Have to say, some of the methods seem a little long-winded. The way I have done it for years is to right click and hold on the item, be it a file or folder, drag it to the desktop and then let go. A small menu will appear, “copy here”, “move here” or “create shortcut here”. Select what you want (shortcut in this case), re-name if necessary (highlight, if using single mouse clicking and use F2) and there you go!
I am having a problem with the shortcut wizard in that often it only shows “Desktop” and then my userID under it (missing “ThisPC” and all the other items showing in your final screen capture of the wizard above).
I suspect that means corrupted User folders, but am not sure. It is such a pain to set up a new user, transfer all the user folders (except files/folders starting with “NT”) from the corrupted user folder to the new one, deleting the older user folder then renaming the new user folder to the name used previously in the old folder.. It is even worse if the corrupted folders are those used by the “Live” account (the one stored in the cloud by Microsoft).
Does anyone know of an easier way around this?
I need to pin a printer to my Windows 7 Pro taskbar
that will allow me to right-click it and see the same
context-menu appear that appears when I click the
printer in “Devices and Printers”.
How dou put a folder on a windows 8.1 desktop that you can put shortcuts in. Also sould be able to assign an appropriate icon to the folder. This Iis easy with allprevious versions but I cant find a way to do it with W8.
Unfortunately, there is no way to create shortcuts for special folders in Windows. But you can try to use TaskLayout to open any system folders with your custom hotkey.
Modifying the registry in order to launch any command from any folder shouldn ‘t be too hard, but can you tell me what procedure has to be launched for invoking the standard Windows ‘Make Shortcut’ pop-up window ?
when I want to create a shortcut to a webpage in a given folder, I click “New” –> “Shortcut” in the right-click menu from that folder. Unfortunately, the option “Shortcut” is often absent in the right-click menu from a folder.
Is there a way I can get the option “Shortcut” in the right-click menu from ANY folder ?
There are two reasons for this tutorial:
1. It can help some people. Plus, the part about shortcuts to web pages is not that widely known.
2. It fits in well in a series of articles we want to publish in the future.
I agree Sir,
“Create Shortcut” is described on many websites in many posts. But it is difficult for new users that how to create shortcuts? Thanks to you and 7tutorials that they will easily learn how to create shortcuts.
20 Responses to “How to create shortcuts for files, folders, apps, and web pages in Windows”
Have to say, some of the methods seem a little long-winded. The way I have done it for years is to right click and hold on the item, be it a file or folder, drag it to the desktop and then let go. A small menu will appear, “copy here”, “move here” or “create shortcut here”. Select what you want (shortcut in this case), re-name if necessary (highlight, if using single mouse clicking and use F2) and there you go!
Thanks! That was an easy trick and it really helped!
I am having a problem with the shortcut wizard in that often it only shows “Desktop” and then my userID under it (missing “ThisPC” and all the other items showing in your final screen capture of the wizard above).
I suspect that means corrupted User folders, but am not sure. It is such a pain to set up a new user, transfer all the user folders (except files/folders starting with “NT”) from the corrupted user folder to the new one, deleting the older user folder then renaming the new user folder to the name used previously in the old folder.. It is even worse if the corrupted folders are those used by the “Live” account (the one stored in the cloud by Microsoft).
Does anyone know of an easier way around this?
You can use KrojamSoft FilesSearch Tool, it helped me out on many cases. Hope this helped you out!
I need to pin a printer to my Windows 7 Pro taskbar
that will allow me to right-click it and see the same
context-menu appear that appears when I click the
printer in “Devices and Printers”.
How to do that?
Please help!
Thanks!
How dou put a folder on a windows 8.1 desktop that you can put shortcuts in. Also sould be able to assign an appropriate icon to the folder. This Iis easy with allprevious versions but I cant find a way to do it with W8.
Hi Marte Brengle,
How can I create shortcut for this special folder?
Internet Options Shell:::{A3DD4F92-658A-410F-84FD-6FBBBEF2FFFE}
Thanks,
VT
Unfortunately, there is no way to create shortcuts for special folders in Windows. But you can try to use TaskLayout to open any system folders with your custom hotkey.
@Marte,
thank you for your answer.
Modifying the registry in order to launch any command from any folder shouldn ‘t be too hard, but can you tell me what procedure has to be launched for invoking the standard Windows ‘Make Shortcut’ pop-up window ?
Thank you for your feedback,
Koen Andries
I’m sorry, that’s gone beyond what I know. You might check on the Microsoft web site to see if they have your answer.
A question :
when I want to create a shortcut to a webpage in a given folder, I click “New” –> “Shortcut” in the right-click menu from that folder. Unfortunately, the option “Shortcut” is often absent in the right-click menu from a folder.
Is there a way I can get the option “Shortcut” in the right-click menu from ANY folder ?
Your answer would be of great help to me.
Here is an article from the How-To Geek explaining how to add things to the right-click menu in Windows 7 (the URL says Vista but it’s been updated).
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/add-any-application-to-the-desktop-right-click-menu-in-vista/
You’re right! Thanks for adding that great tip.
The best and fastest way is to copy the source and click Paste shortcut instead of Paste. 🙂
Thank you! I didn’t know about this. It truly is the best!
I’ve had to pleasure to read many of your tutorials. They are well done & very helpful — this one included!
I’ll keep on reading them !
Thanks
heyy.. its really look like all the old stuff which everyone are well familiar with…
it will be better if add new innovative things…
Tutorial on Creating Shortcut. That’s really for someone’s grandma…. According to me The new generation knows all these things
There are two reasons for this tutorial:
1. It can help some people. Plus, the part about shortcuts to web pages is not that widely known.
2. It fits in well in a series of articles we want to publish in the future.
I agree Sir,
“Create Shortcut” is described on many websites in many posts. But it is difficult for new users that how to create shortcuts? Thanks to you and 7tutorials that they will easily learn how to create shortcuts.