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Going Places with Shortcut Icons

Mary Janese Hanson

    Alan Brooks wrote to ask how to put a Shortcut icon to a Web page on his Desktop. Also, Stew Wilson called to ask how to put a Quick Launch Shortcut icon on his Taskbar.

     Well, "Shortcut" icons are designed to take you immediately to places that you might otherwise have to go through several steps to reach. As an example your computer has a folder named "My Pictures" in WinXP (or "Pictures" in Vista) which is inside a folder named "My Documents" in WinXP (or "Documents" in Vista).

     However, there is no Shortcut on your Desktop that takes you directly to your Pictures folder.

     Here's how to put one there:

     Open your Documents folder. Find the Pictures folder, right-click it, and choose "Send to Desktop (create shortcut)." A new icon will appear on your Desktop named "My Pictures" (or "Pictures Shortcut" in Vista).

     Now let's assume you want to create some folders inside your Pictures folder with names like, say, "Yosemite Vacation" or "Family Pets."

     Double-click your newly created Shortcut to open the Pictures folder. Then click on File>New>Folder for each folder you want to create and name them accordingly. (Edit a folder's name by right-clicking it and choosing Rename.)

     Now let's assume that you want quick access to the Family Pets folder because you're taking lots of shots of a new puppy. Click into your Pictures folder, right-click Family Pets, and again choose Send to Desktop (create shortcut). A Family Pets icon will appear on your Desktop.

     Now that you have the idea, let's say you have some important files on a Flash Memory Drive (a.k.a. Thumb Drive) inserted into a USB port.

     You can create a Shortcut icon to this drive by opening your "My Computer" folder ("Computer" in Vista), right-clicking the Thumb Drive's icon and again choosing Send to Desktop (create shortcut).

     Now let's say there is an important Excel file on the Thumb Drive that you access frequently. Again, right-click the target file and choose Send to Desktop (create shortcut). Voila - instant access to the desired file on the Thumb Drive.

     A replica of the icon will appear on your Desktop with a little bent arrow in its lower left corner. The bent arrow says the icon is a shortcut, rather than an actual file, and double-clicking the icon will take you directly to the web page.

     Getting back to Alan's question about creating a Shortcut to a Web page, log onto the site and go to the desired page. Make sure it is not maximized because the Desktop needs to be in view as well as the target page. Now grab the icon in the site's address bar
(

http://www.----) and drag it onto your Desktop. A replica of the icon will appear on your Desktop

with a little bent arrow in its lower left corner.

The bent arrow says the icon is a shortcut, rather than an actual file, and double-clicking it will take you directly to the desired web page.

Regarding Stew's question, any Desktop Shortcut can be dragged onto your Taskbars "Quick Launch" bar, which is to the right of your Start button. If you don't see this area, right-click the Taskbar and choose Toolbars>Quick Launch to create it.

Here's the Quick Launch Toolbar on my Vista computer.

Here's the Quick Launch Toolbar on my Windows XP computer.

When you drag a Shortcut icon into the Quick Launch area it is copied, leaving the Desktop icon in place. Thus, you can safely delete the Desktop icon. However, if you later change your mind you can drag the Quick Launch icon back onto the Desktop, whereupon it will be moved rather than copied.

The advantages of having Shortcut icons in Quick Launch are:
1 - They are always in view and 2 - they are activated by a single-click, rather than a double-click.