How to Pin and Unpin a Program in Windows 7

Customize your taskbar and Start menu by adding or removing programs

By
Keith Ward
Keith Ward
Writer
  • Towson University
Keith Ward is a former Lifewire writer with over 25 years' experience writing about Microsoft products and creating and Windows tutorials.
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Updated on May 15, 2022

What to Know

  • First, make sure Taskbar is unlocked. Right-click the app and select Pin to Taskbar.
  • Or select an app, press and hold the mouse button and drag app to Taskbar.
  • You can also pin apps to the Start menu: Right-click app > select Pin to Start Menu.

This article explains how to pin and unpin a program to the Taskbar and Start menu in Windows 7. As of January 2020, Microsoft no longer supports Windows 7. We recommend upgrading to Windows 10 to continue receiving security updates and technical support.

01
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Locking and Unlocking the Taskbar

Lock the taskbar in Taskbar menu

Before you make changes to the taskbar, you might need to unlock it. When the taskbar is locked, this prevents changes from being made to it. This is to prevent accidental changes, such as slips of the mouse or drag-and-drop accidents.

Right-click on the taskbar in a space where there are no icons. This opens a pop-up context menu. Near the bottom, look for Lock the taskbar; if there is a check next to this, that means your taskbar is locked, and to make changes you will first need to unlock it. 

To unlock the taskbar, simply select the Lock the taskbar item in the menu to remove the check. Now you can add and remove programs to it.

When you're finished customizing the taskbar and don't want it changed by accident in the future, you can go back and lock the taskbar using the same method: right-click in the taskbar space and select Lock the taskbar so that a check appears again next to it.

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Pin to the Taskbar by Right-Clicking

Pin to Taskbar in Paint right-click menu

For this example, we are using the image editing software Paint, which comes with Windows 7.

Select the Start button. Paint might appear in the Start menu. If not, type "paint" in the search window at the bottom (it has a magnifying glass next to it).

Once you've located Paint, right-click on the Paint icon. From the context menu, select Pin to Taskbar.

Paint will now appear in the taskbar.

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Pin to the Taskbar by Dragging

dragging Paint to Pin to Taskbar

You can also pin a program to the Taskbar by dragging it. Here, we use Paint again as the example program.

Select the Paint icon. While holding the mouse button, drag the icon to the taskbar. You will see a semitransparent version of the icon, with the phrase "Pin to Taskbar." Release the mouse button, and the program will be pinned to the Taskbar.

As above, you should now see the Paint program icon in the taskbar.

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Unpin a Taskbar Program

Unpin from Taskbar

To remove a program pinned to the taskbar, first right-click on the program's icon in the taskbar. In the context menu that appears, select Unpin this program from taskbar. The program will vanish from the taskbar.

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Pin to Start Menu in right-click menu

You can also pin programs to the Start menu. These will appear when you select the Start button. In this case, we will pin the Windows game Solitaire to the Start menu to give easy access to it.

First, locate the Solitaire game by selecting the Start menu and entering "solitaire" in the search field. When it appears, right-click the icon. From the context menu that appears, select Pin to Start Menu.

Once pinned to the Start menu, it will appear in that menu when you select Start. 

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Unpin from Start Menu

You can remove a program from the Start menu just as easily.

First, select the Start button to open the Start menu. Find the program you want to remove from the menu and right-click it. From the context menu that appears, select Unpin from Start Menu. The program will disappear from the Start menu.​​

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