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Shortcuts in Windows

In this lesson, you will learn:

Read to the bottom: Select "Checkpoint 5 " under 'Next' and turn it in to your lab instructor.

This lesson shows you how to create disk shortcuts for personal files, programs files, folders, disk drives and printers. You can make shortcuts to any object. You will also learn to use a special Shortcut Wizard to give you more power and control of how your shortcut works. A shortcut is merely a turbocharged 'Pointer'. When you create a Desktop shortcut, it appears next to the other objects, and you can put these shortcuts into folders to keep them organized if needed. They provide the quickest way to start a program, open a document, or access a Windows utility, object or other feature.

NOTE: This lesson shows where and demonstrates how Windows settings can be changed. This information is for use on your home and business computers.

When a shortcut is on the desktop it looks like any other icon for a program. In fact, it is hard to tell the difference. Icons for shortcuts have a down arrow on the lower right side. Whenever you see an icon with the down arrow, it means it is a shortcut to another object. The icon itself will generally give a hint as to what it is for, whether disk or program or a folder.

The steps for creating a shortcut are simple:

  1. Open the folder that contains the object that you want to create a shortcut for, either a File or a Folder.
  2. Right Click and then Drag and Drop the object onto the desktop or area you want it. You can also drop into other folders (not Files).
  3. Choose 'Create Shortcuts Here'
  4. Rename the shortcut with a friendly name.

You can right click the shortcut, select 'Rename' and call the object anything you want.

Rmember: After releasing the right mouse button, use the left mouse button to select 'Create Shortcuts Here'.

In the upper half in the picture above, notice that there is a shadow or outline of the object as it is being moved onto the desktop. As an object is being moved during the Drag and Drop there is always an outline or shadow of the object. This makes it easy to see where you are in relation to where you have to go to drop it. Otherwise, it is easy to "get lost" as the icon and cursor arrow disappear. If that happens, it means that you may be moving the mouse too fast, so just slow down and the computer will catch up. This is particularily noticeable on older computers.

Shortcuts to Personal Files

Shortcuts to often used document files on the desktop are real handy tools, saving you the time and frustration of navigating through a folder hierarchy to find what you need each time it is needed. Follow the steps above to create a shortcut to the most often used files, like your resume, cover letter, or other documents.

Consider what you have just done. In a couple of minutes, you have just created a shortcut: the absolute fastest way of opening up this file. It is much faster than clicking all of the cascading menus of Start > My Computer > My File.

Creating Shortcuts to an Existing Folder

You'll be accessing files and folders in the Personal Folder throughout your work. Let's create a shortcut to the folder on the desktop.

  1. Open Windows Explorer
  2. Locate the folder in the left pane
  3. Right Click the folder and hold the right mouse button down.
  4. Drag the folder to the desktop.
  5. Release the mouse button and select (left click) 'Create Shortcuts Here'
  6. Name it Personal.

Any changes you make like adding or removing files to the shortcut folder are made in the original folder.

Creating Shortcuts for Disk Drives

Shortcuts can be created and used for hardware devices, as well as for programs. When you create a shortcut to a drive, you can navigate through the Drive folder structure right from the desktop without having to open Windows Explorer or My Computer first.

If you access a drive often, this shortcut technique will save you time and steps. The shortcut will be to Drive A:, but at home or at the office you can repeat the steps for any other drive or device that you want to add.

NOTE: If you create a shortcut to A:\ and then click on it when there is no floppy disk in the drive, you will get an error.

To create a Disk Drive shortcut for drive A: follow these steps:

  1. Open My Computer
  2. Right Click My Documents: and hold the right mouse button down.
  3. Drag it over to a blank portion of the desktop.
  4. Release the mouse and select (Left Click) 'Create Shortcuts Here'.

Now you can access the drive from the desktop. You may want to create other shortcuts at the same time.

NOTE: This may not work on the computers in the computer lab, but will work at your personal computer.

Shortcuts for Starting Programs

If you thought browsing was a lot of work, you're right. We had to open a lot of windows and separated folders simply to find a file and then click it to start the program. The windows cluttered up the Desktop. Wouldn't it be easier to just drag an icon onto the desktop and click on it? Then it would start every time we clicked one time!

We can create shortcuts by locating the programs. Let's now do one for the Word Pad program:

  1. Locate Word Pad using the Start Menu.
  2. Click it with the Right Mouse Button and hold the mouse button down.
  3. Drag it to the desktop.
  4. Select 'Create Shortcuts Here'
  5. Right click the new shortcut and select (left click) 'Rename'.
  6. Name the shortcut Word Pad.

Creating Printer Shortcuts

When you create a Printer shortcut to a printer on the desktop, you can drag and drop documents that you want to print onto the shortcut and they will print for you. You can change the printer properties by right clicking on the shortcut and selecting Properties.

The procedure for creating the shortcut to a printer is similar to the previous ones for other objects:

  1. Open the Printers and Faxes Folder:
  2. Double click the Printers Folder in the My Computer window OR
  3. Click the Start Button, Click the Printers and Faxes folder to open it OR
  4. Click Start, Control Panel, click the printers and faxes folder to open it
  5. Right Click the printer icon and hold the right mouse button down
  6. Drag the object to a blank area of the desktop
  7. Release the mouse button
  8. Select (Left click) 'Create Shortcuts Here.
  9. Give the shortcut a meaningful name

There will be an outline of the printer icon during drag and drop. This is an easy shortcut to make and makes printing documents as easy as dropping them onto the shortcut!

You might have other objects such as programs and documents you want to place on the desktop. Just follow the above proceduresfor creating shortcuts to them. After you've added the shortcuts to the desktop, it's best to line them up. On the desktop: Right Click > Arrange Icons > By Name.

Shortcut Wizard

As you've already learned, one method for placing shortcuts on the Desktop is to open the Window Explorer pane where the object for the shortcut exists, Right Click the object, and drag it to the Desktop. An alternative method is to use the Shortcut Wizard.

A Wizard is a helpful program that guides you through the steps for creating a process - a shortcut in this case. With the Shortcut Wizard, you start from the place where you want to create the shortcut, then answer questions asked by the Wizard to create a shortcut in that location.

As an example, follow these steps to create a shortcut for the Notepad Program.

  1. Right click the Desktop to open the object menu
  2. Choose New > Shortcut.


The Create Shortcut Wizard appears. If you know the drive, folder and name of the program you want to create a shortcut for, just type it in the "Location of Item" field.


In our example, we don't know, so we have to click the Browse Button.



After locating Notepad, double click the Notepad program. You are returned to the shortcut Wizard where the drive, folder and file you selected will appear in the Location or the item Box

Click 'Next', and then type a name for your shortcut. Your writing will overwrite the text in the field.




Click Finish to create the shortcut. The Notepad object appears on the desktop and you can double click on a shortcut any time to open the program.

After adding these shortcuts onto the Desktop, arrange them by name. You do that by Right Clicking in the desktop area and selecting the 'Arrange' options. This arrangement will be exactly the same every time you start Windows. If you drag the icons around on the Desktop and drop them into place, they will "Snap" into place. The features of the Desktop are covered in another lesson.



Email me: arcon4@frontier.com