35

I just upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, and I can no longer rearrange items in the "pinned lists" of my taskbar items:

enter image description here

In Windows 7, all I had to do was drag an item to a new location in the list and it would move. Now, in Windows 10, it won't let me drag to rearrange anything.

Is it still possible to rearrange items on the pinned lists?

6 Answers 6

20

Unfortunately many folks are confusing pinned task bar items, pinned jump list items off the task bar, and quick access lists in explorer, and thus, giving irrelevant answers.

The original question pertains to pinned jump list items off the task bar. Quick access and jump lists are independent of one another, therefore rearranging quick access items/lists does not affect jump lists, nor vice-versa.

To the OP, there is indeed currently no way to rearrange jump list items without unpinning all and re-pinning in the order you prefer. MS's decision to disable drag-and-drop functionality here is curious. And annoying for many users. I personally don't use the quick access feature (formerly known as favorites), as I dislike the extra steps to open explorer and having another window to close. Jump lists are more efficient to many users' workflow. Removing drag-and-drop functionality diminished their usefulness, IMHO. 'Hoping MS returns this functionality to Win10 in the near future via updates.

Here's an article that is more on point:

http://www.addictivetips.com/windows-tips/how-to-rearrange-pinned-items-on-the-taskbar-jump-lists-in-windows-10/

1
  • I pin the File Explorer to the task bar, and when I right click over it, the Quick Access items are now the jump list. Thus you don't need to open the explorer just to get at the Quick Access items, removing that extra step.
    – kajaco
    Jul 2, 2018 at 21:35
8

This is currently not possible. You can only do this by un-pinning every item and then re-pin them again in the correct order.

3
  • 1
    Do you have any authoritative reference to support this claim, or is it conjecture? Please edit your answer to at least explicitly say "according to ...this source..., this is currently..." or "based on my experience, this is currently..." (or something to that effect).
    – user
    Sep 30, 2015 at 8:21
  • @MichaelKjörling It's true, every secular source I've looked at apart from confusing the various functionality Pinned Tasks, Jump Lists and Quick Lists. In terms of Jump Lists the poster is correct that is currently the only way.
    – user692942
    May 5, 2016 at 13:12
  • @Lankymart Oh, I wasn't saying (and didn't mean to imply) that the answer is incorrect. However, we generally prefer it when, if an answer makes an authoritative statement, the answer also gives the basis for that statement, even if that basis is merely personal experience.
    – user
    May 5, 2016 at 14:38
3

I have only been able to figure out how to do this using folders in Explorer. But if you open a folder and go the the left pane, there is a Quick Access shortcut at the top. These are your pinned folders. You can rearrange them in any order you want here.

Still trying to figure out how to do this with files pinned to programs...

1
  • This works! However, at first I couldn't figure it out because after I selected the "Quick Access" folder, I was trying to drag the items in the main Explorer pane. That doesn't seem to work, but I finally figured out that you can drag the items to the order you want in the Navigation Pane. Nov 9, 2017 at 6:23
1

No, it is not supported in Windows 10. Even not in winver 1703.

I switched to Toolbars instead of pinning Items to the Taskbar.

  1. Right Click on Taskbar
  2. Select Toolbars
  3. Select Folder

In Toolbars you can Drag&Drop ShortCuts easy as you want. Additional, you can switch easy between different branches by creating the shortcuts with scripting:

set-shortcut.ps1:

<#
.SYNOPSIS
    create-shortcut
.DESCRIPTION
    creates a shortcut to a file
.NOTES
    File Name      : set-shortcut.ps1
    Author         : http://stackoverflow.com/a/9701907 
    Prerequisite   : PowerShell V2    
.LINK
    http://stackoverflow.com/a/9701907 
.EXAMPLE
   set-shortCut "$SourceCodeBasePath\SpecialPath\YourSolution.sln" "$ShortCutDestination\InternalReferences.sln.lnk"  
.EXAMPLE
    set-shortCut "$SourceCodeBasePath\OtherPath\Setup.sln" "$ShortCutDestination\Setup.sln.lnk" 
#>
function set-shortcut
           ( [string]$SourceExe, [string]$DestinationPath )
{ 
   $WshShell = New-Object -comObject WScript.Shell
   $Shortcut = $WshShell.CreateShortcut($DestinationPath)
   $Shortcut.TargetPath = $SourceExe
   $Shortcut.Save()
}

usage in CreateShortCuts.ps1:

#include Commands
. "$PSScriptRoot\set-shortcut.ps1"
. "$PSScriptRoot\set-shortcut-extended.ps1"
$ShortCutDestination = "C:\Toolbars\MyNewToolbarFolder"
$SourceCodeBasePath = "G:\x\Main2017"


#Create Shortcuts for Toolbar
set-shortCut "$SourceCodeBasePath\SomeSpecialPath\YourSolution.sln" "$ShortCutDestination\0.1YourSolution.sln.lnk"
set-shortCut "$SourceCodeBasePath\OtherSpecialPath\NextSolution.sln" "$ShortCutDestination\0.2NextSolution.sln.lnk"

...

After this, you can drag and Drop Files, Folder and Shortcuts in you Toolbar and you will also see the associated Icons:

example of Custom Toolbar

Also you can rearrange the icons with drag&drop.

2
  • Unfortunately this method doesn't let you see the application's icon on the taskbar...just the folder name. I need to see the application icon (e.g., the Acrobat Reader icon) to quickly know where to click...just having a bunch of folder names spread across the taskbar makes it difficult to quickly get where you need to go. It also makes it harder to click, since clicking the folder name on the taskbar doesn't invoke the menu...you have to click the little arrows to the right of each folder name to get the contents of the folder to display.
    – RSW
    Sep 5, 2017 at 13:48
  • you are right. You have to click the arrows and there is not the Application Icon on the taskbar. Giving the Toolbar-Folder a meaningful name could help. And you can see the icons from the accociated Program for each Shortcut. Also you get the full Drag&Drop flexibility.
    – gReX
    Sep 6, 2017 at 13:03
0

I found I was able to do it as with Windows 7 through 8.1. Drag it as usual but don't expect a visual indication that it is moving. When you release the mouse button it will indeed appear in the new location. If you do it slowly (as I had been because I was expecting that visual clue) you'll get a menu instead. Just quickly drag and drop.

1
  • 2
    I just tried dragging every possible way that I could think of and at every possible speed, but the entries still don't move for me.
    – RSW
    Aug 24, 2015 at 21:08
-3

Drag and Drop works, if you don't move the mouse off of the task bar while doing it.

1
  • 2
    Can you explain further? Note: I'm not looking for how to move taskbar icons to other positions on the taskbar. Instead, I want to move items around within a Pinned list (see my picture in the original post). For that, drag and drop does not work for me.
    – RSW
    Oct 31, 2015 at 19:23

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