How to Add Quick Launch Toolbar to Taskbar in Windows 11

In Windows 10 and windows 11 , Quick Launch Toolbar was located on the taskbar (before the system tray) and helped users to open or launch frequently accessed files, folders, applications, and so on. This was a native feature of Windows 10 that allowed users to create a custom toolbar to access the files, folders, and applications. But, in Windows 11 this functionality is not available to the users.

However, there is a possibility to create and add a quick launch toolbar to access the files, folders, and apps that are accessed regularly from the system tray of your Windows 11 PC. Are you looking to use the Quick Launch Toolbar on your Windows 11 system, then go ahead and read this post. In this article, we have discussed in the detail the steps to add a quick launch custom toolbar to the taskbar by installing an additional software in Windows 11.

 

Step 1 – Install ExplorerPatcher Application

 

1. Click on the link to download the ExplorerPatcher executable file.

2. You will be redirected to Github.

On this page, scroll down and locate a section named How to in README.md

Here, click on the link in the line that reads Download the latest version of the setup program.

 

 

Save this downloaded file on your PC. You will now have downloaded a file with the name ep_setup.exe on your system.

3. Go to the location of the downloaded executable.

Run this executable file to start the installation process of the application.

 

 

There will not be any prompts seen during the process of the software installation.

4. After the installation completes, everything on the taskbar moves to the left end of the taskbar. This includes the start button and all the other icons.

Also, the look of the Start button would have changed.

This confirms that the ExplorerPatcher Software has been installed on your system.

 

 

 

Step 2 – Add Quick Launch Toolbar

 

1. You need to unlock your taskbar if it is locked.

To unlock, right-click on your taskbar and uncheck the option Lock the taskbar.

 

 

2. Again, right-click on your taskbar, and in the menu that opens choose the option Toolbars.

In the sub-menu that opens, click on the option New toolbar...

 

 

You will see a New Toolbar – Choose a folder window.

In the navigation bar of this window, copy and paste the path given below and then hit the Enter key.

%SystemDrive%\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer

 

 

3. In the path that opens up, choose the Quick Launch folder and then tap on the button labeled as Select Folder.

 

 

Once this folder is selected, a Quick Launch toolbar is seen on the right end of your taskbar near the system tray.

 

 

4. You don’t want text and title to be seen in this Quick Launch toolbar.

 

 

So, right-click on the Quick Launch toolbar, and in the menu that opens uncheck both the Show Text and Show Title options.

 

 

5. To move this toolbar to the left side, just click on the two vertical lines and then drag it to the required position.

It might take some playing around with this toolbar to get it in the required position.

Once you are done, you will see the icons associated with Quick launch are smaller and are near the original larger icons on the taskbar.

 

 

You can remove the larger icons from the taskbar by right-clicking on them and selecting the option Unpin from taskbar.

 

 

6. To hide the other taskbar items, like the Search and Task view icons press Windows + R to open Run.

Type ms-settings:personalization and hit Enter to open the Personalization Settings page.

 

 

Scroll down on the Personalization page and select the box labeled Taskbar.

 

 

Then, turn off the toggle associated with Search and Task view options to hide them from your taskbar.

 

 

7. After the above changes are done, the taskbar appearance will be as shown below.

 

 

You can add and remove icons from the Quick Launch toolbar as per your needs.

To add, just drag and drop the program in the toolbar.

 

 

To remove, right-click on the icon here and choose the option Delete.

 

 

8. But, the only difference you notice is that the Start menu opens up at the center of the desktop when you tap on the Windows Start button.

You can modify this by changing the taskbar alignment.

Go to the Taskbar settings in Personalization as mentioned in Step 6 above.

Once you are on the Taskbar settings page, scroll down and expand the box labeled Taskbar behaviors by clicking on it.

Here, use the dropdown box next to Taskbar alignment and choose the option Left from the list.

 

 

 

So, now you know how easy it is to get the Quick Launch Toolbar on your taskbar following the steps detailed above.

 

Suppose at a later time you need to get back the original Windows 11 taskbar which doesn’t have the Quick Launch Toolbar, you will need to uninstall the ExplorerPatcher program from your system. Follow the steps below to uninstall ExplorerPatcher.

 

1. Press Windows + R to open Run.

Type ms-settings:appsfeatures and hit the Enter key.

 

 

2. On the Apps & features page, scroll down and locate ExplorerPatcher in the list of installed apps.

Click on the three-dot menu at the right end of ExplorerPatcher and choose Uninstall.

 

 

On the confirmation prompt that pops up, click on Uninstall again.

 

 

Follow the on-screen prompt to complete the uninstallation of this program.

3. After the uninstallation, you will see that the taskbar reverts back to the original Windows 11 taskbar without the Quick Launch Toolbar.

That’s it!!

Thanks for reading.

Did you find this descriptive and useful in helping you add the Quick Launch Toolbar to your system taskbar on Windows 11? Please let us know your thoughts and opinions on the same in the comments section below.