How To Create Quick Desktop Shortcuts on Windows 10?

Hello folks! Tell me one thing, who does not like to work with a system desktop well organized? Of course, everybody does.

When you open up your PC or laptop desktop, it would be of great help if the current folders and files that you are working on, frequently used applications, websites are all displayed on your desktop screen as shortcuts. Isn’t it?

Well many people don’t understand that, or to share on a personal front, they don’t know how to create such shortcuts on desktops. Precisely that’s the real story.

But it’s not going to happen any longer. In today’s article, we are going to demonstrate you how you can create shortcuts not only for applications but also for files, folders, website links, etc. on your Windows 10 desktop screen.

Windows 10 lets you create shortcuts for nearly everything, contrary to the previous versions of Windows where only applications shortcuts were allowed to be created.

Now let’s start with the methods right away.

Method #1: Create a Shortcut for Conventional Apps

When I say conventional, don’t take them to be useless. They are simply the ones that we have been using for quite a long time, and not the ones introduced after the advent of Windows 8 OS.

It’s pretty simple. Just follow the guideline:

Step 1. Go to the “Start” menu from the Windows button.

Step 2. Click “All Apps”.

Step 3. Choose any particular app, let’s consider Google Chrome and right-click on it.

Step 4. Choose “More” from the sub-menu.

Step 5. Next; select “Open file location” from the next side sub-menu.

NOTE: In case this option does not appear, then the application is modern. You should then check out the next method and not this one.

Step 6. On the newly opened up file location, right-click “Google Chrome” one more time and select “Create Shortcut” from the context menu.

Step 7. Lastly, when the confirmation box pops up, click the “Yes” button to continue.

Now you can check out the application shortcut on your desktop. It may adjust itself anywhere on the screen. Just locate it and start using it from there.

You can also drag the app from the start menu list of “all apps” to the desktop and the shortcut will be created right away. But if the particular application is not shown in the list anyhow, you cannot drag it and the shortcut cannot be created. So this trick is optional.

Method #2: Create a Shortcut for Modern Apps

When I Say modern apps, these are the newly introduced apps since the launch of Windows 8, like Microsoft Edge, Mail, etc. These apps need a special trickery to come to the desktop screen as shortcuts.

This is what you have to do here:

Step 1. Click the “Windows” icon to open the Start menu.

Step 2. Enter “Command prompt” in the Cortana search box.

Step 3. Choose “Command prompt” from the search result.

Step 4. When the black command prompt box appears, type the command “explorer shell:AppsFolder” and hit “Enter”.

NOTE: Don’t use the quotations on the command

Step 5. As soon as the App folder opens up right-click on any modern app like Microsoft Edge.

Step 6. From the drop-down menu, select “Create Shortcut”.

Step 7. When the confirmation message turns up, select the “Yes” option and the shortcut will be found created on the desktop screen.

Method #3: Create a Shortcut to File or Folder

This is a very direct and simple method. Firstly locate the file or folder via file explorer. Hold the “Alt” key on your keyboard and then drag and drop the folder to your desktop. You will see a blue link of “Create desktop link” which suggests that the task is being done.

Now just release the Alt key and the shortcut is created.

It’s so easy…. right? But trust me many users still don’t know that.

TIP: Remember if you don’t hold the “Alt” key, then the “Create Desktop Link” option will not appear. Rather “Move to desktop” option will appear. It will simply move the file or folder to the desktop instead of creating a shortcut link.

Method #4: Create a Shortcut to a Website

Now, this method is very much useful for users who have websites to frequently visit every day. To do this, just open the web page either using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

Place the cursor over the little icon next to the address bar which usually looks like an “i” with a circle or simply a padlock, and drag it to the desktop.

Conclusion:

So you see, these are such simple methods, but we hardly have ever tried them wisely. After creating the shortcuts, you can right-click them and choose “Rename” option to give the shortcuts any name you want.

With the methods mentioned above, you can create shortcuts in other folders also.

One more thing, in case the shortcuts are not being shown to your desktop, then they must be hidden. To undo this, right-click anywhere on the screen, and choose “Show desktop icons” to unhide them.

I hope the methods have been helpful to you. Apply them and you will know them better.

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