The UP button was used in Windows XP to provide the user with an option to display the contents of the parent folder. Microsoft has removed the UP button and replaced it with a breadcrumb structure in the Explorer address bar since then.

These breadcrumbs can be clicked on to display the contents of the folders directly.

windows explorer breadcrumb

Every single directory level is directly accessible from the address bar. Some users, like Samer for instance, seem to prefer using the UP button instead.

Here are three options to navigate UP in Windows Explorer:

1. Breadcrumbs – This is the default option. Breadcrumbs are displayed in Windows Explorer and all the user needs to do is to click on a folder in the structure to display its contents.

2. Keyboard Shortcut – Most Windows users do not know that it is also possible to navigate up by pressing ALT-UP on the keyboard. This is the preferred option of keyboard junkies.

3. Using the UP button – Samer has all the instructions on this one. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users need to download and install the program Classic Shell to add the UP button. It requires ten steps of manual configuration in total as the button will not appear right after installation.

What’s left to say? How do you navigate in Windows Explorer? Let us know in the comments.

A pulldown menu displays the folders and subfolders of the breadcrumb you are clicking on making it much easier to navigate through your folder structure. This saves some time especially if you are like me, I’am a folder junkie. Love to sort everything neatly in folders which means I surely have more folders than the normal user. The tool adds itself seamlessly to the windows explorer and the authors claim that it also works with other themes.