How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar

At the bottom of your Windows 10 desktop is a horizontal black bar called the 'Taskbar.' This bar contains the 'Start' button, the Cortana search box, and icons of programs and apps. A single click or tap on one of these program icons will...
Method 1 of 5:

Pinning a Program to the Taskbar from the Desktop

  1. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 1How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 1
    Select the program or app to pin. Click and hold the desktop shortcut of the desired program or app.
  2. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 2How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 2
    Drag the program or app towards the Taskbar. After a moment, you should see the 'Pin to Taskbar' option.
  3. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 3How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 3
    Release to drop the program or app to the Taskbar. The program's icon will appear in the Taskbar and is now pinned there for easy access.
Method 2 of 5:

Pinning a Program to the Taskbar from the Start Menu

  1. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 4How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 4
    Click the Start button. It is located at the bottom of the left side of your Desktop. Click it to open the Start menu.
  2. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 5How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 5
    Locate the program you want to pin. If the program you want is not on the Most Used list or the Recently Added list, click or tap 'All apps' at the bottom of the left pane of the Start menu. When you click 'All apps,' a directory tree appears with an alphabetical list of all available programs or program folders.
  3. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 6How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 6
    Right-click (or press and hold) the program you want. When you right-click on a program, a context menu appears beside the program which gives five options: 'Pin to Start' (or 'Unpin from Start' if the app is already set up as a tile), 'More' and 'Uninstall,'
  4. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 7How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 7
    Hover over More.
  5. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 8How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 8
    Choose 'Pin to taskbar' from the context menu. The icon on the program will then appear in the Taskbar. You can now launch the program quickly by clicking/tapping the pinned icon on the Taskbar.
Method 3 of 5:

Pinning a Program to the Taskbar from the File Explorer Context Menu

  1. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 9How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 9
    Open File Explorer. You can click/tap the File Explorer icon pinned to the Taskbar. You can also click/tap the Start button to open the 'Start' menu, and then click/tap 'File Explorer' in the left pane.
  2. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 10How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 10
    Locate the program you want by navigating the directory tree. Click/tap the C: drive to expand the directory tree of the C: drive. Then locate and click/tap the 'Program Files' folder to see the list of programs or program folders.
  3. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 11How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 11
    Right-click (or press and hold) the program you want. This will cause a context menu to pop up beside the program/app name .
  4. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 12How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 12
    Pin the program to the Taskbar. The list of options in the context menu is rather long, so look for the option 'Pin to taskbar' and tap it. Doing so will pin the program/app to the Taskbar.
Method 4 of 5:

Pinning a Program to the Taskbar from the File Explorer Ribbon

  1. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 13How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 13
    Open File Explorer. If the 'File Explorer' icon is pinned to the Taskbar, click/tap on icon to open the 'File Explorer' window. Alternatively, you can click the Start button to open the 'Start' menu and then click/tap 'File Explorer' in the left pane.
  2. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 14How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 14
    Look for the program to pin. At the left pane of the 'File Explorer' window is a directory tree. Locate then click/tap the the arrow beside the C: drive to expand its directory.
    1. Look for and then click/tap the 'Program Files' folder. When you do this, you will see the list of programs or program folders on the right pane of the window.
    2. Double-click or double-tap the program folder you want.
  3. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 15How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 15
    Open the Application tools/Manage tab of the program. When you click/tap the program you want, the 'Application tools/Manage' tab will appear. This is a contextual tab—a tab that is not visible every time and appears only when specific options are available. Click/tap the 'Application tools/Manage' tab.
  4. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 16How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 16
    Pin the program to the Taskbar. When you click/tap the 'Application tools/Manage' tab, you will see three tiles or buttons appear on the ribbon. On the leftmost side of the ribbon is the the 'Pin to taskbar' button (the icon looks like a push pin). Click/tap the 'Pin to taskbar' button, and the program's icon will appear on the Taskbar, indicating that it is now pinned.
Method 5 of 5:

Pinning a Program to the Taskbar when the Program is Running

  1. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 17How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 17
    Run the program or app that you want to pin to the Taskbar. When you open the program, its icon appears on the Taskbar; however, this icon will disappear when you close the program or app.
  2. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 18How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 18
    Right-click (or press and hold) the icon of the running program on the Taskbar. An options menu will pop up. It will list some actions that you can take with the open program or app.
  3. How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 19How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar Picture 19
    Choose 'Pin this program to the taskbar.' From the pop-up menu, click/tap 'Pin this program to taskbar.' This will pin the program to the Taskbar, even after it's closed.
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