The Windows 10 taskbar is not merely a place to see your apps. Unfortunately, most PC users use the taskbar to launch apps, open Start menu by clicking on the Start button, and to check the date and time.
The taskbar is a powerful place. You can make it even better by pinning your favorite apps, moving the taskbar around the screen, pinning websites to the taskbar, pinning items to jump lists, and more.
You probably know that Windows 10 allows you to pin apps and programs to the taskbar for easy access. However, Windows 10 doesn’t allow you to pin folders and files to the taskbar.
We have already covered how to pin folders to Windows 10 taskbar. We will use this guide to share how to pin any file to Windows 10 taskbar. For instance, you can pin that important Word document or your favorite video to the taskbar.
As said, Windows 10 doesn’t support pinning files to the taskbar. But as you likely know, it supports pinning executables to the taskbar. Using this support, we have come with a workaround to pin any file to Windows 10 taskbar.
Pin any file to Windows 10 taskbar
NOTE: In this guide, we are pinning a Word document (.docx) to the taskbar. However, you can pin any file to Windows 10 taskbar by following the given below workaround.
Step 1: Open up File Explorer and navigate to the folder containing the file which you want to pin to the taskbar. If the file is on the desktop, navigate to the desktop folder using File Explorer.
Step 2: Click the View tab and then click File name extensions check box to make File Explorer show file names with extensions.
Step 3: Now, rename the extension of the file ( the file you want to pin to the taskbar) to EXE. Before doing so, please note down the original file extension as we need it.
For instance, we are renaming IW.docx file to IW.exe file.
When you see the confirmation dialog, click Yes button to rename the file.
Step 4: Now, drag and drop that file on to the taskbar to pin it to the taskbar. No, you cannot launch the file just yet.
Step 5: Go back to the folder containing the file that you just pinned to the taskbar. Rename the file extension back to the original extension. In this case, we are renaming IW.exe back to IW.docx file.
Click Yes button when you see the confirmation dialog.
Step 6: Right-click on the file that you just pinned to the taskbar to see its jump list.
Step 7: In the jump list, right-click on the file name and then click Properties. As you can see below, the file name appears just above Unpin from taskbar option.
Step 8: Under the Shortcut tab, in the Target section, rename the file extension back to the original one. Again, in this example, we are renaming the file extension back to .docx from .exe file.
Click Apply button. That’s it! You may now click on the file pinned to the taskbar to open it with the default program.
Change pinned file’s taskbar icon
If you want to change file’s icon on the taskbar, please follow these two steps.
Step 1: Right-click on the file icon on the taskbar to see the jump list. Right-click on the file name and then click Properties.
Step 2: Under the Shortcut tab, click Change icon button. Browse to an icon file or use one of the existing system icons. Click OK. Click Apply.
Restart the File Explorer or restart your PC once to see the new icon.