a new tab is opened without having to do the extra step?

(also discovered an interesting quirk — when testing opening different target paths via different methos I've noticed that "C:\Windows\Fonts" gets added to the Recent list right away, but then it does some UI change (adds a toolbar), so maybe that's why)

Thank you

Where are you viewing the recent list?

Folders are normally added to it as soon as they are opened in a tab.

in the Select Destination Folder menu that automatically appears once I invoke the link command

  1. I've just opened the Documents folder in a new tab
  2. I go back to folder t
  3. I invoke the link command on a file inside t
  4. Recent list has no Documents, but has another folder I've just opened and closed before opening point 1.

Untitled

Unless it only happens with Documents (which can be a weird folder, depending on which of the shell's multiple folders named "Documents" it is and how you navigated to it), I can't think why that would happen. It uses the same recent list as everything else, which gets updated as soon as the new tab opens.

Is it in the Tabs drop-down at the bottom of your screenshot? Any path currently open in a folder tab should also be listed in there.

Nope, it happens with all regular folders, they don't get added right away. Windows/Fonts is the only exception I found by chance.
Is there a portable/clean mode or something I could temporarily launch/switch to to see if any of the scripts/configs/etc interfere (without having to reinstall)?

Yes, it is, but it's very inconvenient to select tabs and jump to the end — it's faster to use a different workaround:

  • shortcut to enable Dual Display
  • go back and create a link - then you don't even need a list
  • shortcut to disable Dual Display
    ...but it's still more trouble vs the supposed behavior - where the most Recent folder is on top and all I have to do is press Enter

Which method are you using to open the new tab? Maybe I didn't try the same thing.

All of them :slight_smile:

  • Kbshortcut to open a duplicate tab via Go CURRENT NEWTAB, go two folders up and see the parent folder appear on top of the Recent list
  • Kbshortcut to open a mini-panel with a list of Favorites, pick any, go one folder up and see the original Favorite appear on top of the Recent list
  • find a random folder in Everything, double click to open it in a new tab, ...
  • double click on a link from the desktop to open it in a new tab, ...
  • right click to run open in new Tab context menu command, ...

In all of these the folder gets added only after I perform some extra navigational step

Go CURRENT doesn't add to the recent list. (I think the logic there is that the current folder would already be in the recent list if it was of interest.)

Going to the parent folder also doesn't add to the recent list. (I think the logic there is that you'll often be going up several levels on the way to finding somewhere else, and the intermediate levels aren't of interest and could easily flood everything else out of the list.)

Most other methods of navigating to folders or opening new tabs, that don't involve the current folder, the parent folder, or using the history or recent list itself should add things to the recent list. e.g. If you drag a folder from the file display or folder tree to the tab bar to open a new tab for it, that should immediately add that folder to the recent list.

The Tabs list is really the best place to go if you want to find a folder which is currently open in another tab.

That's a faulty logic. I could've switched to a tab that was long ago removed from the recent list by other more recent folders. Also I think that such a specific user action as opening a new tab should prioritize the recency even if it's already in the list

But it does, the only parent that's not added is the immediate parent, if I keep going up, the previous ones are getting added and are "flooding" the list (not that I mind, it's a correct representation of what's going on — these are indeed the folders I've visited recently, but even if not, the fact that I've stopped going up and switched to another tab should be enough of an indication that the parent folder is not an intermediary location)

Hate dragging, a ^Enter or ^MButton is so much more convenient

But it's not, I don't need just a tab that is open (and waste time looking through a differently sorted (alphabetically) vertical list vs. the one I'm familiar with — the horizontal tab bar itself sorted manually), I need the most recent one at the top!

I'm looking for a more efficient way to create links to files in other folders without the hack of a temp dual-pane view and the Recent list is the most logical alternative (if it worked)