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Pin a folder to the taskbar

File0001543882867We all know that you can easily pin a program to the Windows taskbar by simply right-clicking on it and then choosing the "Pin to Taskbar" option.  But for folders, this option is not available.  You can however drag a folder to the taskbar and you will see an option called "Pin to Windows Explorer."  If you do this then you need to right-click on it and then look under the heading "Pinned" to find the folder because there are three sections to this window.  If you left-click on it then you will just open Windows Explorer.  I personally don't like this way as the icon on the task bar gives you no indication of what folder it is.  One good thing is that if you want to pin more than one folder to the taskbar they will all be found under the "Pinned" heading.

I went looking for a different way to pin a folder to the taskbar and I found that there are a few different ways to do it.  My favorite way involves creating a new toolbar.  The steps are as follows:

  1. Right-click on a blank area of your desktop
  2. Choose New and then choose Folder
  3. Give the folder a descriptive name
  4. Put any folders, shortcuts or applications that you want into this folder
  5. Put this folder where you want it to live permanently, because if you ever move it or delete it then you'll break the toolbar you're creating
  6. Right-click on the taskbar found at the bottom of your desktop (where the time & date are)
  7. Choose Toolbars and then choose New toolbar...
  8. In the Explorer window that opens, navigate to where you put the folder
  9. Click on it to highlight it
  10. Click the Select Folder button
  11. You now have a folder pinned to the taskbar
  12. To open it, click on the two greater than symbols to the right of the folder name

Now you have a folder on the taskbar and you can see the name of the folder.  One bad thing is that if you want to pin more than one folder to the taskbar they each take up a section of the taskbar.

Leave me a comment if you do this and let me know how you pin your folders to the taskbar.

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