You are probably used to visiting certain websites on a very regular basis. Usually, to get there, you launch your browser and open your Internet bookmarks… But with the emergence of Smartphones and their applications for everything and nothing, we are now used to having an application for everything. The latest versions of Windows, with its Windows Store, try to meet this need… but many websites do not have a dedicated application.
However, it is possible to launch any website with a single click, like an application, by pinning it to your taskbar under Windows… and what's more, the manipulation is relatively simple if you use Chrome, Firefox or Edge.
The only downside is that shortcuts created and pinned to the taskbar will open with your default web browser. I'll explain how to do this at the end of the article to open a shortcut with the browser of your choice.
Pin a website to the taskbar with Chrome
If you use Chrome, the first step will be to create a shortcut to the website on the desktop. The operation is very simple, but you need to know it.
- Reduce or adjust the size of the Chrome window so you can see both the desktop and the browser window.
- Navigate to the website.
- Find theicon to the left of the URL in the address bar (an icon with a circle, a line and a line, a circle).
- Click and drag this icon to your desktop.
Then, to pin this shortcut to your taskbar, all you have to do is drag it from your desktop to your taskbar!
Pin a website to the taskbar with Mozilla Firefox
For Firefox, creating a shortcut directly on the desktop is very similar to the manipulation on Chrome. It is therefore very simple when you know the trick:
- Reduce or adjust the size of the Firefox window so that you can see both the desktop and the browser window.
- Navigate to the website.
- Find the icon to the left of the URL in the address bar (often a padlock or website icon).
- Click and drag this icon to your desktop.
Then, to pin this shortcut to your taskbar, all you have to do is drag it from your desktop to your taskbar!
Pin a website to the taskbar with Microsoft Edge
Of these 3 browsers, the one that offers the easiest and most direct solution to pin a website to the taskbar is Edge! To create a shortcut in Microsoft Edge:
- Open Edge and navigate to the website of your choice.
- Click on three horizontal dots in the upper right corner to open the menu.
- Accounts Manager Additional tools > Pin to taskbar.
- A notification will ask you to confirm the operation, click on Yes
And there you have it, Edge lets you pin a website directly to the taskbar!
These methods should make it easy for you to create shortcuts to your favorite websites right on your desktop.
Open a shortcut in the browser of your choice
Unfortunately, if you don't want to open the shortcut to a website with the default browser, things get a little more complicated. I'll show you how to do it with Chrome, but it's exactly the same with any other web browser.
- Go to the program directory on your computer to find Chrome (or another browser): Programs or Programs (x86)
- Try to find the executable file (the .exe) of the application
- Right click on it and click To create a shortcut
- Save the shortcut to your desktop
- Then right click on the shortcut and select Properties
- In the Shortcut > Target tab, at the very end, after the path to the application, add a space followed by the site URL that you want to open (for example: “C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe” https://byothe.fr)
- In the tab General you can also change shortcut name for something more explicit!
- Then click Apply
The operation is exactly the same to make this shortcut on Firefox, Edge or another browser.
Article updated on September 15, 2025 by Byothe
