Jump in to Windows 7 Taskbar Jump Lists. Windows 7 Taskbar Overview. And for more technical content on Windows 7, along with a few cool code samples, go to the Windows 7 Blog for Developers. For a good practical example of adding Jumplist support to an application, see this blogpost about adding Jumplist features to the PuTTY program.
Sign in to subscribe An error occurred, please try again later Close. Jan 08, at AM. Average of 5 out of 5 stars 2 ratings Sign in to rate Close. Sign in to queue Sorry, an error occurred. Description Windows 7 offers a new way of controlling your desktop, managing your windows, and launching applications. Other videos include: 1. Designing the Windows 7 Taskbar 2.
Windows 7 Taskbar Behind the Scenes 3. Changing the default folder to open the Windows Explorer The button Computer part of the Start menu opens the Windows Explorer, by default in the 'folder' Computer. Although this location can be of use, it is not always the most practical folder to start with. To change the folder which is opened by default, right click the preferred folder in the Windows Explorer and select Send to , Desktop create shortcut. Open the Properties of this shortcut right click the shortcut and change the command for the variable Target.
After the name of the shortcut has been changed, move the shortcut to the Start menu by drag-and-drop. The behavior of the Taskbar can be changed by right clicking an empty area of the Taskbar follow by Properties. In Windows 7 it is better not to use the option to hide the Taskbar Auto-hide the taskbar because Windows 7 shows some of the administrator messages on the Taskbar. If these messages waiting for confirmation are not visible by the user, it is not clear why there is nothing happening.
A double height of the Taskbar by dragging the top of the Taskbar upwards creates more space for the Quick Launch menu and the active programs. This change creates more space to show both the time and date. To be able to drag the top upwards, the Taskbar must unlocked by right clicking it and choosing for Lock the Taskbar.
In Windows 7 the Taskbar has been improved resulting in a better user experience. As soon as a program is opened the program icon is added as a button to the taskbar when multiple windows of the same program are opened, the buttons are stacked.
The Quick Launch menu of previous versions is no longer used; the shortcuts to frequently used programs are placed directly on the taskbar and changes in a button when the program is activated. A program can be pinned to the taskbar by right clicking the program icon on the taskbar and selecting Pin this program to taskbar select Unpin this program from taskbar to unpin the program. The order can be changed by drag-and-drop. The shortcuts pinned to the taskbar can be activated with both the mouse and the keyboard.
By using the Windows -key in combination with a numeric key one of the programs is opened the number of the program to be used depends on the order on the taskbar from left to right, e.
If the program was already opened, the windows will be activated or deactivated depending on the status of that moment if multiple windows are open, this key combination can be used to browse these windows. By hovering a button of a program with the mouse, a popup window is shown with miniature versions of the opened windows for that program. These mini windows can be used to activate of close the concerning window. By hovering the mouse over one of these mini windows, the original window is temporarily shown at the foreground.
Jump List By right clicking a program icon on the taskbar, a so called Jump List is shown with options like recently opened files or visited web pages. But there are more options like opening a new window which can be done faster by holding down the SHIFT -key as soon as a program icon is clicked , closing all opened windows, pinning a program to the taskbar and depending on the program some additional features.
The picture below shows the Jump List belonging to the Control Panel. The Jump List only shows a few recently opened items. By default this number is maximized to the 10 most recent opened items but can be increased: right click the start button, option Properties , button Customize and change the number shown by the option Number of recent items to display in Jump Lists at the bottom.
A frequently visited website or opened file can be permanently pinned to the Jump List of a program as well: right click a recently opened item in the Jump List and select Pin to this list or just by dragging a shortcut of a file to the taskbar.
This trick can be applied to almost all windows especially when it is hard to create a shortcut! Changing the behavior of the taskbar The behavior of the Taskbar can be changed as well. By dragging the top of the taskbar upwards, the height of the taskbar can be enlarged to make space available for more program icons.
Right click the taskbar and deselect Lock the Taskbar first to accomplish this. Right click an empty area of the Taskbar followed by Properties for additional option like Auto-hide the taskbar to make space available for the active programs and Use small icons to fit more program icons on the taskbar.
When the Jump List of a program doesn't show any of the recent and pinned files any more, it is not that easy to fix it. The file which contains the Jump List information has to be deleted, the problem is to find out which file contains the information of the specific Jump List.
There is a file for each icon on the taskbar. The filename doesn't give any clue which program a file is for, a text editor like Notepad Start , All programs , Accessories is needed to find the right file. Open each of these files and search for information like file names related to the missing Jump List this sounds simple but can be hard because these files are quite large.
When the right Jump List file has been found, the problem is solved by deleting it. After rebooting the computer a new, empty Jump List is created the earlier attached items are deleted as well. When a lot of programs are installed, the taskbar, the start menu and especially the sub All Programs can become badly arranged. If this is the case, an additional toolbar can be added to get a better overview.
When this folder is created, the toolbar can be added simply by right clicking the taskbar, select Toolbars, New toolbar and select the newly created folder. The shortcuts placed in the sub All Programs of the Start menu which aren't important enough to pin to the taskbar can be copied or dragged to this folder. TIP: A toolbar for the personal files in the folder My documents can be created similarly.
Changing the view of a toolbar The view of a toolbar can be changed as desired. Right click the taskbar and deactivate the option Lock the taskbar to be able to make changes to the taskbar items. After the taskbar has been unlocked the titles and descriptions of the icons can be hidden with the options Show title and Show text right click the toolbar first. In the example below a shortcut has been added where a space " " is added as first character of the name, which prevents other shortcuts will be placed on the taskbar.
The size of the icons can be changed with the option View. Finally, the taskbar can be locked by reactivating the option Lock the taskbar. TIP: A toolbar with shortcuts to frequently used programs is similar to the Quick Launch menu from previous versions. In Windows 7 this menu is no longer available because the taskbar has been changed significantly.
If you miss the Quick Launch menu, one could pin this folder to the Start menu. By drag-and-drop the toolbar can be moved to the right side of the start button. The Language bar at the left of the system tray, see the example above can be of use to add a second language or keyboard layout. In most cases however, there is no need for this support in which case it is better hide the Language bar by the Control Panel, Regional and Language , tab Keyboards and Languages , button Change keyboards , tab Language Bar.
Another option is to remove the unused installed services on the tab General. Removing the unused input languages prevents the irritating and unintended keyboard layout change as well which occurs after pressing the key combination left ALT -key and right SHIFT -key. The icons are a shortcut to open the program, but most of them are not used at all. Right click the clock and select Properties. The shown window can be used to select which system icons to be shown in the system tray.
The icons for the volume, network, battery power level and the action center can be disabled especially the frequently returning icon for the action center can cause some irritations. To keep the system tray lean and mean, most icons are hidden behind the arrow at the left of the system tray. When an icon must be visible continuously, just drag it to the taskbar.
Changing the date and time settings The notification area show both a clock and the date by doubling the height of the taskbar, this area also shows the day of the week. The tab Additional Clocks offers the option to add two additional clocks for different time zones to the pop-up window. By placing shortcuts to frequently used folders, files and programs can be opened quickly. To keep a good overview, limit the number of shortcuts placed on the desktop when shortcuts to programs are pinned to the task bar and start menu, there is actually no need to place them on the desktop as well.
Be aware that it is not wise to place any personal files on the desktop; it enlarges the risk of losing data! Minimizing programs When the shortcuts on the desktop are frequently used, the active windows will have to be minimized frequently as well. Although the programs can be minimized or closed manually, there is a method which works a lot quicker: just click the button Show desktop at the right side of the system tray to minimize all windows at once.
There is only one negative side effect of this button: when the mouse is hovered with the mouse, the desktop is shown temporarily. Disable this feature when it becomes irritating: right click the button and deactivate the option Peek at desktop. The Windows -key in combination with repeatedly pressing the arrow down key minimizes all opened programs. The Windows -key in combination with the space bar show temporarily the desktop and in combination with the Home -key all but the active window will be minimized the old situation will be restored after repeating this key combination.
By holding down the left button on the active window and to shake the window, all other windows will be minimized. Sorting icons The icons of the shortcuts will be ordered nicely by right clicking the desktop and to select View , Auto arrange items.
The option Align icons to grid can be enabled as well. By default the icons are quite large but can be resized to a smaller version by holding down the CTRL -key in combination with scrolling the mouse wheel. Are you a heavy user of desktop icons, and get irritated when your icons get messed up? With IconRestorer you can backup the icon locations and, when needed, restore them easily to the location at the time of the backup. Changing the desktop settings The item Personalize in the control panel also available by right clicking the desktop , option Change desktop icons at the left in the task pane can be used to add or remove shortcuts to the recycle bin, the network, the explorer and user files.
The desktop background image can be changed by following the link Desktop Background use the button Browse to browse the folder with your personal pictures. Select multiple pictures to create a slide show change the picture position and the interval as desired. Unfortunately there is no support for multiple monitors: each monitor will show the same picture.
