Windows 7: Folder Not Displaying in Explorer

Hi all...

I noticed a couple of days ago that after I installed MS Office 2007, the My Documents folder (which I created on my data drive) did not list in MS Word when I went to open a file. All of the other folders were accounted for. I dismissed this as a slight glitch in MS Office.

This morning, I went to look for a file contained within the My Documents folder using Explorer and the folder was missing. Of course, I was shocked to see this. Thankfully I set up a weekly backup on an external drive, so my data could be recovered there, and that backup just happened to occur last night. Whew. Now, I opened up the backup to restore my files when the backup asked if I wanted to replace the existing file with the backup.

So, essentially, the folder and files exist on my drive, but Explorer and MS Office, etc. are not displaying this folder. This is obviously something that I cannot have as this is my main data folder.

On the weekend I switched "on" the "display hidden files and folders" which mysteriously got turned 'off'. (I always have these listed/visible as I am the only one using my computer). Not sure if this contributed to the issue I'm having now?

Please let me know if there is a fix.

What if you go to Folder Options, and click on "Show all folders"?

I will try that after work today. Would that account for the folder not displaying in MS Office as well? Seems odd that this is happening system-wide (not JUST in Explorer)...

I looked at the Folder Options, and "Show All Folders" was already selected. FYI, I've had this O/S since June, and up until l this week it was working just fine. Now the folder's not displaying, and I can't access files that I used to be able to.

I need to find a solution to this as this is the most accessed folder on my system. Again, any thoughts are appreciated.

Can you check the permissions on this folder and compare it to you other folders?

Let's go at this differently.

Run System File Checker from a command prompt. Please follow the procedure given in this tutorial:
System File Checker - SFC /SCANNOW Command

Before I run the System File Checker, I just noticed that I had "Don't Show Hidden Files, Folders, and Drives" checked in Folder Options.

So... apparently this is a hidden folder (it appears to be 'faded' when listed in Explorer). I just caught on to this. So how is it that this folder is a hidden / system folder? Is it because I named it "My Documents" (a throwback to XP, btw). Is there any way to convert it to a non-hidden folder?

I checked "Show Hidden Files... etc" and it now shows up in Explorer and Word...

That "my documents" is actually a so-called junction point.

What does that mean, exactly? I don't follow...

All I know is that I created that folder when I migrated over from XP. I had that folder backed up and I thought it would be simple to just add it to my new system.

Is there any way to make it a non-hidden folder? Or should I rename it? Or is it OK to leave it as-is?

Thanks. Much appreciated!

Leave it alone.