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In Windows 7, the "Pin to Taskbar" option is not available when I open CHM files, is there any way I can add a file of this type to the taskbar?

5 Answers 5

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YES!! Absolutely you can. In fact, you can pin any type of document. Here's how:

  1. Find the program you want the file to open with, and create a shortcut to it. In this case, create a shortcut to your %WINDIR%\hh.exe file.
  2. Right-click the shortcut and choose "Properties..."
  3. In the "Target:" box, add your filename to the end inside double quotes, and hit OK.
  4. Right-Click >> Pin to Taskbar and ENJOY!

Here's an example that links to the PHP Manual I have stored in My Documents: In the "Target:" box: %WINDIR%\hh.exe "%USERPROFILE%\My Documents\php_manual_en.chm"

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  • Great, I was also trying to pin the PHP manual. =)
    – Alix Axel
    Apr 12, 2010 at 2:29
  • Ha! Well I'm glad I could help!
    – Travis
    Apr 12, 2010 at 14:25
  • I usually also make a copy/paste-shortcut of the chm, then i can easily copy paste its quoted target path. Also its a good idea to use the chm's "start in" path, if you want images and other assets to show up properly.
    – James
    Feb 12, 2021 at 18:45
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I don't know if this would work since I don't have a win 7 install handy but you could try creating a shortcut to the helpfile then dragging that into the %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar.

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  • this is still valid for Windows 10
    – Joram
    Aug 27, 2021 at 18:28
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I came here because I too could not get a CHM to pin to the Win7 taskbar. None of the above suggestions worked for me, but I kept trying, even writing a program that would pin and all it did was open the CHM file. While doing that, I discovered that if the name of my program included the word 'HELP’ Win7 refused to allow pinning.

With that in mind, I renamed the shortcut for a CHM that would not pin to NOT contain the word ‘help’, and now it pins easily, and even with the good old’ drag and drop method!

Just to be clear, the ‘Target’ line of my pinned shortcut is C:\Program Files\AutoIt3\AutoIt.chm (a direct call to the CHM). The name of the shortcut is ‘AutoIt3 H_e_l_p’.

In summary, the ONLY thing that needs to be done out of the ordinary to pin a CHM is to NOT use the word HELP in the shortcut filename.

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  • 2
    I didn't believe you at first, but then I found this in MSDN: "If any of the following strings, regardless of case, are included in the shortcut name, the program is not pinnable and is not displayed in the most frequently used list" and the list does include "Help". See msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/…
    – JV01
    Oct 7, 2013 at 7:33
  • That is the weirdest "feature" I've seen in a good while. Thanks for the information, anyhow. Happy I found that. Now, as for why Microsoft dislikes convenient shortcuts to documentation...
    – Jonas
    Aug 19, 2015 at 11:43
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I don't think this is possible. Pinned taskbar program shortcuts are stored in the folder %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar. The HTML Help viewer which opens CHM files is %WINDIR%\hh.exe. Creating a shortcut to hh.exe and copying it to that folder appears to have no (useful) effect.

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To expand on JLM's post, if the "Pin to Taskbar" option is not available even after following Travis's instructions, it might be because the name of the shortcut file or executable has DISALLOWED TEXT. (This was my experience even after creating a separate shortcut. I.e., I had the word "Help" in the name of the shortcut's file name, so there was still no "Pin to Taskbar" option.) As James Rankin states here, ...

Microsoft maintain a "blacklist" of disallowed names for shortcuts and executables in the Registry. Bizarre though it sounds, if any of the following strings - regardless of case - are present in the name of a shortcut or executable, they are automatically disallowed from being Pinned

    Documentation
    Help
    Install
    More Info
    Read me
    Read First
    Readme
    Remove
    Setup
    Support
    What's New
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  • This does not answer the author's question on how to pin the php manual which doesn't use any of those keywords.
    – Ramhound
    May 29, 2015 at 11:49
  • is an alternative way, isnt absolutly bad as well superuser.com/help/how-to-ask May 29, 2015 at 14:17

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