Windows 8.1: The Missing Manual

Libraries

Libraries, which debuted in Windows 7, are like folders, with one difference: They can display the contents of other folders from all over your PC—and even from other PCs on your network. In other words, a library doesn’t really contain anything at all. It simply monitors other folders and provides a single “place” to work with all their contents.

POWER USERS’ CLINIC: Hiding and Showing Individual Libraries

Microsoft thinks libraries are very important. After all, libraries get one of the coveted spots in the navigation pane at the left side of every single Explorer window.

You, however, may not consider all of them equally important. You might not use your PC for music at all. You might not have any videos.

Or maybe you love libraries, but you don’t want all of them listed in the nav pane, either for privacy reasons or clutter reasons.

In each of these cases, it’s nice to know you can hide a library so that its name doesn’t appear in the nav pane. Just right-click the library’s name; from the shortcut menu, choose “Don’t show in navigation pane.” Poof! It’s gone (just the listing, not the library itself).

You can, fortunately, bring the library listing back. It’s still sitting in your Personal→Libraries folder. To see it, click the word “Libraries” in any window’s navigation pane. Right-click the library’s icon; from the shortcut menu, choose “Show in navigation pane.” Foop! It’s back in the list. (Or, if you’ve really made a mess, right-click the word “Libraries” in the nav ...