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I'm using windows 10, and I wondered if there was some way to pin an actual pdf file to the start menu. I know I can pin the pdf reader, but to me the point of the start menu is ease of access, and if I have to point and click to open frequently used pdf files than I feel a little disappointed.

When I try to right click the pdf file, there is no 'pin to start' option from the menu, so I guess that's not a good sign. However, it's 2017, people can split the atom, surely there is a way to pin a specific pdf file to the start menu.

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  • Have you tried dragging it to the start menu? Mar 25, 2017 at 11:59
  • yea, it displays a red cross icon, and upon finishing drag and drop it doesn't work. Mar 25, 2017 at 12:02
  • I'm surprised. I guess you could write a tiny powershell script to open the PDF, but it seems like a workaround. Mar 25, 2017 at 12:03

4 Answers 4

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You can right-click any PDF file that you choose and select Send to > Desktop (create shortcut). You may also prefer to rename your shortcut to something more unique, or at the very least, remove the visible - Shortcut suffix.

After that, you can copy that shortcut to one of the following locations:

Only your Start Menu - %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

All users Start Menu - %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Taking it a step further, you can potentially right-click that shortcut within the alphabetical All Apps list and select Pin to Start.

Pin to Start

Start Menu

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Alternate answer : Make a new Shortcut to your preferred PDF program, usually with Send to Desktop. Right click and choose Properties, then add the path to the desired app at the end of the Target path. Rename the shortcut to your document's name, and drag the shortcut into %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs .

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Let's say you a Shortcut to a specific PDF file (and Keep the Acrobat Icon), here's what you need to do: 1 - Find the executable file of your program, right click and Pin it to Desktop. 2 - Next go to the Destop shorcut, right click on it, choose Plus and Open the Location of the Shorcut to modify it's Properties. 3 - Now Right Click on the Shortcut file and choose Properties. 4 - Add to the Starting Path the location of the file you want to open ex: C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Acrobat Reader DC\Reader "D:\Desired Folder\File_name.PDF" 5- Now to change the name of the executable, in this case AcroRD32.exe, Go the the "General" Tab and change the name to Whatever you want.

This way, you will have the execubale icon, her Acrobat icon with your choice's name that will open the specified file in the path that you added.

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I just inserted the PDF into a word document, then pinned the word document to the start menu.

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  • If you can pin word documents to your Start Menu, then you can pin PDF files to your Start Menu. Also, unless you CONVERTED the PDF, this saves no clicks, and in fact, makes the process more difficult. Feb 23, 2018 at 18:26

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