Customize your Default Files Save Locations in Windows 10

Introduction

In Windows 10, Microsoft is adding some new features and one of the news features allows customization of the file save locations. In Windows 10 you can save pictures, videos documents and music in other external storage. By default they have their own locations, local storage including respective names within File Explorer. When you save any of these, they congregate in their respective folders under local storage. Microsoft has designed another feature that empowers you to choose another drive to save them henceforth. While you are running the camera app on Windows 10 PC and take images or shoot a video, they are automatically stored into the Pictures folder. Or after working on a Word document, when you save for the first time you are are directed to store it in the Documents folder.

So, these are the default locations already set to save this stuff. But Windows 10 allows you to set another drive where you can store them. You can save them in any drive of your system. But the changes will take place to the new files only. The old stuff will remain stored in the original location and not be copied. Stuff that you save after the modification will be saved to the other drive. A sub-folder is automatically created in your selected drive where the items will be saved.

The following is the procedure to customize your default file save locations in Windows 10.

Step 1

Click on the Home button and go to Settings.

 
Figure 1: Setting app

Step 2

After clicking on Settings a new window will open. Select the System category.  

Figure 2: System category symbol

Step 3

Look for Storage in the left Side bar of the available settings and click on it.

 

 
Figure 3: Storage

Step 4

Have a look at your right window and select to the second section, save locations. 

 
Figure 4: Save Locations 

Step 5

In the Save locations section under the Storage settings you can see the most commonly used Documents, Pictures, Music and Videos storage locations are listed with a drop-down menu for each. 

 
Figure 5: Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos drop-down menu with drives

Step 6

Now, click on the individual drop-down menu to change its drive location. Assume you want to save the Videos location to another drive. Then click on videos and from the list of your system then select the drive you want to save your videos to. Now, whenever you make any videos from your Camera app, they are saved in the fresh set drive.

 

 

Figure 6: Change Drive to Save Files.

 

Now you can change all the locations depending on your requirements.

The only drawback of this feature is that you will only save files to these locations after changing the settings. If there are any files already stored in the previous locations or any of the other folders, those files will not be moved to the new location.

Summary

This article showed how to customize your default file save locations in Windows 10.