How to Pin a Folder or Drive Directly to Taskbar in Windows 7 and Later?
UPDATE: This method will also work in Windows 8 and later OS versions.
We all know that Windows 7 comes with new Superbar which is a modified version of classic Taskbar. This new superbar in Windows 7 provides lots of useful features like jumplist, iconized program buttons and pin functionality.
Using the “Pin” functionality, you can put any desired program or file shortcut to Windows 7 Taskbar and can launch that program or file within a single mouse click.
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But there is a limitation in this Pin feature. Whenever you try to pin a folder or drive to Taskbar, Windows pins it to Windows Explorer shortcut. As soon as you drag-n-drop the folder or drive shortcut to Taskbar, Windows shows a tool-tip “Pin to Windows Explorer” as shown in following screenshot:
Once its pinned to Windows Explorer, you can’t launch the pinned folder or drive directly. If you click on the pinned shortcut, it launches Windows Explorer in Library mode instead of opening the pinned folder or drive. The only way to launch the pinned folder or drive is to first show jumplist and then click on the pinned folder or drive shortcut as shown in following screenshot:
Wouldn’t it be great if you could pin a direct shortcut to desired folder or drive instead of pinning it to Windows Explorer shortcut?
If you can remember we have posted a tutorial in past about pinning useful system shortcuts like My Computer, Recycle Bin, Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, etc to Windows 7 Taskbar:
How to Pin My Computer, Recycle Bin & Other Useful Shortcuts to Windows 7 Taskbar
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Using the same trick used in the above mentioned tutorial, we’ll tweak Windows 7’s built-in “Pin to Taskbar” feature to allow us pinning direct shortcuts to a folder or drive.
So without wasting time lets start the tutorial which will help us in pinning a folder or drive directly to Windows 7 Taskbar:
1. First you’ll need to create a new shortcut. To do this, right-click on Desktop and select “New -> Shortcut“:
2. It’ll launch “Create Shortcut” wizard. Now you’ll need to enter following command in “Type the location of the item” text box:
explorer “folder_path_or_drive_letter“
For example, if you want to pin a folder “Downloads” present in E:\ drive, then you’ll need to use following command:
explorer “E:\Downloads”
And if you want to pin a drive E:, then you’ll need to use following command:
explorer “E:”
In drive case, double-quotes (“”) are optional.
3. After entering the command, click on “Next” button. Now enter the folder or drive name in “Type a name for this shortcut” text box and click on “Finish” button.
4. That’s it. It’ll create the folder or drive shortcut on Desktop.
If you want, you can also change its icon. Right-click on the shortcut and select “Properties“. Click on “Change Icon” button:
Now you can browse and select any desired icon. We’ll recommend to use imageres.dll file for selecting new icon as this file contains lots of good looking icons:
5. After selecting the new icon, click on OK and then Apply the changes.
6. Now you just need to pin this folder or drive shortcut to Taskbar. You can either drag-n-drop the shortcut to Taskbar or right-click on the shortcut and select “Pin to Taskbar” option:
As you can see now Windows is showing “Pin to Taskbar” in tool-tip instead of “Pin to Windows Explorer”. Now the folder or drive will be pinned directly to Taskbar and you’ll be able to launch it using a single mouse click.
That’s it guys. Using this trick, you’ll be able to pin a direct shortcut of any desired folder or drive instead of pinning it to Windows Explorer icon.
Thanks to our reader “Rohan” for reminding about this trick…
wow nice tutorial vg!! it took me a long time to figure out that you to do this!!
!Great…
Applied & working… thanks VG!!
Oh yeah, it is working….
But I came up also with a technique based on that:
(1) Simply make a folder shortcut into a desktop, that is any folder
(2) Go to the shortcut properties. You’ll see only the folder path (i.e. C:\Program Files) at the target input at the dialog box. Changing the target from this (C:\Program Files) into (explorer “C:\Program Files”). Then quit the dialog box.
(3) And tried to drag the “modified” icon shortcut to the taskbar…It works. Thanks VG!
I prefer to simple setup the Quick Launch bar for the aps and folders I use a lot.
Is there a way to create a shortcut to a shared folder and have that shortcut show a number for new items that have been added to that folder? Sort of like how your apps on an iphone show that there has been something new added?? Any information would be greatly appreciated.
hi. i’ve now made the shortcut i want on my desktop but i want it on the taskbar. but when i drag it to the taskbar it says ‘pin to google chrome’ and when i do that i’ve achieved nothing. help?
^^ Are you trying to pin a website link? Do you have Chrome shortcut pinned to Taskbar? If yes, check its jumplist and you’ll get the shortcut there.
And how can I drag and drop a file to the folder that is pinned on the taskbar…
XP forever!
Hi,
But there is one problem with this. I can open that drive (of which i created a shortcut) only once as the shortcut itself then becomes a tab after i click it once.
Whereas in win XP, the shorcut remains at its position and the link opens in a separate tab. The shortcut is there itself and can be used time and again
I hope you are getting it
Regards,
Rohit
Best explanation I can found. Both problem and solution are well explained.
PLEASE HELP !!!
I know how to pin the shortcuts to the taskbar but why aren’t the actaully on the task bar? I don’t want to right-click on it first and then look for one of the one from many pinned shortcuts in a new small window. I want the actual shortcut to be the taskbar.
Is that possible? Thanks
Wouldn’t it be great if you could pin a direct shortcut to desired folder or drive instead of pinning it to Windows Explorer shortcut?
You can,
1. add windows explorerto the taskbar
2. right click the icon, then right click windows explorer, select properties
3. change the target to you desired folder…
somehow it still says pin to Internet Explorer for me after I created a shortcut and renamed it. Do you know how that could be solved?
How can I group them. They are getting created as seperate folder icons in the task bar.
Grouping in the task bar properties is not working.
^^ Then you can normally pin them and they’ll all group under Windows Explorer icon. Or you can put them in Quick Launch toolbar.
DaveA you are smartest person out there ! I have read sooooo many posts about this problem and no one come to idea great as yours ! Mr. thank you very much !!!!!
thx bro its to nice to find ppl with best knowlege on computer
Excellent tip…changing the icon was the key that I was missing when trying to do this. I couldn’t find another tip that did exactly what I needed until coming across your page. Thanks.
Just rename any folder to anyfolder.exe
Enjoy.
I have pinned the drive to the task bar and now i want it show all the folder navigation also.i mean the tree structure of that drive..I am on Windows 7.
Please suggest.