How to Enable or Disable Quick Launch Bar Toolbar in Windows 7
Quick Launch Bar has been almost deprecated in Windows 7 as the whole Taskbar been replaced with greatly enhanced Superbar, which now allows shortcut icons to be placed on it directly. For users who miss Quick Launch bar so much to want it back in Windows 7, Microsoft has not yet completely removed the Quick Launch Bar yet, instead the Quick Launch Toolbar has been disabled and hidden by default.
Use the hack below to enable and turn on the Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7:
- Right click on Windows 7 Taskbar, and point to Toolbars context menu item, and then select New Toolbar….
- Browse to the following folder (easy way is to copy and paste to Address box to automatically navigate to):
%SystemDrive%\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\
- Locate and highlight the Quick Launch folder, and then click on Select Folder button.
- A Quick Launch Toolbar will be added to Windows Taskbar close to notification area. Unlock the Taskbar (right click on Taskbar and uncheck Lock the taskbar) to move the Quick Launch Toolbar.
- To move the Quick Launch Toolbar to the left of Taskbar next to Start button, unpin all application programs from the Superbar by right click on each and every icons, then select Unpin this program from taskbar.
Move the both borders of Quick Launch Toolbar to the furthest left, and then re-pin the applications to Taskbar if you still require them.
- Optionally, right click on empty space inside Quick Launch Toolbar area, and unselect Show Title to remove the Quick Launch wording, or uncheck Show Text to remove the label next to the shortcuts and icons in Quick Launch bar.
Add the icons and/or shortcuts to Quick Launch Bar by drag and drop to the Quick Launch Bar Toolbar or to %SystemDrive%\Users\%username%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\ folder, while delete the icon as you would with any typical file (right click on it, and then select Delete).
How to Disable and Remove Quick Launch Toolbar in Windows 7
After added the Quick Launch bar in Windows 7, to remove the QuickLaunch Toolbar, just right click on Taskbar, and go to Toolbars, then uncheck Quick Launch menu item. The Quick Launch Toolbar will be removed from Taskbar and the toolbar item in Toolbars folder will also be deleted.
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Entries (RSS)
November 12th, 2009 04:19
THANK YOU, I was devastated when I got my fresh Windows 7 installed and began looking at the taskbar… thinking “Where is the Quicklaunch, which was the cornerstone of my Windows XP.” After a while and not finding it, I did a little googling and this page came up as first one. Thank you again for this information, lifesaver.
November 4th, 2009 14:22
thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you,
and thank you
Just got me a new laptop and just after a couple minutes I missed the quick launch.
November 4th, 2009 10:38
Wow! This worked out so nicely! Thank you so much! For those, who have a language bar to the left of the newly appeared Quick Launch Bar, uncheck the language bar first, then start moving the QLB to the left. You can always bring the LB back to where it was before.
September 18th, 2009 04:26
Instead of renaming your Quick launch folder to “nothing” you can just right click on the quick launch bar and unselect “show title” , your taskbar must be unlocked when you do it.
September 17th, 2009 23:12
Very useful! I found the “Quick Launch” text annoying, so before adding the toolbar, I renamed the Quick Launch folder to nothing. You do this by selecting Rename, typing in Alt + 255, which is a blank place holder. It looks *exactly* like the old Quick Launch now!
September 13th, 2009 13:46
To display your open windows on the taskbar like they were in other Windows versions, right-click on the taskbar and go to Properties — then in the “Taskbar Buttons” drop-down menu select “Never Combine” and apply.
I hope that helps.
July 12th, 2009 09:44
Sadly this does not restore the Windows Key+# to launch quick launch application functionality they added in vista. I still don’t understand why they killed this… Bad move on MSFT’s part.
July 7th, 2009 03:10
beautiful.. i thought MS idiots have removed it in the name of NEW LOOK, one of the feature that i love to have at any version of windows..
thanks very much…
June 20th, 2009 22:12
wow nice post…
thx…now i can use quick launch again…
but i don’t know why windows 7 no quick launch fasilities…
Thx man..
May 8th, 2009 19:31
Thanks for this workaround man!
April 8th, 2009 06:12
This rocks!
March 13th, 2009 08:05
I have build 7048 and I didn’t have to unpin anything before moving the Quick Launch Toolbar to the left of Taskbar. I just dragged it. Maybe this problem was in an earilier build?
January 27th, 2009 03:06
[...] The Quick Launch bar is still left out and disabled in Windows 7 Build 7025, but the Quick Launch Bar can be enabled and shown. [...]
January 22nd, 2009 19:01
[...] Via | HowToGeek | My Digital Life [...]