Pinning Special Items on Windows Taskbar

It is fairly easy to pin some ordinary files and folders on the taskbar but  how about if you want to pin something special like the Computer icon, Libraries section, Network and other Control Panel stuff and Administrative Tools? If you already tried doing so but found no success afterwards then you need to learn some simple steps which you would surely be surprised with. Read through this tutorial and feel like an expert in tweaking the taskbar afterwards. You’ll surely love some of the steps that we’ll be showing you and even be amazed of the things that you can do with one of the most used and easily abused part of the Windows system.

What Exactly is the Taskbar?

First, you need to know where to find your computer’s taskbar and know what it’s capable of doing. The taskbar is found on the bottom part of your computer screen and is always there no matter what type of Window you open (except if you are watching a video in full screen).

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The taskbar holds the icons of all the programs and application that you open and provides easy access to it anytime. You are also take some items you consider to be important and pin them on the taskbar so you can easily launch them without going to the start menu. The following items will describe some ways on how you can pin some special items on the taskbar.

Pinning Some Categories of the Windows Explorer

If you want to pin some items of the Windows Explorer like the Computer, Libraries, Network or Favorites section then you need to follow the steps below:

Step 1. Go to Windows Explorer then select the category that you want to pin to the taskbar from the left side pane. First, you need to create a shortcut of the item. You can simply do this by clicking and holding on the item (ie. Favorites) and dragging it towards the desktop.

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You can do this drag and drop procedure with all other items except for the subcategories under the “Favorites” section. If you try doing the drag and drop method of adding a shortcut with the subcategories under “Favorites” you’ll see that the icon will be moved from Favorites to the desktop. It does not remain under Favorites. This is because the items under it are already shortcuts therefore, if you want to create a separate shortcut again and put it on the desktop, you need to right click on that specific subcategory, click “Copy”, go to your computer’s desktop screen, right-click on any empty space and click on “Paste” from the options that appears.

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Step 2. Next step is creating a new folder on your computer’s desktop. You can do this by right clicking on any empty space on the desktop screen then point your mouse on “New” then click “Folder” from the options that appears.

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You should assign a name to the new folder you created. We suggest the name “Taskbar Shortcuts” so it sounds suggestive and since you’ll be moving the shortcuts you created earlier into this folder. But, you can name the folder with any name that you desire. After moving all the shortcuts you created into this newly created folder, you need to move the folder to a location where no one will be able to access and delete it.

Step 3. Once you found a safe location for the folder, open it and right-click on the first item in it and click on the “Copy” option.

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Step 4. Go back to the desktop screen and right-click again on any empty space then point your mouse to the “New” option and click on “Shortcut” from the options that appears.

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Step 5. A Window labeled “Create Shortcut” will appear, just paste the shortcut that you copied earlier. After doing this, a new path will be added going towards the shortcut.

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Step 6. Next, you need to type the word “explorer” in front of the path that you entered then press the space key once after doing so and click on  the “Next” button.

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Step 7. Assign a name for the new shortcut. It is advised that you use the same name for the item that you desire to be pinned on your computer’s taskbar and then click on “Finish”.

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Step 8. Finally, you have the shortcut that you want on your desktop screen. To pin it to the taskbar, all you need to so is simply click and hold on it then drag it to the taskbar and drop it afterwards. Another alternative is by right-clicking on it then selecting the “Pin to taskbar” option. After the pinning process, you can delete the shortcut from your computer’s desktop. You also have the choice of changing the icon assigned to it.

You need to repeat all steps starting from Step 3 down to Step 8 for all other items that you want to pin to the taskbar.

Note:

Be sure to store the folder where you placed the shortcuts in a safe location so it does not get deleted because if this happens, the items that you pinned on the taskbar will not work any longer.

How to Pin Items from the Control Panel

Before getting into the detail of how to pin items from the Control Panel to the taskbar, let us learn how to pin the Control Panel first. To do this, open Control Panel.

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Once the Control Panel Window appears, right-click its icon on the task bar then select the “Pin this program to the taskbar” option.

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Let’s now see how to pin individual items from the Control Panel to the taskbar.

First, you need to open the main Control Panel Window but don’t maximize it. Just leave a space where you can still see the desktop screen and once you are ready, start dragging and dropping the items that you want from the Control Panel Window to the desktop. Doing this will create a shortcut for all the items that you’ve chosen.

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Once you’re done, you need to create a new folder on the desktop screen or place all the Control Panel item shortcuts you just created to the “Taskbar Shortcuts” folder that you created earlier and follow the procedure you previously did with the “Favorites” subcategories starting from step 3.

How to Pin Administrative Tools

First, you need to open Administrative Tools. You can simply do this by typing “administrative tools” on the start menu search box and then pressing the “Enter” key or by following the path, Start Menu | Control Panel | System and Security | Administrative Tools.

All items under the Administrative Tools section of the Control Panel are already shortcuts. This means that you don’t have to save any of them to a new folder as what you did on the first two steps above. You just need to right click on each item that you want to pin on the taskbar and then select “Copy” from the options that appears and follow the above steps starting from step 4.

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That’s it! You now know how to pin three special items to the your taskbar. You can now easily launch any part of your computer through the taskbar without going through the long paths leading to it. If you have some other tips on how to pin items on the taskbar then please feel free to post it as a comment on this article.