Taskbar - Pin or Unpin a Program

How to Pin or Unpin a Program to the Windows 7 Taskbar​

   Information

This will show you how to Pin or Unpin a .exe file or shortcut of a installed program to the Windows 7 taskbar as a icon on the taskbar.

   Note

The pinned taskbar items are located in this hidden system folder:

C:\Users\(User-Name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar

The default icon links on the taskbar is Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and Windows Explorer (opens to Libraries).

   Tip

Each program icon pinned to the taskbar can be opened by pressing the Windows key + 1 to 0 (1-10) keyboard shortcuts. You would use a number for how the program icons are ordered on the taskbar from left to right (for top or bottom) or top to bottom (for left or right) desktop location.

   Warning

You will need to have Recent Items turned on to see the recent items in a pinned program's Jump List.

EXAMPLE: New Taskbar

OPTION ONE

To Pin a Program to the Taskbar

NOTE: You can use step 2 or 3 to pin a folder in the Windows Explorer taskbar icon jump list.
1. Right click on a program exe file or shortcut that you want to pin to the taskbar, and click on Pin to Taskbar. (See screenshot below)

OR

2. Drag a file that has a program associated for it (ex: .txt file for Notepad) to a empty area on the taskbar until you see the Pin to (program name) (ex: Pin to notepad.exe) pop-up, then drop it. (See screenshot below)
NOTE: This will pin the program (ex: Notepad) to the taskbar with the file (ex: txt) included in it's right click menu.

OR

3. Drag a program .exe file or shortcut (ex: CCLeaner), to a empty area of the taskbar until you see the Pin to Taskbar pop-up, then drop it. (See screenshot below)

OR

4. Right click on a open window taskbar button or icon that you want to pin to the taskbar, and click on Pin this program to the Taskbar. (See screenshot below)

OR

5. Pin to program's jump list. (See screenshot below)

OPTION TWO

To Unpin a Program to the Taskbar

1. Right click on a pinned taskbar icon link that you want to unpin, and click on Unpin this program from the Taskbar. (See screenshot below)

OR

2. Unpin from program's jump list. (See screenshot below)

That's it,
Shawn

Related Tutorials

---

• How to Backup and Restore Pinned Taskbar Items in Windows 7
• How to Reset and Clear All Pinned Items on the Taskbar in Windows 7
• How to Pin or Unpin a Folder to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Pin or Unpin Items in Windows 7 Jump Lists
• How to Enable or Disable Pinning and Unpinning of Items in Windows 7 Jump Lists
• How to Pin Computer to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Pin the Recycle Bin to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Pin Your User Files Folder to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Taskbar Pinned Programs
• How to Enable or Disable Windows 7 Taskbar Button Grouping
• How to Use Small or Large Icons on the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Pin or Unpin a Program to the Windows 7 Start Menu
• How to Enable or Disable QuickLaunch in Windows 7
• How to Lock or Unlock the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Move the Windows 7 Taskbar Location on the Desktop
• How to Show or Hide the Windows 7 Taskbar with Auto-hide
• How to Turn Recent Programs On or Off in Windows 7
• How to Change the Windows 7 Pinned Windows Explorer Taskbar Icon Open To Target
• How to Open and Use Windows 7 Start Menu and Taskbar Jump Lists
• How to Change the Windows 7 Taskbar Icon Width Size
• How to Center the Taskbar Icons in Windows 7
• How to Create a Internet Website Shortcut in Windows 7
• How to Pin or Unpin a Drive to the Windows 7 Taskbar
• How to Restore Missing "Pin to Taskbar" and "Pin to Start Menu" Context Menu Items in Windows 7 Shortcuts
• How to Add or Remove "Pin to Taskbar" from Context Menu in Windows 7 and Windows 8
• How to "Pin to Taskbar" Transparent Invisible Icons for Programs in Windows 7
• How to Create a Shortcut of a File, Folder, Drive, or Program in Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8

 

[daniel2]

yes. this is what i meant! thank you very much for your help, I will let you know how it goes when I try it after I get home.

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Daniel. Hope it goes well.

 

[daniel2]

i figured it out. both boxes in the properties menu have to be checked for the taskbar to allow you to pin something to windows explorer. this doesn't really make sense to me. just because something is pinned somewhere doesn't mean it is a recent item. pinning abilities should be independent of frequency of use or recentness.

thanks again for your help.

 

[Brink]

Daniel,

I'm happy to hear that you got it sorted out now. Yeah, you would think the they would make that separate.

 

[xzrd]

i´m sorry but when i tried to pin a shortcut from the desktop, this is what happens:

theres a red icon instead of the blue arrow

Please help!

 

[Brink]

Hello Xzrd, and welcome to Seven Forums,

Do you have Recent Programs and Recent Items turned on?

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[darkassain]

Hello Xzrd, and welcome to Seven Forums,

Do you have Recent Programs and Recent Items turned on?

Hope this helps,
Shawn

hey brink just wanted to let you know that they might be a workaround for folders and have no idea how i made i get here but i got







oh and its unstable meaning that it will disapear and will go to the windows explorer shortcut and click and it will regain focus...

oh and it behaves like wmp x64 meaning that the name would not be shown correctly...

 

[Brink]

Hi DA,

That does look interesting. To bad it is not stable though. I'll have to look into one.

Thank you,
Shawn

 

[Fritz Fraghof]

I know it is possible to drag a file that has a program associated for it (ex: .txt file for Notepad) to an empty area on the taskbar, so as to pin it.

However is it possible to pin the file itself, so one doesn't have to right click on the program icon, then move the mouse up and left click on the file you want opened. It was possible to open a file pinned to the quickstart area in Windows XP with one step, and now it seems to be three steps - my only complaint with Windows 7 so far. But I might just be missing a simple solution..

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Fritz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sorry but no, you cannot pin a document for a program like that separately onto the taskbar in Windows 7.

However, you can use the same method for adding Quick Launch to the taskbar to add a folder with your documents instead on the right side of the taskbar.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[Fritz Fraghof]

Hello Fritz, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Thank you. These forums are a great help.

you can use the same method for adding Quick Launch to the taskbar to add a folder with your documents instead on the right side of the taskbar.

Ahh that is good enough for me. Thanks very much!

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Fritz. I'm happy to hear that will work for you.

 

[joe7dust]

Anyone know how to pin 'Show Desktop' with this? It is not an option in the context menu. I used QL mainly for a way to quickly show my desktop when it is block by other windows. If I have several open it is way easier than hitting minimize 5 times.

Currently I have to enable the old QL to be able to use the 'Show Desktop' icon and it is annoying because it seems to take up more space than if I had just pinned it in the new way.

 

[Brink]

Hello Joe, and welcome to Seven Forums.

You do already have a built-in Show Desktop button on the far right of the taskbar.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[dw96]

no more objectdock for me!! SK

I was on ObjectDock too! Used it when I was running Vista. Boy oh boy... Vista... What a friggin slow peice of nothing that was... I'm GLAD I got rid of it. Not taking my words back.. EVER.

@Shawn - Great tutorial, a little bit beginner style though - Sad I can't rep [Sorry, you cannot give reputation to this post.]

 

[joe7dust]

Oh wow that is very nice, I like the 'Peek' function from mouseover. Thanks for the fast reply!

Is there any way to drag this to the left next to the Start button like I'm used to?

 

[Brink]

You're welcome DW96. That's ok. Thank you anyway.



Joe,

You could create a Show Desktop shortcut and place it in a folder, then pin the folder to the taskbar as a icon to have it like that.

 

[RagnaRok]

Hi all! ^^

There´s a method to create a shorcut to a folder in taskbar of Windows 7?

In Windows Vista or XP it´s possible without problems, only dragging shorcut to taskbar but in Windows 7 it´s not possible.

Thanks!!!

 

[Brink]

Hi all! ^^

There´s a method to create a shorcut to a folder in taskbar of Windows 7?

In Windows Vista or XP it´s possible without problems, only dragging shorcut to taskbar but in Windows 7 it´s not possible.

Thanks!!!

Hello RagnaRok, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Yes, you can use the method in the tutorial below to pin a folder to the taskbar.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/9305-taskbar-pin-unpin-folder.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[nomadgamer13]

ive got a problem.... everything i pinned to the taskbar was working but when i enabled quicklaunch and put shortcuts to my drives everything stopped working.... when i click each item on the taskbar this window pops up: "it might have been moved, renamed or deleted... do you want to remove this item?".... so i removed everything, started again, now each time i .exe to the taskbar a quicklaunch folder will be created on the desktop.... the item would work but when i deleted the quicklaunch folder the window would pop up again.... does anybody here encountered this?