Can't pin to Taskbar!

[Brianm]

I have a number of shortcuts in my "Startup" menu folder so that they
start every time I boot up. Most of these are programs, and I wanted to
add them to my Taskbar so if I happened to quit the program at any time,
I could re-open it easily from the taskbar. So I was able to add them
to the task bar by right-clicking on the shortcut icon and chose "Pin to
Taskbar".

Recently I added a shortcut in 'Startup' to a Wordpad document which
exists in a different location. I want to add this to the Taskbar for
the same reason, but when I right-click the shortcut, I DON'T see "Pin
to Taskbar". WHY can't I pin it to the taskbar????? Can I NOT pin
documents to the taskbar? I'm starting to hate Win7...

As a sidenote, I noticed that if I put a shortcut to a program in
Startup, THEN add the program to the taskbar by clicking on the .EXE
that is in the 'Program Files' folder (instead of the shortcut in
Startup), then after bootup there will be TWO icons in the taskbar for
that program. Win7 evidently can't even tell that it's the same
program, and only leave one icon in the taskbar. Am I doing something
wrong?

 

[Char Jackson]

I have a number of shortcuts in my "Startup" menu folder so that they
start every time I boot up. Most of these are programs, and I wanted to
add them to my Taskbar so if I happened to quit the program at any time,
I could re-open it easily from the taskbar. So I was able to add them
to the task bar by right-clicking on the shortcut icon and chose "Pin to
Taskbar".

Recently I added a shortcut in 'Startup' to a Wordpad document which
exists in a different location. I want to add this to the Taskbar for
the same reason, but when I right-click the shortcut, I DON'T see "Pin
to Taskbar". WHY can't I pin it to the taskbar????? Can I NOT pin
documents to the taskbar? I'm starting to hate Win7...

I haven't tried this, but your "I'm starting to hate Win7" is enough
to make me chuckle and move on.

As a sidenote, I noticed that if I put a shortcut to a program in
Startup, THEN add the program to the taskbar by clicking on the .EXE
that is in the 'Program Files' folder (instead of the shortcut in
Startup), then after bootup there will be TWO icons in the taskbar for
that program. Win7 evidently can't even tell that it's the same
program, and only leave one icon in the taskbar. Am I doing something
wrong?

Yes. You're telling Windows to put two icons on the taskbar (one
pinned by you and the other started automatically) and then you're
complaining that there are two icons on the taskbar. It's only doing
what you told it to do. Simple fix - either remove the pinned item
from the taskbar or remove the item from the Startup folder.

 

[KCB]

I have a number of shortcuts in my "Startup" menu folder so that they
start every time I boot up. Most of these are programs, and I wanted to
add them to my Taskbar so if I happened to quit the program at any time,
I could re-open it easily from the taskbar. So I was able to add them
to the task bar by right-clicking on the shortcut icon and chose "Pin to
Taskbar".

Recently I added a shortcut in 'Startup' to a Wordpad document which
exists in a different location. I want to add this to the Taskbar for
the same reason, but when I right-click the shortcut, I DON'T see "Pin
to Taskbar". WHY can't I pin it to the taskbar????? Can I NOT pin
documents to the taskbar? I'm starting to hate Win7...

First put a shortcut for Wordpad on your desktop. Right-click the shortcut,
select Properties. On the Target line, put a space after the end quote,
then type the complete path of your file, including the filename, and
enclose it in quotes. Here is the Target line from my test run:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"
"C:\Users\User\Documents\andrew 12 b day party.rtf"

Click OK to close the Properties dialog. Drag the shortcut to pin it to the
taskbar. If your filename or path does not use LFN and doesn't have any
spaces, then you don't need the quotes around the target path.

 

[UXD]

I have a number of shortcuts in my "Startup" menu folder so that they
start every time I boot up. Most of these are programs, and I wanted to
add them to my Taskbar so if I happened to quit the program at any time,
I could re-open it easily from the taskbar. So I was able to add them
to the task bar by right-clicking on the shortcut icon and chose "Pin to
Taskbar".

Recently I added a shortcut in 'Startup' to a Wordpad document which
exists in a different location. I want to add this to the Taskbar for
the same reason, but when I right-click the shortcut, I DON'T see "Pin
to Taskbar". WHY can't I pin it to the taskbar????? Can I NOT pin
documents to the taskbar? I'm starting to hate Win7...

Instead of trying to pin the shortcut, try dragging the actual Wordpad
document to the taskbar. I tried this with a .txt file ("Notepad
document"), and the prompt that came up was "Pin to Notepad". The
notepad icon on the taskbar just opens notepad (blank) if you LEFT
click, but if you RIGHT click it gives you the option to open the
document.

This is in Windows 7 - I don't think you mentioned what your OS is.

- Paul

 

[Brianm]

Instead of trying to pin the shortcut, try dragging the actual Wordpad
document to the taskbar. I tried this with a .txt file ("Notepad
document"), and the prompt that came up was "Pin to Notepad". The
notepad icon on the taskbar just opens notepad (blank) if you LEFT
click, but if you RIGHT click it gives you the option to open the
document.

Yes that's what I mentioned in my reply to Char... But it's extra clicks
and mouse moves to get to my document. I suppose I CAN see the feature
they were going for- making the taskbar icon application-centric, which
might work for some people... but they TOOK AWAY single-click access.
From what I've read I wonder if Win7 is setting some milestone for
taking away features. Not a good way to improve an operating system.

 

[Bob I]

Yes that's what I mentioned in my reply to Char... But it's extra clicks
and mouse moves to get to my document. I suppose I CAN see the feature
they were going for- making the taskbar icon application-centric, which
might work for some people... but they TOOK AWAY single-click access.
From what I've read I wonder if Win7 is setting some milestone for
taking away features. Not a good way to improve an operating system.

WHY are you double-clicking? Taskbar items open with single click.

 

[Brianm]

WHY are you double-clicking? Taskbar items open with single click.

I did not say I am double-clicking. By "single-click" I meant I can
open my document with ONE click. No mouse moves from the icon, no extra
clicks (right or left button). ONE click entry.

 

[Brianm]

First put a shortcut for Wordpad on your desktop. Right-click the shortcut,
select Properties. On the Target line, put a space after the end quote,
then type the complete path of your file, including the filename, and
enclose it in quotes. Here is the Target line from my test run:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows NT\Accessories\wordpad.exe"
"C:\Users\User\Documents\andrew 12 b day party.rtf"

Click OK to close the Properties dialog. Drag the shortcut to pin it to the
taskbar. If your filename or path does not use LFN and doesn't have any
spaces, then you don't need the quotes around the target path.

Thanks!!! That works. Interesting that this way Windows DOES see that
it's the same target in the Startup and the item pinned to the taskbar,
and makes one icon regardless if the program is open or not. Exactly
what I was trying to do .

 

[Bob I]

I did not say I am double-clicking. By "single-click" I meant I can
open my document with ONE click. No mouse moves from the icon, no extra
clicks (right or left button). ONE click entry.

For "Documents" the easiest way is, create a new toolbar from a folder,
(say My Files or such)and then you can just drop shortcuts for any
documents into it. Anything in "your toolbar" has one click access, due
to being in the taskbar.

 

[Jim Laurent]

Thanks!!! That works. Interesting that this way Windows DOES see that
it's the same target in the Startup and the item pinned to the
taskbar, and makes one icon regardless if the program is open or not.
Exactly what I was trying to do .

If you would like to have the Quick Launch back in Win7.
Add a new toolbar with the this string.
"%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch"

 

[KCB]

Thanks!!! That works. Interesting that this way Windows DOES see that
it's the same target in the Startup and the item pinned to the taskbar,
and makes one icon regardless if the program is open or not. Exactly
what I was trying to do .

Glad to help. Also check out the post from Jim Laurent to get Quick Launch
back. I think not enabling Quick Launch, by default, was a major gaffe by
MS.