14 DAY TRIAL // File Explorer hasn’t received too many major updates in the last few Windows releases, but Microsoft still implemented a bunch of subtle improvements that could really come in handy to those who haven’t yet jumped to a third-party file manager.
One of them is auto completion, a feature that automatically completes folder names as you type a new path to browse to.
Enabling this feature is a piece of cake, although finding it might actually be more difficult than you’d expect since it’s not placed in File Explorer, but in… Internet Explorer.
How to enable auto completion
For some reason, Microsoft made this option available via Internet Explorer, so just don’t search for it in File Explorer because you’re not going to find it.
Instead, what you need to do is to open the Control Panel first. On Windows 10 Creators Update, that might be a little more difficult given that Microsoft is taking more steps to move all configuration options to the Settings app, but the easiest way is to simply open the Run dialog by pressing Win key + R and typing Control Panel.
Once in Control Panel, click the Network and Internet option, go to Internet Options and open the Advanced tab in the top right corner.
Scroll down for an option that’s called “Use inline AutoComplete in File Explorer and Run Dialog,” make sure it’s checked, click Apply and OK, and that’s basically it.
As you can see, enabling auto completion in File Explorer takes more time to actually reach the option than doing the whole thing, and it’s still hard to find a reason why Microsoft placed it in Internet Explorer settings.
On the good side, however, this tweak is still working correctly in Windows 10 Creators Update and if nothing changes with the Redstone 3 update in September, there’s a good chance it lives on a lot longer.
