You’re a savvy Windows XP insider. You already know that you can pin programs on the Start menu. Cool. Hanging your most-used programs on Start makes it easy to get them cranked up, even when you’re bleary-eyed and blue-toothed, and your mouse has a mind of its own.
But did you know that you can also pin folders, files, documents — even Web pages — to the Start menu? Check out these tricks to make the most of that prime piece of real estate.
Basic Start menu anatomy
Let’s, uh, start, with a quick review of what you already know. When you click the Start button, Windows XP by default displays two columns. On the left, you see programs — usually Internet Explorer and Outlook — then a faint horizontal bar, followed by a list of more-or-less recently used programs. (I say "more-or-less" because Microsoft plays favorites with the MRU list, favoring programs that sell more Microsoft products.) On the right you see locations — My Documents, My Music — and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff.
If you’ve customized your Start menu before, you know that you can remove Internet Explorer and/or Outlook from the top of the Start menu by right-clicking Start, choosing Properties, clicking the top Customize button, then unchecking the appropriate boxes on the Customize Start Menu dialog. You probably also know that you can pack more programs onto the left side of the Start menu by clicking the Small Icons button on the Customize Start Menu dialog.
And if you’re an advanced Wingeek, you know that you can put any program at all at the top of the left side of the Start menu by navigating to the program, right-clicking on it, and choosing Pin to Start Menu. That trick works no matter how you get to the program — you can go into c:Program Files in Windows Explorer if you like; or you can click Start, All Programs and slink around; or you can right-click on an icon on the Desktop or in the Quick Launch toolbar. Any way you get to it, there’s no problem pinning a program on the Start menu.
But you already knew that.
Pinning a folder
Here’s a trick I bet you didn’t know. You can pin a folder to the Start menu. It’s easy, if you know the secret.
Navigate to any folder you like. Right-click on the folder and choose Send To, Desktop (Create Shortcut). That puts a shortcut to the folder on your desktop. Drag this folder over the Start button and "hover" there for a couple of seconds. The Start menu opens up. Keep dragging the folder up above that faint horizontal line, then release it wherever you want the folder to appear.
Pinning a file
Do you open the same file over and over again, day after day? Pinning a file (document, spreadsheet, PowerPoint presentation, song, movie, whatever) to the Start menu is just as easy as pinning a folder. Here’s how.
Related posts:
