Solved How to pin file or web site to start screen

Playing around with Win 8 and found that it's not easy to pin a file or a web site (if you're not using IE) to the new start screen. Some have suggested downloading a nice little utility that will do the job, but I always try to avoid having a lot of single purpose, rarely used utilities.

Here's a way to accomplish the same task that I discovered by some trial and error.

Go to the desktop
Create a shortcut to an app (firefox if you want to pin a web site, excel if you want to pin a spreadsheet, etc.), giving the shortcut the name of the file or web site you want to pin to the start screen.
Once the shortcut to the app is created, right click on the shortcut, click properties
Go to the target line and add a space, then within quotes add the website or the file you want to access (if a file, add the entire file path and file name).
Click Apply
Right click the shortcut and you will now see the "Pin to Start" option. Click this option.
You can now delete the shortcut on the desktop (unless you want to keep the shortcut on the desktop and the start screen)
Go to the start screen. You will see the new shortcut which executes with a single click or touch.

Examples of a website shortcut Target line and file shortcut Target line are shown below.

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" "http://www.eightforums.com/"

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\EXCEL.EXE" "C:\Users\UserName\Documents\ExcelFileFolder\SampleFile.xlsx"

Hope this is useful to someone.

This is a problem with how Firefox generates the shortcuts. In Chrome, you can create an Application shortcut under options->Tools->Create application shortcut, then you can choose to pin it to the taskbar or add it to the start menu. Firefox doesn't seem to offer a way to create a real short to a page, only bookmarks.

Here's a few more ways.

• http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2352-start-screen-pin-unpin-app-folder-drive-windows-8-a.html
• http://www.eightforums.com/tutorial...rer-10-pin-unpin-sites-start-windows-8-a.html
• "Pin to Start" this shortcut: Internet Website Shortcut - Create - Windows 7 Forums

Mystere said:

In Chrome, you can create an Application shortcut under options->Tools->Create application shortcut, then you can choose to pin it to the taskbar or add it to the start menu.

Click to expand...

This is over a year and half old so possibly there is newer information. However, when I try this, my only options are to the desktop or the taskbar. This is so whether Chrome is opened on the desktop or in the Start Screen. Any updates available or is it just not possible to pin a web page that is open in Chrome to the Start Screen?

SR

Pin to 8.



WinAero: Downloads / Software / Pin to 8

Congratulations, Tomel! You experimented on your own, and you figured out for yourself how to achieve the result that you wanted. I've been doing that with computers for years, and it's nice to know that I'm not the only one who does it. Over several months last winter and spring, I explored the problem of pinning data files to the Start Screen -- and also that of pinning them to the Taskbar, which is more difficult. I found many methods, and most of them used either your idea of changing a shortcut's "target" address, or some other such trick.

I tried that "Pin to 8" download too, and it works. But then I got a warning popup from my own system, telling me of some suspicious activity and naming "Pin to 8" as the culprit. So I got rid of it.

Dragon Drop said:

I tried that "Pin to 8" download too, and it works. But then I got a warning popup from my own system, telling me of some suspicious activity and naming "Pin to 8" as the culprit. So I got rid of it.

Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with Pin to 8.
You got a false positive from a faulty antivirus program.
You need to get rid of it before your computer becomes totally infected because it isn't doing it's job right.