File Explorer tabs arrived for Windows 11 version 22H2 through the KB5019509 update released on October 18, 2022. Since then, Microsoft has expanded and tested aspects of the experience unevenly across builds and Insider channels. The practical approach is to use the documented actions that are present on your PC, rather than rely on claims that every tab feature has been available since 22H2 or that a registry edit can make an unfinished feature reliable.
The two documented ways to open a folder in another tab
Middle-click a folder in the navigation pane
The most direct documented method is to middle-click a folder in File Explorer’s navigation pane. This is the left-hand pane containing locations such as pinned folders and other folder-tree entries.
Microsoft introduced this capability during the File Explorer tab rollout and described it as matching the existing behavior for folders in Explorer’s main content area. In practical use, a mouse with a clickable scroll wheel is the clearest way to perform the action:
- Open File Explorer.
- Locate the destination folder in the navigation pane.
- Press the scroll wheel on that folder rather than left-clicking it.
- Look for a new tab in the File Explorer tab strip.
The important workflow consequence is focus: Microsoft later documented that middle-clicking a folder opens the resulting tab in the background. The folder does open in a separate tab, but File Explorer does not automatically take you away from the tab you were using.
That background behavior is useful when you are assembling a set of locations to visit later. For example, you can open several project folders in tabs without losing your place in the current folder. It is less convenient when the very next task is working in the newly opened folder; in that case, select the new tab after creating it.
The dossier does not establish that middle-click works on every conceivable Explorer item, drive, library, or input configuration. Nor does it establish that a trackpad gesture will consistently act as a middle-click. Those details can depend on Windows build and touchpad-driver settings. If your pointing device does not offer a physical middle-click, use the context menu method below instead of assuming a gesture will work.
Use the “Open in new tab” context-menu command
Where Windows 11 presents an Open in new tab command for a folder, it provides the second documented route:
- Find the folder you want to inspect.
- Right-click the folder.
- Choose Open in new tab.
- Select the new tab when you are ready to work there.
As with middle-clicking, Microsoft documented that this command opens the tab in the background. This is not a fault and does not mean the command failed. It is the designed behavior of the two documented folder-opening commands.
For file-management tasks, background opening can be an advantage. Suppose you are reviewing material in one folder and want to queue several likely destinations for a later move or copy operation. Open each destination in another tab, retain focus on the source folder, then switch tabs only when needed. It preserves the context of the original task instead of repeatedly navigating away and back.
Conversely, neither documented behavior provides a verified built-in setting that makes these two actions open the new tab in the foreground. If foreground focus is essential, the reliable response is a manual click on the created tab. The available material also does not establish whether restoring a classic-style context menu removes this command, or whether Windows offers a supported configuration that retains both that older menu treatment and the new-tab command. Test the menu visible on your own installation before changing shell customizations around it.
What not to assume about ordinary clicking
The presence of tabs does not, on the supplied evidence, prove that ordinary left-clicking or double-clicking a folder can be configured to open it in a new tab. Microsoft’s documented controls distinguish the alternate middle-click and context-menu actions from normal navigation; the available material does not identify a native setting that turns routine folder activation into a new-tab action.
That is a useful boundary for users who want browser-like behavior. A browser can often be configured around link-opening habits, but File Explorer’s folder tabs should not be treated as a complete equivalent. Plan around the documented explicit commands rather than expecting every ordinary folder launch to preserve the active tab.
The same caution applies to keyboard guidance. Ctrl+T is widely described as opening a new Explorer tab and moving focus to it, but the supplied official shortcut material does not establish a key detail that is often added to that advice: it does not say the new tab will always begin at Home. If you use that shortcut on your build, verify the resulting starting location rather than building a workflow on an assumed destination.
New middle-click locations announced in 2026
Microsoft announced an expansion on August 17, 2026: opening folders in a new tab with a middle-click was extended to Address Bar and Home page folders. This is potentially valuable because it brings the tab-opening gesture closer to locations users encounter outside the left navigation tree.
The precise scope matters. This announcement supports middle-click use for the named Address Bar and Home page folder locations; it should not be generalized into a promise that every shell surface, shortcut type, or folder representation behaves the same way. Feature rollouts can vary by build, and Microsoft’s own File Explorer changes show why it is wise to distinguish an announced expansion from a universal, permanent behavior.
For users who have the expanded capability, it can make exploratory navigation faster. You can retain an ongoing work location in one tab while opening an address-path folder or a Home-listed folder for reference. If nothing happens when you middle-click one of these surfaces, check whether the current Windows build includes the announced behavior rather than treating the result as a mouse failure.
Tab duplication is not an original 22H2 feature
A separate convenience feature is tab duplication: right-clicking an existing File Explorer tab and creating another copy of it. This can be especially useful when you want two independent views starting at the same location—for instance, one as a source folder and one as a destination for a different branch of work.
However, it is inaccurate to say this was available on every Windows 11 system with File Explorer tabs. Microsoft only documented the ability as a gradual rollout to Insider Beta builds in May 2024. Tabs themselves had been available through the October 2022 update, so there is a substantial gap between the arrival of tabs and this later duplication rollout.
The practical lesson is simple: if a tab’s right-click menu on your system does not include a duplication command, do not assume the feature is broken or try to force it through unsupported tweaks. Use the documented folder-opening methods instead. Availability can be tied to a particular Windows build and rollout state.
The provided material also does not verify several tab-management claims sometimes grouped with duplication, including particular close-menu commands, tab reordering details, drag-and-drop workflows involving a tab, and universally reliable restoration of recently closed tabs. Treat the controls visible in your current Explorer window as the authority for your installed version.
The desktop and external-folder experiment: why the distinction matters
One of the more confusing File Explorer changes concerned folders launched from outside File Explorer, such as from the desktop or another app. This was a limited preview behavior, not a blanket redesign of in-Explorer navigation.
In December 2024, a Windows 11 Beta release made external folder launches open in a new tab of an existing File Explorer window by default. That fact qualifies sweeping claims that Microsoft never made tabs the default in any context. It did do so for this defined preview scenario.
But the history also shows why users should not depend on it as a stable preference. The behavior was paused in January 2025 to address issues, resumed in an April 7, 2025 Beta build, and then its rollout was stopped again in Dev and Beta on November 17, 2025 because it was not working correctly.
This is not the same feature as middle-clicking a folder or choosing Open in new tab from within File Explorer. The latter are direct in-window user actions. The experiment concerned what Windows should do when a folder is invoked from a different surface while an Explorer window is already open. Mixing the two leads to bad troubleshooting: a working middle-click does not show that the external-launch experiment is active, and an external launch opening a separate window does not disprove the availability of folder tabs.
The supplied material does not establish whether the experimental external-folder behavior returned in a later Insider build or whether it reached stable Windows 11 after the November 2025 pause. For that reason, it should be regarded as an unstable rollout history, not as a dependable configuration target.
Be careful with registry-based workarounds
An independent Windows community document identifies a registry value named OpenFolderInNewTab under the current user’s Explorer settings. That observation alone is not enough to establish a supported solution, a universal availability switch, or a reliable way to activate behavior that Windows has not rolled out to a particular build.
Microsoft’s available documentation does not validate the claim that manually setting this value can only toggle code already included in a particular build. Nor does it establish the value’s effect across Windows releases. Given the documented pauses to the external-folder rollout for correctness problems, a registry modification is a poor substitute for a feature that Microsoft has actually enabled and documented on the installed build.
For most users, the safer order of operations is to use middle-click or the context-menu command for intentional background tabs, check the tab menu for features already available on the PC, and avoid treating an experimental external-launch behavior as a registry setting that can be made permanent.
A practical tab workflow that remains within the documented behavior
For routine work, treat File Explorer tabs as a way to queue locations while maintaining concentration on your current task:
- Keep the folder you are actively sorting open in the selected tab.
- Middle-click likely destination folders in the navigation pane, or use Open in new tab where it appears.
- Expect those new tabs to remain in the background.
- Switch to a queued destination only when you need it.
- Use tab duplication only if its command is present on your version; it was not part of the original 2022 tab release.
This approach avoids depending on unverified assumptions about double-click configuration, touchpad gestures, exact keyboard-tab destinations, or registry values. It also reflects what File Explorer tabs demonstrably do well: keep several folder locations collected within one Explorer session while leaving the user—not an unpredictable automatic rule—in control of which tab receives focus.
Windows 11’s File Explorer tab story is still best understood as a set of specific actions and staged enhancements rather than one universal “open folders in tabs” switch. Use the explicit commands for reliable results, and view the desktop and external-folder behavior as an experiment whose rollout history is a warning against overpromising what tabs will do automatically.