Say you have a folder you use a lot but don't want to just have to click to where it is all the time, well this is how you make a folder shortcut in thunar file manager. Go to the folder and right click and choose create symlink close to the bottom. Now drag that symlink you just created to the left side panel and place it at the bottom of the Places area, not into another folder. Now you have a shortcut to that folder available at all times to make it faster doing what you want to do.