To add a photo to Favorites in Windows 11, open it in the Photos app and click the favorite control, which independent tutorials describe as a heart in one interface and a star in another. Click the same control again to remove the photo from Favorites. Favorites is an in-app marker: it does not move, copy, or delete the image file.
First, confirm which Photos app you are using
Windows 11 can include two different photo apps, and the steps depend on which one opens:
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- Photos (the newer app). Microsoft’s support documentation describes it as a place to view, import, organize, edit, and share media. It organizes content through folders.
- Photos Legacy. Microsoft documents this as a separate app that keeps features the newer version does not use in the same way, including albums and Video Editor.
To check, click Start, type Photos, and open the result. If the layout or menus do not match the steps below, search Start for Photos Legacy and open that app instead. Favorites controls can differ between the two, so the step that works in one may not appear in the other.
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How to add a photo to Favorites
- Open the Photos app from Start.
- Find the photo you want in your collection and open it so it fills the window.
- Look for the favorite control. In the legacy-style interface described by ElevenForum, it is a heart icon. In the Gallery view described by WindowsLoop, it is a star.
- Click the control once. The photo is now marked as a favorite.
How to remove a photo from Favorites
- Open the same photo in Photos.
- Click the favorite control again. ElevenForum describes it as a toggle, so the same control both adds and removes the marker.
If the control is filled in when a photo is a favorite and outlined when it is not, the state will tell you whether the click will add or remove the marker. That visual pattern is typical of toggle buttons, but the tutorials reviewed do not describe it explicitly, so confirm the state by the icon’s appearance after you click.
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If you cannot find the favorite control
Do not assume the feature has been removed or that your photos are lost. Check these points in order:
- Confirm which app opened. Photos and Photos Legacy are separate experiences, and the favorite control may appear in only one of them.
- Open the photo itself rather than working from the thumbnail grid. Some controls appear only in the single-photo view.
- Make the window wider. A narrow window can hide toolbar icons.
- If you use a different build or an updated version, compare the layout with Microsoft’s current Photos documentation, since the tutorials reviewed were written for specific interfaces and may not match every version.
Favorites is not the same as removing a folder or deleting a file
Three actions are easy to confuse:
- Toggling a favorite changes only the marker inside Photos. The image stays where it is.
- Removing a folder from Photos stops that folder from appearing in the app. Microsoft says the folder’s contents stay on the Windows machine.
- Deleting a photo removes the file itself. For synced OneDrive media, deletion can send files to both the Windows and OneDrive recycle bins. Deleting files from the iCloud Photos synced folder also deletes them from iCloud.
If your goal is only to mark a photo for easy return, use the favorite control and leave the file and its folder untouched.
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What the sources do not establish
The Microsoft support pages reviewed explain the app’s capabilities and the differences between Photos and Photos Legacy, but they do not give a current step-by-step for the favorite control, its location, or any keyboard shortcut. The steps above therefore come from independent tutorials, which describe different icons. Do not assume a favorite set in one app version, a cloud account, or on another device will appear elsewhere; the sources reviewed do not confirm that Favorites markers sync.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchSources: Microsoft Support, “Manage photos and videos with Microsoft Photos app,” “Changes in the new Photos app,” and “What is Photos Legacy?”; ElevenForum, “Add or Remove Favorites in Photos app in Windows 11”; WindowsLoop, “How To Add or Remove Photos from Favorites in the Photos App in Windows 11.”
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