How to create folder shortcuts in file manager?

Under Thunar file manager, you can add to the shortcut pane by dragging items there as shown in the Thunar documentation.

An alternative to drag and drop is the Send To menu:

1. Right-click on the folder you want to add as bookmark
2. Send to → Side Pane (Create Shortcut)

Drag and drop didn’t work for me. According to a post in the thread Thunar bookmarks are broken. Salix64 Xfce 14.1, the reason is the missing file ~/.gtk-bookmarks. After using the Send To method once, the file gets created (you could create it manually, too). When this file exists, drag and drop works again.

As the bookmarks get saved in this .gtk-bookmarks file (might depend on your version, though), another alternative is editing it directly:

file:///home/unor/photos/new
file:///home/unor/Downloads

Do this:

1. right-click on the folder you want
2. in the contextual menu, put the pointer on "Send to"
3. and then click "Side-pane (Create shortcut)"

edit: sorry, I didn't see the above answer. I only saw the complaint about drag & drop not working.