How to Pin a Website
[This documentation is preliminary and is subject to change.]
This topic explains how users of Windows Internet Explorer 9 can pin a website to the Windows taskbar.
How to Pin a Website
To pin a site to the taskbar, drag a tab from Internet Explorer 9 to the taskbar. Alternatively, you can drag the site icon from the address bar or from the New Tab page and drop it on the taskbar to pin a site.
Note You can pin http and https websites only.
To pin a site shortcut by using the keyboard, press Alt+T (for the Tools menu), then press M (for Add site to Start menu). When the dialog box appears, press Alt+A to click the Add button. After the application is running on the taskbar, you can pin the shortcut there by navigating to the taskbar button, pressing the Application key to open the Jump List, and using the arrow keys to select Pin this program to the taskbar.
To view a Jump List, right-click the taskbar button. You can also open a Jump List by pressing Alt+Window Logo key+number, where number is the taskbar position of the Pinned site. To view a Thumbnail Toolbar, hover the mouse point over a taskbar button until the thumbnail window appears. Be aware that icon overlays are visible only when the website is running, and when using the default setting of large icons for taskbar buttons.
The Pinned site Window
When you launch a Pinned site shortcut, notice that the browser window is different than a normal instance of Internet Explorer 9. The Pinned site window has a clean design that reinforces the site’s brand, as follows:
- The Home button on the right is removed, and the site icon of the website is placed on the left. Clicking the site icon returns you to the home page of the site.
- The Back and Forward buttons pick up the predominant color of the site's icon. The web developer can specify another color in the Pinned Site's metadata.
- All windows and tabs that you launch from the Pinned site are treated as a single group on the taskbar.
- The Pinned site window does not load any add-ons or third-party toolbars.
The following image shows how the buttons and site icon appear when Internet Explorer 9 is launched from a Pinned site shortcut.
Creating an old style URL shortcut
Pinned site instances look like regular Internet Explorer 9 instances. However, it is important to point out that .website files are handled by Pinned site instances whereas .url files are handled by regular Internet Explorer 9 instances.
Windows generates a shortcut file that has the .website extension for each Pinned site, whether the site is pinned on the taskbar, added to the desktop, or Start menu. You cannot open a .website file in a regular Internet Explorer 9 instance.
For Pinned sites, the default behavior for Internet Explorer 9 is to create a .website file after you drag the icon from the address bar to the desktop. Windows Internet Explorer 8 only creates .url files when you drag the icon to the desktop.
To create an old style URL shortcut (.url file) on your desktop for a site that you do not want to pin, hold down the SHIFT key before you drag the icon from the address bar to the desktop.
Related topics
Build date: 2/15/2012
