How to Pin a Website to the Taskbar in Windows 11

Turning Your Favourite Sites into Desktop Apps

If you use a specific website every single day—whether it is a corporate webmail portal, a project management tool like Trello, or simply your favourite news site—opening your browser, clicking the address bar, and typing the URL every time can become tedious.

Windows 11 allows you to bypass the browser entirely by “pinning” any website directly to your taskbar. When you do this, the website receives its own dedicated icon at the bottom of your screen, just like Microsoft Word or Spotify. Clicking that icon instantly launches the website in a dedicated, streamlined window without all the distracting toolbars, bookmarks, and search boxes of a traditional browser interface.

Because Microsoft Edge is deeply integrated into Windows 11, it is the best tool for creating these taskbar shortcuts, though Google Chrome offers a very similar feature if you prefer using Google’s browser.

Method 1: Pinning a Website Using Microsoft Edge (Recommended)

Microsoft Edge makes this process incredibly simple and creates the most native-feeling experience on Windows 11.

1. Open the Microsoft Edge browser.
2. Navigate to the exact webpage you want to pin (e.g., mail.google.com or twitter.com). Ensure you are logged in if it is a site that requires a password.
3. Click the Menu icon (three horizontal dots) in the top right corner of the Edge window.
4. Scroll down the menu and hover your mouse over More tools.
5. A secondary menu will slide out. Click on Pin to taskbar.
6. A small pop-up box will appear in the centre of your screen, allowing you to edit the name of the shortcut (e.g., you can shorten “Twitter – Home” to just “Twitter”).
7. Click Pin.

The website’s icon will instantly appear on your taskbar at the bottom of the screen. You can now close the main Microsoft Edge window. The next time you click that new icon, the website will open immediately.

Method 2: Creating a Shortcut Using Google Chrome

If you do not use Microsoft Edge and rely exclusively on Google Chrome, the process is slightly different. Chrome does not have a direct “Pin to taskbar” button, but you can create a desktop shortcut that achieves the exact same result.

1. Open the Google Chrome browser and navigate to the website you wish to pin.
2. Click the Menu icon (three vertical dots) in the top right corner of the Chrome window.
3. Hover your mouse over Save and share (on older versions of Chrome, this might be labelled “More tools”).
4. Click on Create shortcut…
5. A pop-up box will appear. You can edit the name of the shortcut here.
6. Crucial Step: Ensure you tick the small checkbox labelled Open as window. If you do not tick this box, clicking the shortcut will simply open a new tab in your existing, cluttered Chrome window instead of giving the website its own clean, dedicated space.
7. Click Create.

Chrome will immediately open the website in a new window, and you will see the website’s icon appear on your taskbar. However, it is not permanently pinned yet.

8. Look down at your taskbar, Right-click the new website icon.
9. Select Pin to taskbar from the small pop-up menu.

You can now safely close the window, and the icon will remain permanently docked at the bottom of your screen for easy access.

How to Remove a Pinned Website

If you change jobs and no longer need access to a specific corporate portal, or if your taskbar is simply becoming too cluttered, removing a pinned website takes less than two seconds.

1. Locate the icon you wish to remove on your taskbar.
2. Right-click the icon.
3. Select Unpin from taskbar (the icon looks like a pushpin with a diagonal line through it).

The icon will vanish immediately. (Note: Doing this does not delete your bookmarks or browsing history; it merely removes the quick-access shortcut).