How to pin apps to the taskbar in Windows 10

By Mark Guim
published

The Start menu in Windows 10 is a great place to pin your favorite apps and games, especially since you can take advantage of live tiles. However, if you have a few apps that you frequently use and want to open right away from the desktop, we recommend pinning them to the taskbar. It's very easy. We'll show you how to do it.

Here are two ways to pin an app to the Windows 10 taskbar:

1. From the app list or the Start menu, right-click an app and select Pin to taskbar.

2. When you open an application, its icon appears in the taskbar. Right-click that icon and select Pin this program to taskbar

That's it! We told you it was easy. On my Surface Pro 3, I've pinned Microsoft Edge, File Explorer, Store, and the Snipping tool to the taskbar. Which apps have you pinned to your taskbar? Sound off in the comments!

For more resources, don't forget to check our Windows 10 help, tips, and tricks page. Or if you have any questions, you can always count on our Windows 10 Forums at Windows Central for more help.

Mark Guim
Mark Guim

Mark Guim is Video Editor at Windows Central. He switched to Windows because the MacBook Pro isn't Pro enough. You can follow him on Twitter at @markguim.

54 Comments
  • Chrome,File Explorer,Store,Skype
  • Chrome? Ah well.
  • Edge is pretty bad Firefox isnt 64bit
  • How is Edge bad?
  • no support for .ogg files no support for extensions
  • I agree that Edge is not very good. It's also very bland. I've been using IE again.
  • I know people here hate chrome. I don't like google muvh but I find chrome useful browser. :) soonas edge starts support extensions I might start using it.
  • i hate google too but chrome is a pretty solid browser with a good extension support and i also use Gmail since i can change the background and the box that emails appear to black and a dark picture something Outlook doesnt support
  • Wow. Chrome is terrible these days. Tried it to see how it fairs in todays world and frankly its one of the 2 worst browsers I've tried in the last 3 months. So far edge wins on all fronts. Why does chrome crash alot???? And why th hell is it so slow in comparison.
  • my Chrome rarelly crash after i upgrade it to 64bit and Edge so far the only thing i have see is less ram usage but i havent test it versus chrome without extensions
  • Right...initially it was great...pretty good than IE. but from last few years it is horribly slow with 6-7 background processes even when it's not running. So I've gone back to IE sometimes using opera. And now totally Edge.
  • you can disable chrome from running on background and the lack of extensions in a browser on 2015 is unaceptable and Opera is pretty much a Chrome i also i dont know how you find it slow for me its working fine 60mb ram usage with 2 tabs and for extensions uBlock Origin,Momentum,ListenOnRepeat,Steam Inventory Helper,Steam VACation Check and Enhanced Steam
  • I am fine without any extensions...and though opera moved to chromium based, it is faster than chrome...i last installed chrome 2 yeras back...then after using IE10 I never installed chrome...And if I have to use extension then I will use firefox but never chrome .. now Edge is running super, just waiying for the releases of extensions for Edge.
  • Maxthon Cloud Browser, Skype, Explorer, Winamp. Spotify, OneNote, Guitar Pro 5, FL Studio
  • Winamp! I have not used that in so long. Wow, memories.
  • Still use shoutcast
  • FL Studio FTW!
  • Okay, so the comment I was commenting on got deleted..
  • Hahaha. I was wondering when the complaining would start. Then your comment confused me. :)
  • Yea a dude complained and I had a nice story and all but.. :P
  • Life will go on! Sometimes we delete bad comments to keep people on track ;)
  • I am not a huge fan of censorship. With that, if they don't add to the conversation (they don't quite often), delete more please :). Maybe even mine if you want! haha
  • Haha its okay! Saw it and edited on time. :)
  • Edge, File Exploder, Store, IE, Fire Fox Skype (the crap that is skype for desktop). Lot more on the start screen though! :)
  • Firefox, IE and Edge?!
    Edge is too glitchy for me...I'm sticking with Firefox until Microsoft pull their finger out & get Edge sorted.
  • I really only use IE for nascar.com (mostly. Receview needs an addon) and I only use FF when Edge just doesn't cut it. I use Edge 99% of the time.
  • Dumb question probabaly. Why can't I pin programs from my sd card to the taskbar. Havec a 64Gb SP2, I have limited space, so I moved all my games to the SD card. Whenever I try to pin steam or blizzard, I don't have the option.
  • How well do they run from an SD card? I know there is a lot of improvements needed for card support. i.e. apps.
  • I run Diablo 3, WoW, Fallout New Vegas, Half life 2, skyrim, Guild Wars 2,... all from my SD card without any lag or problems. Always get a class 10. 
  • Wow, I am kind of surprised by that.Very good to know. Yes, always class 10! :)
  • SD Card or MicroSD Card lol...
  • Waiting for the article "how to pin everything to Start Screen".   I'm experiencing a little difficult to do this with some apps. Like Notepad++ for exemple. If I search for it it appear just as "Run command" and does not provide "Pin to Start" option. At least this method I said worked with Outlook, Snipping Tool and many more.      
  • No problem for me. Just type Notepad in search bar then right click Notepad icon and choose pin to start/taskbar
  • Just realized I have not properly installed Notepad++, in on other computer it worked.
  • Which apps have you pinned to your taskbar?
      Karen's Replicator, MS Money, Audacity, TextPad, IrfanView, File Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome. I used to have iTunes there too, but in Windows 10 the program began adding a 2nd icon to the taskbar every time it started. I don't know why it can't use the pinned icon like it did in Windows 8.
  • Anyone have an issue pinning some apps to the taskbar and ending up with double icons? I get this problem when pinning Skype and Evernote (both the desktop apps) in Windows 10. Other apps like Outlook, Excel, and a couple of others pin correctly. I see plenty people asking this, with lots of suggestions for previous Windows versions, but in Windows 10, if you try to unpin one of them, it unpins both.
  • 3. when you drag an app into a taskbar, you will see the tooltip that says 'Link'. Drop it, and voila! Pinned.
  • I pin Win 32/64 .exe apps on my taskbar and modern apps on the start screen tho the OneNote modern app did make the cut and is on my taskbar
  • Edge, Netflix, store, outlook, word, xbox app, groove music, skype.
    Surface pro 3
  • Opera, Mail, Calendar, Photoshop CS6, Word, OneNote 2013, Excel, Filezilla, MAMP Pro, Github Desktop, Intype, JPEGMini, eSword. Used to have file explorer at the end until I realized Win+E was a whole lot faster. 
  • File Manager, Edge, Chrome and Task Manager. I used 1GB of RAM, so I need task manager if there is unresponsive apps. Is firefox good for me to replace edge?
  • Delete my comment -.- freedom of expression?
  • "On my Surface Pro 3, I've pinned Microsoft Edge, File Explorer, Store" Erm, no you haven't. They were already pinned :)  
  • But if you choose for them to remain it means you choose them to appear there. So essentially your pinning them.
  • Edge, Maxthon, File Explorer, Groove Music.
  • Seriosly? How to pin to taskbar? What's next? "How to open the start menu in one easy step" ?  
  • "Mouse Click or Windows Key? The debate rages on!"
  • I am SO sick of the idiotic keyboard-centric focus of Windows 10.  I want touch and mouse-centric FIRST, keyboard LAST. 
  • Okay, my comment got deleted. "Sometimes we delete bad comments to keep people on track ;)" - Either define "bad", objectively, or I get ANY comment that doesn't cherish the article is a bad one. Criticism doesn't have to be positive: it has to be productive/supportive, but it can be a negative one as well. If that's why I got deleted I'm totally fine with that. Pinning applications to the taskbar is a feature introduced with Windows 7, six years ago. The way you do it has never changed, and it's still the same on W10. It doesn't take a power user to figure it out, arguably. I know, there are very naive users, I know there are people using Windows 10 on their first Windows experience, but I can't help thinking these "articles" are just for getting hits, or having some action going at Windows Central. These could be delievered even with some sort of "Did you know" box, and even that would be more than enough. Step by step, huge screenhots, "tell us what you have pinned!"... Please. Customization, sync settings, Cortana features - these are perfectly reasonable subjects. But articles like these hurt Windows Central's impression, they look "cheap". Feel free to crucify me here. I don't care if I'm shadowbanned or something, I just hope Daniel or Mark sees this.
  • It depends how you look at it, how ever recently there has been a huge drive to get tech illiterate elderly using the web and PC's so they don't get left behind. For instance Barclays Bank is also running a scheme to do just that; therefore articles like this whether you like it or not are needed if Windows Central is going to keep growing.    
  • I never needed to pin things to the Task Bar in previous versions, not about to start now.  #clutter
  • How do you get that Store icon in the taskbar? Mine is ugly. It's blurry and on a background matching my theme color.
  • This doesn't ******* work at all. *********.
  • Just 'updated' desktop version of Skype for Windows (10 7.16.0.102) and my pinned Skype Taskbar Shortcut disappeared. So first I created desktop shortcut again by dragging Skype from 'apps' list  - aka Programs - to the desktop. So far so good but found I could no longer pin this to the Taskbar!  A right click on the shortcut revealed the option to pin to Taskbar was now gone. So this is what I did: Found desktop app in my 'apps' list again and right clicked and chose Pin to Start. This creates a 'tile' on the Start Menu. Now I could drag this tile from the Start Menu to my Taskbar and voila! a Taskbar shortcut again. What a kerfuffle, once again Microsoft make something that was once very simple now overly complicated.