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

 

[Brink]

Tim,

It appears that you may need to do a repair install then.

 

[timcuss]

Thanks shawn, It works after i repair installed. =D

 

[Brink]

You're welcome Tim. That's great news.

 

[CarlSt]

Can't pin multiple instances of Thunderbird

My wife and I are both using Thunderbird and each have our own profile. I have two Thunderbird shortcuts on the desktop, one for each of us, with the appropriate command line arguments to bring up our respective profiles. I can only get one icon to pin to the taskbar, however.

How can I get both icons pinned to the taskbar?

 

[Brink]

Hello Carl, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Since they are the same program, that would be why you are not able to pin both to the taskbar using the normal Pin to taskbar context menu option.

If you like, you could enable Quick Launch as a workaround, then be able to add both Thunderbird shortcuts inside Quick Launch to have them on the taskbar though.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[CarlSt]

Thanks!

Shawn, Thanks for the tip. It worked great. By moving the QuickLaunch bar to the left side and selecting large icons I get just what I was looking for.

 

[Brink]

You're most welcome Carl. I'm happy to hear that worked for you.

 

[ryancompnews]

Hello Ryan, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Are you able to right click on those program's shortcuts (ex: in the Start Menu) or exe files, and click on* Pin to Taskbar* to do so?

When I right click on any of them, there is no option for "Pin to Taskbar". Nothing on my desktop has that option or the option to Pin to Quick Start. I may have used one of the Tweak programs to remove the shortcut arrows, but I am not sure which it was yet.

 

[Brink]

Hello Ryan,

Since you are missing the "Pin to taskbar" option, then download and merge the lnk (LNK) option in the tutorial below to restore the IsShortcut registry key entry for shortcuts to see if that will help restore the "Pin to taskbar" option afterwards.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/19449-default-file-type-associations-restore.html

 

[xshortx]

How to unpin Windows Media Player

Hello

How to unpin permanently Windows Media Player?
I tried unpin it, but after restart it comes back again
I have also removed it from
C:\Users\(user-name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
but it still there
any advise?

 

[Brink]

Hello Short, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It sounds like something may be corrupted. Let's see if resetting the pinned taskbar items may help.

• First, make note of the icons you wanted to keep on the taskbar, to make it easier to pin them back when finished since they will all be removed.
• Download the attached BAT file below.
• Right click on the downloaded BAT file and click on Run as administrator.
• This will reset and remove all pinned taskbar icons.
• Now, manually pin the icons you wanted back to the taskbar.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[moshe]

I have an item on my taskbar that I want to unpin. I get no menu popping up when I left click the button, and it works fine when I right click it, I just don't want it there anymore. I tried going into the file that contains the shortcuts, and it doesn't appear in there. I have tried restarting numerous times. What can I do???

 

[Brink]

Hello Moshe, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Normally you would right click on a pinned taskbar icon and click on "Unpin this program from taskbar" to remove it from the taskbar.

Could you post a screenshot showing this to help see what may be wrong?

 

[X10]

Hi all,
I'm hoping someone might have an answer as I have been looking all over but can't find anything similar.

If I pin an item from the Most Frequent Used Programs on the Start Menu to the Taskbar the program is removed from the Most Frequent Used Programs list.
(If I unpin it from the Taskbar it appears back on the Most Frequent Used Programs list).

This only recently started happening, but I can't recall it coinciding with anything I did.

It used to be that I could have the program, with it's jump list, in the Start Menu Most Frequent Used Programs and on the Taskbar.
Does anyone know how to get this behaviour back?

Thank you!

 

[Brink]

Hello X10,

What happens if you pin it from the source location instead of from the "Most Frequent" location?

 

[X10]

Hi Brink,
Thank you for the super fast response!

The same result happens if I pin it from the source folder from Explorer, the Start Menu->All Programs or the Most Frequent Used Programs.

Happy to try any other suggestions!

I tried turning off and on the Most Frequent Used Programs list in the Start Menu properties and deleting all the items in it, still the same.

I am right that the behaviour I'm seeing isn't normal?

X10

 

[Brink]

It shouldn't be removed from the most used list when only pinning to taskbar.

As a test, create a new shortcut on your desktop, and pin it to the taskbar to see if it's still removed from the list.

If it does, then try creating the shortcut with "explorer" at the beginning of the target location.

 

[X10]

It shouldn't be removed from the most used list when only pinning to taskbar.

Good, glad I'm not going mad.

As a test, create a new shortcut on your desktop, and pin it to the taskbar to see if it's still removed from the list.

Still removed

If it does, then try creating the shortcut with "explorer" at the beginning of the target location.

Also removed

 

[Brink]

I guess you may need to "Pin to Start" the app to also keep it available on the Start menu.

 

[X10]

Short of re-installing Windows, is there any specific components that deal with the Start Menu and Most Frequently Used policies that I could restore to default, or replace from another Windows 7 installation?

Pinning to start seems counterintuitive to the whole process.