The following articles explains how to move special folders like My Documents to another partition or location. This is actually easier than it sounds in Windows 7.

Let us take a look at where those folders are located by default in the Windows 7 operating system:

All user accounts are created in the Users folder on the partition the operating system is installed on, usually c:\Users\. The special folders are located in the user folders, e.g. C:\Users\Martin\Music or C:\Users\Martin\Documents.

One option to move the folders is to use symbolic links, a method that we have described in detail in a previous tutorial.

But that is not the easiest option as Windows 7 offers an even better solution to moving the My folders to another location. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder of the user whose My Documents folder should be moved to another location, e.g. C:\Users\Martin\.

Locate the folder that you want to move to another location, we use the My Documents folder in this example but the same principle applies to My Pictures, My Videos, My Music, Downloads and basically every folder in the user directory that is created by default during the user creation.

Right-click the desired folder and select Properties from the menu. Switch in the new window to the location tab which should look like the following screenshot.

The menu displays the current path of the folder and the three buttons Restore Default, Move and Find Target.

Restore Default simply moves the files back to the default location of the folder. Move will open a file browser with the option to pick a new folder where there files will be stored from then on while Find Target opens a Windows Explorer window with the folder selected.

The path to the new folder can also be pasted directly into the form. Selecting a new folder and clicking apply will open a Move Folder query that displays the old and new folder location and the option to move all files that are currently in the folder to the new location so that they can programs that need to access them can do so after the move.

It is recommended to move the files if they need to be accessed by applications or services which is for instance the case for the save game folder or some of the other user folders.

Many users on the other hand are not using those folders and would like to replace them with folders that they use regularly. To remove the default folders a user would have to right-click on a blank space of the Windows Startmenu and select Properties. This opens a new window that is displaying a Customize button in the middle.

A click on that button opens another window with two tabs. Clicking on the Advanced tab finally leads to the place where the settings for that part of the Startmenu can be changed. The options are to display the item as a link, as a menu or to not display the item at all.

The above image is showing the default Windows Startmenu. Only the entries on the left have been edited while the items on the right show the default system folders.

Kelly’s Korner has posted two vbs scripts that replace the My Pictures and My Music folder with custom folders selected by the user.

Both scripts perform the same operation. They ask the user for a new folder that he wants to show on the right side of the Windows Startmenu. The custom folder replaces the My Music or My Pictures link that is usually shown there.

This means that it is possible to add at least two custom folders to the right pane of the Windows Startmenu. There is another option that might appeal to users as well. It is possible to display the Favorites folder in there as well.

Moving files and folders to the favorite folder would display them in there as well if the user chooses to display the folder as a menu. The favorites folder can be enabled in the in the same settings where the other Startmenu entries can be enabled and disabled.