At the start of every training course, I show participants a few really useful features of the Microsoft Office programs. These features save you time during a busy workday. One such feature is Autocorrect, another is the ability to pin a file or folder permanently into the Open or Save list. This wonderful feature is available across Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Vision, and Word.

The Recent Files list will show you the last 25 files you have opened. You can pin or stick any of these files to the Open list and ensure quick and easy access in the future. Likewise, you can also pin an entire folder giving you access to the content immediately. I use a keyboard shortcut to access the Open file list which gives me very quick access to my favourite files within any program.

  1. Open your choice of Microsoft Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio, or Word, for this example, I am using Microsoft Word
  2. If the Start screen is displayed, select to open a blank file

  1. Select Open from the left side of the screen to see the Recent Open list
  2. You will see the last 25 files you have accessed by date:

  1. Hover your mouse over the file you wish to pin to the list, don’t click on it or it will open instead
  2. You will see the Pin icon displayed on the right-hand side of the file details

  1. Click the pin with the left mouse button
  2. The file is now moved to the top of the Open window and displayed under the Pinned heading

  1. Repeat the process to add any additional files to the Pinned section

If the file you wish to pin is not displayed in the Recent open list, you will need to firstly open the file, then go back into the Open list to pin it.

To unpin a file

If you no longer require a file or folder which you have pinned to your list, you can easily remove it by reversing the process and clicking the pin icon again. The file will drop back down into the normal list with the other files or folders.

Reference: https://www.thetraininglady.com/pin-a-file-folder/