How to Pin a Website, Folder, Drive, or Files to the Taskbar in Windows 11

The most foolproof way to pin an app to the taskbar is to open it first, then follow these steps:

1. Right-click your app and press “Pin to taskbar”

   That's it. When you close the app, you'll notice that its icon is still on your taskbar.

   

If your app is already pinned to your Start menu, pinning it to the taskbar is a simple matter:

1. Press, the Start button, right-click your app icon, and press “Pin to taskbar”

   The app will instantly be added to your taskbar.

   

If the app isn't pinned to your Start Menu, there's another easy way to pin it: the “All apps” menu. Here's how to use it:

1. Press Start and then “All apps” in the top-right

   

2. Scroll down the app list, right-click your app and press “Pin to taskbar”

   

If you already know where a shortcut to your app is, such as on your desktop, you can navigate there with File Explorer and pin it to your taskbar via the context menu. Here's how to pin a shortcut to your taskbar using that method:

1. Right-click the shortcut and press “Show more options”

   

2. Find “Pin to taskbar” in the list and click it

   

If you're wondering how to pin Google to the taskbar, or any site really, the easy answer is to navigate to it in Microsoft Edge. The browser has a built-in pin to taskbar shortcut that makes things very simple.

While similar functionality exists in Chrome and Firefox, it only creates a shortcut rather than pinning it directly. As a result, using Edge will be quicker for most people:

1. Visit the website, press the three dots in the top-right corner, and choose “More tools > Pin to taskbar”

   

2. Give your taskbar pin a name and press “Pin”

   

If you're tired of laboriously navigating to drives in File Explorer, you can pin the most important ones to your taskbar. Here's how:

1. Open the “This PC” section in File Explorer, right-click your drive, and select “Show more options”

   Your drive will be located in the “Devices and drives” section of This PC.

   

2. Click on “Create shortcut”

   

3. Press “Yes” to the warning dialog

   Windows will place the shortcut on your desktop instead of in the This PC menu, as its unable to create a shortcut there.

   

4. Go to your desktop, right-click your drive shortcut and press “Alt + Enter”

   

5. Open the “Shortcut” tab of Properties and add explorer to the target field

   You should type “explorer” followed by a space, and then your drive letter, as pictured below. Then press “Apply” at the bottom.

   

6. (Optional) Press “Change Icon…”

   

7. Type “imageres.dll” in the icon field and press Enter, then choose an icon from the list

   Press “OK” to apply the icon to your shortcut.

   

8. Press “OK” again

   

9. Right-click your shortcut and choose “Show more options”

   

10. Press “Pin to taskbar”

    Your drive, complete with its new icon will be pinned to your taskbar.

    

If you have a file that you access frequently for work, you can pin that to the taskbar, too. We'll use the example of an Excel spreadsheet:

1. Navigate to the file in File Explorer, right-click it, and press “Show more options”

   

2. Press “Send to > Desktop” in the context menu

   

3. Go to your desktop and right-click the file, then press “Alt + Enter”

   If your icon is not on the desktop you probably have your desktop icons hidden. To show them again, right-click the desktop and press “View > Show desktop icons”.

   

4. Open the “Shortcut” tab and add “explorer ” in front of the shortcut target

   Make sure you add a space after the “explorer” and press “Apply” when you're done.

   

5. Click “Change Icon…”

   

6. Enter “imageres.dll” in the browse field and press Enter, then choose an icon

   Press “OK” to apply the new icon.

   

7. Press “OK” again in the properties window

   

8. Right-click the shortcut on your desktop and press “Show more options”

   

9. Click “Pin to taskbar”

   

For easier access to commonly used folders, you can pin them too. The method is much the same as pinning a drive or folder:

1. Right-click the folder and press “Show more options”

   

2. Choose “Send to > Desktop”

   

3. Right-click the shortcut on your desktop and press Alt + Enter

   If you don't see the shortcut it's because you have to show desktop icons first.

   

4. Open the shortcut tab and type “explorer ” before the folder path

   Make sure you include the space after “explorer” and press “Apply”.

   

5. Click “Change Icon…”

   

6. Enter “imagres.dll” in the browse bar, press Enter, and choose an icon.

   You can then press “OK” to apply the icon.

   

7. Press “OK” again in the shortcut properties

   

8. Right-click the shortcut on your desktop and press “Show more options > Pin to taskbar”