Do you have web services or other sites that you use so often that you would like to have them as an app pinned to your Windows Taskbar or Start menu? Here’s a look at how to do just that using Google Chrome in Windows 10.
Pin Websites as Apps Using Chrome
You can pin any website you want, and examples of web services you might want to pin as an app are YouTube, Pandora, Outlook.com – even groovyPost! Head to the site you want to pin and then click the Settings icon in the upper-right corner. Then head to More tools > Add to desktop.
A second window will pop up where you can name the shortcut and make sure “Open as window” is checked and then click Add.
The web app icon is created on your desktop and from there you can put it on the taskbar or Start menu. In the example below I’ve pinned some of the most popular web services. Just right-click on an icon and select Pin to taskbar or Pin to Start from the context menu.
There you go. The icons look professional and like they are Universal apps pinned on the taskbar.
They work independently of the normal stack of open Chrome tabs and windows as a typical app would run. The screenshot below is running Pandora, Netflix, and groovyPost as individual web apps on Windows 10.
groovyPost as an App
If you want to pin groovyPost and make it feel more like a mobile app than a web page, here’s a cool tip. Just type: /amp to the end of our homepage URL and pin it to a convenient location.
Here is a look at the cleaner and more mobile app-like design of the site:
You can always get the official desktop or UWP apps for web services, but not all websites have an app. You might not like how an app works and prefer the web experience. Or, maybe you don’t want to take the time to find and install the official apps. This provides a quick and easy way to get an app-like experience for any website.
Do you like to pin your favorite web services and websites to the taskbar? Leave a comment below and let us know which sites you do this for in the comments below.
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Frustrated
May 24, 2017 at 11:39 am
This article does not work in windows 10. I have tried a dozen times and it DOES NOT WORK. Don’t waste your time thinking it will. Updates or something has caused it to not work.
Dave
June 1, 2017 at 5:49 am
Worked fine for me, with Gmail and BBC News, although my taskbar is getting a bit cluttered now…
Brian Burgess
May 24, 2017 at 7:34 pm
@Frustrated:
I have done this successfully on two different versions of Windows 10 Version 1607 and the most recent Insider preview build 16199. It also works on Windows 7.
What exactly are the problems you’re having? Head to our Windows 10 Forums and let the community know as well as any error messages you might be having.
https://windows10.help/
Frustrated
May 25, 2017 at 7:27 am
I did try it again, and some icons do have the option to pin to taskbar, but the ymail icon that I was trying will not work. Some will work, some will not. Not sure why.
beergas
May 28, 2017 at 11:50 am
Worked ok on average URL w/ Windows 10 x64 Pro. Pinned ok & even when delete the desktop icon afterwards the pin remains to use. I’ve long avoided clutter to taskbar which lead to cluttered desktop.
This will cut down on desktop icons. Also I use MS’s kb F key assigns to load most used sites. This is good additional way to get URL that has a site menu for navigation. Use it a lot.
Only quibble with taskbar is telling which is a pinned unopened app & which is a newly created icon done from just launched app. They’re all just icons to me. The very last opened app’s taskbar icon does appear to be highlighted, as well as any open website, so guess have to use highlight as a way to tell dif. I can see a long stretch of taskbar icons ahead. lol. Thanks.
Dave
June 1, 2017 at 5:50 am
Thanks Brian, that is a trick that never occurred to me – very handy!
dan
June 5, 2017 at 12:26 pm
Is there a way to get the URL from an email’s contents? In particular, sometimes I get an email techie newsletter that I would like to bookmark, however, it does not have a URL that I could use (without logging into my email account to fetch it).
Thnx,
Dan