In Windows 10, you can pin any folder to the taskbar. This will allow you to open that folder with one click. You need to simply follow these steps written below.
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By default, Windows 10 does not allow the user to pin folders to the taskbar. However, there is a trick which can help you to bypass this limitation.
The idea behind the trick to pin folders to the taskbar is simple - since you can already pin executable files to the taskbar, you can make a shortcut to the folder you want to pin and replace its target path with the explorer.exe file. If you add the folder path as an argument for the explorer.exe app, that folder will be opened automatically from your shortcut.
To pin any folder to the taskbar in Windows 10, do the following.
- Right click the empty space on your Desktop. Select New - Shortcut in the context menu (see the screenshot).
- In the shortcut target box, type "explorer.exe " without quotes and add the path to your folder you want to pin to the taskbar. See the screenshot below.
Note: if the folder path contains spaces, enclose it in quotes as follows:explorer.exe "c:\some path\some folder" - Name your shortcut as you wish. You can use any name.
- Right click the shortcut you created and open its properties.
- Change the shortcut icon to some nice icon from the C:\windows\system32\imageres.dll file.
- Now, right click the shortcut you created and select "Pin to taskbar" in the context menu. See the following screenshot:
- The folder will be pinned to the taskbar. Now you can delete the shortcut you created from the Deskop. It is not required any more.
You are done. The folder will be pinned to the taskbar. Using this method, you can pin any folder you want to the taskbar or even a drive.
Now see: How to pin any file to Start Menu in Windows 10
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yeah no, no such option in live version of it, you get resize, un-pin and open location only.
I loved the pin to 8. And I miss it.
The solution for windows 10 described above does not always work. For some items, right clicking on them on the start menu doesn’t always give an option to “pin to taskbar” For example, I pinned “Recent Items” to the Start Menu. Then I right clicked. Under the “more” option, only open file location was given as an option.
Did you do Step 5, changing the icon picture? If you leave the default icon, WIndows recognizes that as a folder. You have to change the picture. (I used another file-folder picture and it worked fine. Without changing the picture I got the same problem you had.)
Doesn’t work for me. Just puts everything into one folder. I hate how Microsoft decides how your computer looks and feels, not you. If I want to add 10 different folders to my taskbar, what’s the big deal? Why does Microsoft have to be so awful?
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! I TOOK ME 3 HOURS RESEARCH & IN SECONDS, YOUR ARTICLE HAD ME WHERE I NEEDED TO BE!!!!!
Thank you for posting this info, it worked perfectly ! I searched quite a bit to finally arrive at your site and solution. So simple and effective !
i followed the instructions to add a shortcut to the task bar in windows 10. i was able to add the shortcut to the start menu but when i right click on this shortcut on the start menu there is no option to ‘pin to taskbar.
has anyone else had this problem?
thanks.
Same experience: No “pin to taskbar”. Bad intel.
I was wrong! This DOES work! I tried it again and saw that after I typed explorer.exe and then searched for the folder, it wiped out the explorer.exe in the front. I did it again and replaced the explorer.exe in front AFTER I browsed for the folder, and “Pin to Taskbar” did appear. I clicked it and my folder with it’s icon was placed on the taskbar. THANK YOU!!
thank you! it didn’t work until i put the explorer.exe back in after browsing for the folder.
Same experience. Able to create folder shortcut, but no “Pin to taskbar” with right click. Is this perhaps something else MS removed in their last drive-by update, to prevent their customers from using their own machines in the way they wish to?
Have you tried MaggieToo9’s solution? Worked for me. Thank you, Maggie!
Brilliant. I use this to pin the main folder of my cloud storage (Google Drive, Box, etc) to the task bar. Was wondering how to do this for a long time, and finally decided to Google it.
Enjoy.
Thanks man, really helpful!
If possible, can you explain what is going on here? Like, why can’t a normal folder shortcut be pinned to the taskbar, but when explorer.exe is added to it it can? Thanks
Thank you!!! works like a charm!
You’re most welcome.
Bad intel: no “Pin to Taskbar” in the right-click menu
Great trick, I was missing folder shortcut in the taskbar. This article has solved my problem. Thankyou.
RIGHT CLICK > PIN TO QUICK ACCESS BAR
But not to the TASKBAR. Can you see the difference?
Full solution:
1. RIGHT CLICK on folder> PIN TO Start
2. Click on Start (Windows icon) – RIGHT CLICK on folder -> More -> Pin to taskbar.
3. Profit.
Thanks for the article :)
Even this didn’t work for me. It’s as though they’re deliberately making it harder and harder to pin a simple folder to the taskbar!
You can try dragging to the taskbar and it’ll be pinned.
Thanks!!
Works like a charm.
Thanks for the walkthrough. Very easy to follow.
Easy steps, works very good.. Thanks a lot :D
Worke like a charm, thank you :-)
Can this be done to multipile folders?
I have not tried. Will try next time in Windows (In Linux atm)
This worked perfectly for me; thank you!
In the previous Windows I pinned a folder to the Taskbar and it had an arrow which I clicked, then selected something in the folder to open. I followed the steps above, but now you open the whole folder and then select what you want to open. Is the previous option not available anymore?
You rock. Thank you.
Um yeah it should be simpler for actual use.
It would be nice to be able to locate all the items (shortcuts) currently pinned to the Task Bar, for example to set them to Maximum window size or to change their icon.
Some items are located in %AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar . However, system items such as Calculator are missing, and so are Tile (Windows Application) items such as the builtin Skype.
I have not been able to locate these additional items pinned to the Task Bar. Perhaps you can help?
C:\Users\FBAC LLC\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
also allows pinning to taskbar.
But, hey, go to c:\ in dos and go
DIR CALCUL*.LNK /S /A /P
or do an F3 search in the C:\ folder.
However that may reveal that Calculator.LNK does not exist. LNKS to Microsoft built-in items may turn out to be out of your reach, to my limited knowledge. It used to be easy to right click a file in something like Programs\Accessories but the Microsoft Deproductivity Team did a bang up job obfuscating it.
Of course replace the USERS name with \Joe Cool\ or whatever you log in with.
No Pin to Taskbar option, even after changing the icon.
Thank you very much!
These shortcuts will not group with the running instances though :(
Thanks anyway.
thx!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Consider simply copying a working LNK to
C:\Users\Joe Cool\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar
because files in THAT dir appear to have “pin to taskbar” in right click. Or Unpin.
This regards both executables and folders. Maybe you can create a LNK directly there as well.
However note exceptional treatment of folders that Mother Microsoft interprets to be “program files folders”; these don’t provide the right click pin to taskbar choice. Perhaps try the method on this webpage (untested).
If MS thinks a folder is program files, the URL bar shows “This PC > OS (C:) > Programs” even though the folder is actually C:\FOO. If you alt-D to or click the URL bar, it shows C:\FOO. Idiotic but true.
(Speculating, maybe desktop.ini influences that queer “Programs” treatment; I haven’t needlessly burned even more of my life force trying to figure out how Mother Microsoft breaks unbroken things.)
Thanks from Australia!