Pin Any Folder to the Taskbar in Windows 10

In the beginning, Microsoft created Windows 10, and in the preview edition, they included pin a folder to the taskbar as a default menu choice. However, when they released Windows 10 to the public pinning folders to the taskbar was no longer an option.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t pin a folder to the taskbar – and it’s not hard to do either. We’ll show you how.

Step #1 – Choose the folder you want to pin and make desktop shortcut and right-click on it. Then choose “Send to > Desktop (Create shortcut” from the right-click menu.

Step #2 – Right-click on the folder’s desktop shortcut you just created and select “Properties”…

Step #3 – In “Properties” next to “Target” – before the file path – type the word “Explorer” (without the quotes). Make sure you leave a space after Explorer (see screenshot below):

Step #4 – Click “Apply” then “OK”. Now, drag the folder shortcut you just created on your desktop to the taskbar. When you do, you’ll see “Pin to taskbar” appear. Release the mouse button (see the screenshot below). There you go: A shortcut to a folder on your taskbar.

Now my folder is pinned to the taskbar, I can open the folder “INFO-IMAGES2017” by clicking on its icon in the taskbar.

You can do this with any folder including Pictures, Music, and Documents.

One downside to this: The folder icon Windows uses for common folders is the same icon it uses for File Explorer. You can right-click on the folder icon to view its name. Perhaps in an upcoming version of Windows 10, Microsoft will make “pin a folder to the taskbar” a standard Windows options – maybe adding the ability to change the icon too!