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. Picture 1 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    Select the program or app to pin. Click and hold the desktop shortcut of the desired program or app.
  2. Picture 2 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    Drag the program or app towards the Taskbar. After a moment, you should see the 'Pin to Taskbar' option.
  3. Picture 3 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 4 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 5 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 6 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 7 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    Hover over More.
  5. Picture 8 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 9 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 10 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 11 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 12 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 13 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 14 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 15 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 16 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 17 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 18 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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. Picture 19 of How to Pin a Program to the Windows 10 Taskbar
    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.
Update 04 March 2020
Category

System

Mac OS X

Hardware

Game

Tech info

Technology

Science

Life

Application

Electric

Program

Mobile