Now let's pin a document to the start menu!

[ChrisGreaves]

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I love Windows 10, but I'm getting a year or two ahead of myself.
Start menu:
I have managed to unpin everything that MS put there
I have managed to pin and execute three of my batch files.
I have managed to pin (and execute) Notepad and MSPaint executables there.

This is progress.

I would like to pin a document or workbook to the start menu, but a right-click on the document, or on a shortcut to the document, does not bring up the option to "Pin To Start".

I'm doing something wrong, I think.
I have read through several threads, here and on the web, and confess to being put off by the complexity of some of the solutions. I think I'm doing something wrong because it ought to be a simple matter of right-clicking and saying "I'd like this on the start menu, please". No?

I would add that many threads on this topic date from 2015, and I suspect that MS has changed Win10 since then, so that many of the screen shots and instructions do not apply to Win10-2004.

Thanks in advance for any guidance.
Chris

[StuartR]

Not exactly what you are asking for, but I pin frequently used documents to the jump list for the app that opens them.

I have shortcuts to Word, Excel, and my PDF editor on the task bar. I then right click these to access the relevant jump lists.

[ChrisGreaves]

Not exactly what you are asking for, but I pin frequently used documents to the jump list for the app that opens them.

Hi Stuart. I am sure that I seem obtuse to you (all), but my reaction was "Oh no! Not another MS way of doing something that I have to learn". The truth is that I have postponed Win10 for five years, so I have a lot of catching up to do to even trail the rest of the world.

That said, I was looking for the process I used in Win7, which was to be able to tap the Windows key (bringing up the start menu) and then tapping the down-arrow key to jump into something I used many times a day. All with the keyboard.

I looked up "Jump Lists" and learned that they were available in Win7 (who knew?!!) which, sad to relate, brings out the "I've done without them so far ..." instinct in me. I am not a nice person to know ...

A Jump List sounds like a pop-up Most Recently Used list tacked to applications in the task bar, but for some obscure reason I wanted my items in the Start Menu, possibly because I think of the task bar as a place where running applications are shown, and I think of the Start Menu as a place from which applications can be run.
I already can access any recently used file (document, workbook, image, database etc) from the drop-down list in my MRUse application in Word2003.

So I started up the old Toshiba/Win7 beast and took a second look:-

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My (Word2003 document) diary for August this year is seen as "2020" in the Start Menu.

The Properties box shows (in part) a convoluted command:-

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which can be edited to reveal:-

Code: Select all

C:\Windows\exe /c T:\BATLap\WORD2003.BAT V:\2020_08.doc

So I think I should continue to use this method in Win10, since it worked for me in Win7 ("If it was good enough for my father, it's good enough for me" and "We've always done it that way!").

(later) I just checked. In the search box I key in without quotes "v:\2020_08.doc" and tap <Enter> and behold and lo! Win10 associates the DOC with Word2003 and opens up my diary.

Which leaves me wondering, "Since Win10 can open my document (workbook, database etc) from the Search Box via the Windows key, why can't i tell Win10 to open it by right-clicking the document and using "Pin to Start Menu?". However, I don't expect of you that you should answer that question!

Cheers, and thanks for pushing/pulling me forwards.

Chris

[StuartR]

You can also access jump lists by right clicking an application on the start menu

[ChrisGreaves]

You can also access jump lists by right clicking an application on the start menu

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Not on this machine - yet!
I have right-clicked on the shortcut to NotePad.exe and I see nothing about Jump Lists in the expanded context menu.

For what it's worth the lower-right corner of the tile set is a pinned shortcut whose command line reads in part:

Code: Select all

C:\Windows\WinSxS\wow64_microsoft-windows-commandprompt_31bf3856ad364e35_10.0.19041.1_none_4b527e92ee1ad1e5

, but it, with the rest of the command line, opens up my Diary document. That is, the Win7 technique works here.

Cheers
Chris

[Argus]

I love Windows 10 ...

Wow, that went quick.
Or, it's just a way to start off on the right foot when posting in Windows 10 land.

Not exactly what you are asking for, but I pin frequently used documents to the jump list for the app that opens them.

Hi Stuart. I am sure that I seem obtuse to you (all), but my reaction was "Oh no! Not another MS way of doing something that I have to learn". The truth is that I have postponed Win10 for five years, so I have a lot of catching up to do to even trail the rest of the world.

That said, I was looking for the process I used in Win7, which was to be able to tap the Windows key (bringing up the start menu) and then tapping the down-arrow key to jump into something I used many times a day. All with the keyboard.

I looked up "Jump Lists" and learned that they were available in Win7 (who knew?!!) which, sad to relate, brings out the "I've done without them so far ..." instinct in me. I am not a nice person to know ...

I think jump lists and pins, and thus pinning, has been around for a couple of OS generations; as you have found. But of course it many times involves a right-click, and hence using a mouse or a track pad, not a keyboard, unless there's a dedicated right-click key. Perhaps that's why you've not been using them that much. Many people tend to pin some software to the Taskbar, and that's also a great place for recently used files for each application, and to start programs, that's why they're there, though it can be a bit more difficult to access jump lists without a mouse.

As mentioned on some places, and you may have seen some, you can either use a non-registry method or a small registry hack.

OOBFC Windows 10 (Out of box for Chris):
Recently used are there from the beginning ("Anteckningar" = "Notepad").

20200808A.PNG

You can pin files in the jumplists found in pinned applications (same as with the Taskbar).

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You can copy file shortcuts to the start menu's program folder in your profile [C:\Users\<User name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs], and then pin them to the start menu. (But you'll end up with two, one in the program list and one pinned.

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[Argus]

Or you can do a small registry addition to get an option in the right-click menu to add shortcuts to the Start menu.

Under HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers add {470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282} and you'll get a "pin to start" in the right-click menu on shortcuts to files. I.e. after adding the key value to the registry you can create some temporary shortcuts to your files/docs on, say, your desktop and then use this right-click menu to pin the files to the Start menu (and then delete the Desktop shortcuts).

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--- erratum ---
Oops, you'll of course need a new key for that value; it's PintoStartScreen; so:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\PintoStartScreen, and
{470C0EBD-5D73-4d58-9CED-E91E22E23282}

(Now back to coffee & cookies.)

[Argus]

So I think I should continue to use this method in Win10, since it worked for me in Win7 ("If it was good enough for my father, it's good enough for me" and "We've always done it that way!").

Father's father's father ...

But at some point a better way will be invented (but before that three good will be removed), and then ... we will keep doing it as we've always done ...?

[BobH]

Pardon me, Mr. Greaves, but you seem to be averse to using the task bar for quick launching, pinning, etc. Is there a reason for that? Since, reluctantly, coming to Win 10 some years ago, I've found the Start Menu (invoked by clicking the windows icon at the far left of the task bar) to be somewhat slow and much better used for links to seldom used applications than those I use multiple times a day. Pinning them there and attaching jump lists seems, to me, to be a better way. And they can be invoked by a simple mouse click. Example . . .

Taskbar too.PNG

What am I missing?

[Argus]

What am I missing?

It's all about avoiding the use of the mouse, Bob.

In earlier Windows versions (with jump lists in the Taskbar) you could invoke the lists, and thus any pinned items, with Winkey-Alt-#, say Winkey-Alt-6 for Word's jump list.

And, in fact ... it seems to be working in my OOBFC copy of Win10 1909. That is, I pinned one out of two test files to the Notepad application and thus its jump list. I can access the jump list via the keyboard with, in my case, Winkey-Alt-5.

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(However, if you are two-fingered(?) typist, pressing three keys simultaneously could be a challenge. )

I am a two-fingered typist and can count on the index finger of my left hand the number of times I have used the Numeric Pad as a means of entering numeric data.

[ChrisGreaves]

I think jump lists and pins, and thus pinning, has been around for a couple of OS generations; as you have found. But of course it many times involves a right-click, and hence using a mouse or a track pad, not a keyboard,...

Hi Argus, ... and herein lies my underlying problem with the mouse:-
Many people claim that "it is just one click away", but I have watched people using the mouse/trackpad for thirty years now, and I have watched myself. When we really watch people using a mouse, they do effect One Click, but prior to that they execute anything from one to four extra hand-wrist movements to get there.
This seems like a pedantic issue until you focus on the teller in the bank or the receptionist in the clinic and see just how much time is soaked up in moving the pointer to the click-point. Even for those of us with mouse pointers set to warp speed, we are skating up and down the screen to establish contact with that little black "X" in the annoying pop-up window.

Hence my abhorrence of the mouse. On top of that it is difficult for me to miss a target with the discrete keyboard, hence my love of shortcut combinations with the Ctrl key. And my new laptop.

I find it personally obnoxious that to get Ctrl keys my new laptop herds me towards the mouse. The screenshot earlier shows my Start menu in Win7 with just six items. These six items cover about 90% of my use of Windows, so for me <WinKey> then down-arrow no more than five times and an <Enter> key was sufficient.

MY Win10 Start menu currently involves <Win key>, <down> to skip the "group menu", then <down, down, right, right, Enter> to activate the farthest item.
If I can get that 2x3 array to a linear form my mind can relax and go back to thinking "Win and down five for Excel"!

Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

I really recommend Argus's tip:

Press Windows key + digit n to start or activate the n-th item on the Taskbar (not counting the Start button).

Press Windows key + Alt + digit n to display the jump list for the n-th item on the Taskbar. Then use the up/down arrow keys to select an item and press Enter to open or activate it.

And, of course: press the Windows key and start typing the name of any application or document. If necessary, use the arrow keys to select the desired item and press Enter.

[ChrisGreaves]

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Or you can do a small registry addition to get an option in the right-click menu to add shortcuts to the Start menu.

Hi Argus, and thanks, but ... I can already deal with shortcuts.
Here I am trying to link a file (Document, workbook etc) to the Start Menu without first establishing a shortcut link.
Actually in the back of my mind there is a vague memory of a version of Windows making "hidden shortcuts" to effect some feature.
I think the answer is that the average user isn't expected to pin a document to the Start Menu, which puzzles me, because everything suggested to date that works involved a shortcut link or a registry hack, and could be implemented automatically, had MS chosen so to do.
I am not against RegEdit; I just don't understand why millions of us have to jump through hoops to do a job that could be automated.

(Now back to coffee & cookies.)

How did you know that?!!???
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

Pardon me, Mr. Greaves, but you seem to be averse to using the task bar for quick launching, pinning, etc. Is there a reason for that?

Hi Bob, and yes there is, and there is not.

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I do use the taskbar and hence the mouse, right now to launch File Explorer (into T:\Maint\), Thunderbird, Firefox, Everything, Word2003, Calendar.doc, Expenses.xls ("Gold Star because your Net Worth is above zero"!!!) and WinAmp.

The taskbar and Start menu pretty well sum up my life at this desk.

I don't hate the mouse, I just find it inefficient when compared to the keyboard. My mantra is "Nine times out of ten, the keyboard is faster". A simple example is that I find Ctrl-B to be faster for me than locating the track pad, sliding the pointer to a small icon on a toolbar at the top of the screen, clicking, and then returning to the keyboard to continue typing.
(Actually I never Ctrl-B; I use a character style csB linked to Ctrl-Shift-B, but what's an extra Shift amongst friends, right?)

A deeper truth is found in my work. Most of the time I am either typing on the keyboard (writing an article, writing a program, or complaining on Eileen's Lounge) or staring at the screen wondering why what I have typed isn't working.
It follows that most of my mechanical activity is spent on the keyboard, and frequent and unnecessary switching from keyboard to mouse to keyboard to mouse is to my mind an inefficient way of working.
So if I am "on the keyboard" I try to stay on the keyboard, and if I am "on the mouse" I try to stay on the mouse.

A good example of the mouse for me is pasting a PrtScr snapshot into MSPaint, when I use the mouse to drag an area to be cropped, and might stay on the mouse and click the Crop button if I know I will be using another button (paint can) from the toolbar, but switch back and use Ctrl-Shift-X when I know that I will be File savingaS and File eXiting the program immediately.

I am aware that this sounds overly complex, but it arises from me studying hundreds of students during my computer-training days and wondering why some of them took so long to complete a simple task while others were sitting with arms folded after a few seconds. I found that the folks who did not switch back and forth were the fastest to complete the task.

And they can be invoked by a simple mouse click. Example . . . What am I missing?

Possibly that a "simple mouse click" is far too often up to a half-dozen hand-wrist movements of which the last is the "click" and the preceding are efforts to position the tip of the pointer in the right place.

Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

(However, if you are two-fingered(?) typist, pressing three keys simultaneously could be a challenge. )

I SAW THAT!!

The three-fingered salute is what your other hand is for!
Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

I really recommend Argus's tip: Press Windows key + digit n to start or activate the n-th item on the Taskbar (not counting the Start button).

Hello Hans.OK, OK, I can see that my continued presence here requires that I actually try a better way

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I have given the first tip a whirl, and discounting a few feathers placed there by Windows, I see that in my case <Winkey><1> really does throw up File Explorer in T:\Maint.
So far so good.

I then tried the others and hate being pleasantly surprised to find that whereas <Winkey><8> opens up WinAmp, <Winkey><8> then brings the opened WinAmp to the foreground.

OK. [grudgingly] I'll give you that one [/grudingly] father's father's father ...
This behaviour on my part depends on a stable positioning in the taskbar, which is not a problem. As I pointed out to BobH, my Start Menu and Task Bar are stable once I am up and running.

I will use the <Winkey><Digit> for the rest of today.

I have as yet no applications suitable for Jump Lists (Winword.exe, NotePad.exe, MSPaint etc.) pinned to the task bar, but will set that up and spend tomorrow trying out the jump lists. (Right now my access to applications is all via shortcuts. WinWord is especially a shortcut to a batch file which (batch file) copies in a Normal.dot from a secure location, so we'll see how that goes.)

Assuming that the electricians don't cut the mains power while they install 32 new outlets in my house.

Cheers
Chris

[Argus]

I find it personally obnoxious that to get Ctrl keys my new laptop herds me towards the mouse.

It also came with a new OS ... I get it, but blame it on the poor laptop.

MY Win10 Start menu currently involves <Win key>, <down> to skip the "group menu", then <down, down, right, right, Enter> to activate the farthest item.
If I can get that 2x3 array to a linear form my mind can relax and go back to thinking "Win and down five for Excel"!

That's for when everything else is broken, then you can move around Windows UI like that. (In the old old Lounge my mouse gave up in the middle of a post; it was tab tab tab tab arrow arrow arrow Enter arrow arrow arrow tab arrow Enter, or something like that to add a smiley, but I managed to finish the post. )

The screenshot earlier shows my Start menu in Win7 with just six items. These six items cover about 90% of my use of Windows, so for me <WinKey> then down-arrow no more than five times and an <Enter> key was sufficient.

I'll cut that for you: In your old Win7 start menu you could have typed Winkey, down-arrow, E, for Excel (say left hand winkey, right hand down arrow, left hand E)!

You like shortcuts, and who doesn't; you use some software more frequently, and who doesn't, so they will end up in the Taskbar eventually, why then not pin them to the Taskbar? And you have. Most people tend to open one file type with one software, thus there is a connection -> jump lists.

The only "downside" is that you have to train yourself to count to 10 on the Taskbar and remember which application is related to the different numbers; and if you forget, it's right there in front of you (no, not on the keyboard, the screen ). (As a bonus, and no surprise: jump lists works with both arrow keys and accelerator keys access keys (initial letters).) Potential downside: jump lists sometimes get erased, other shortcuts not so likely.

And if you still want to use your dear old arrow keys for the "start bit", you can use Winkey-T (moving focus to the Taskbar) and the right-arrow and Enter (instead of say Winkey-5).

[BobH]

What do you call a Luddite trying to use a computer?

Spoiler

Christopher Greaves?

[ChrisGreaves]

What do you call a Luddite trying to use a computer?

At last! World-wide recognition!

Cheers
Chris

[jolas]

Here is a registry tweak that I tested on my Windows 10 system. You may need the right-click mouse to pin almost any file type.

There is a download link to the ready to use "Pin To Start Screen" registry tweak. Two registry files are included to add or remove if it doesn't work for you.

The download link takes you to another page. Scroll find this text "Download Pin any file or folder to Start Screen in Windows 8.1"

It created a right-click context menu "Pin to Start" rather than a "Pin To Start Screen" which is a bit strange but got the job done of conveniently pinning stuff on my Windows 10 Start.


My current Windows 10 version I tested with.

MyCurrent Windows10 Version.jpg

or

switch back to classic windows menu even window7 style inside windows 10. Although the classic shell is no longer actively developed, it still works with my current windows installation. Of course getting use to the new windows 10 interface is a logical direction. It is nice to know the old alternative exist for those that still want and need it.


Just a suggestion.