Create a desktop shortcut for a website
To create a desktop shortcut for a website, drag the site information icon beside the address onto the Windows desktop, drag a link out of Safari on a Mac, or write a Linux .desktop file. Adding a website to the desktop this way stores the address, and a click opens it in a browser. A window of its own and a Dock or taskbar slot come from Safari's Add to Dock, a Chrome or Edge install, or a Pake app when the icon should be its own program.
Add a website to the Windows desktop
Microsoft's guide to desktop icons gives two ways. Open the page and drag the View site information icon next to the URL to the desktop, or right-click an empty area of the desktop, choose New, Shortcut, and follow the prompts for a web page. Microsoft's Win32 documentation, read in November 2026, calls the result an Internet shortcut, a .URL file: when you click the icon, the URL is opened by the handler application, typically your default web browser. Pinning a website to the taskbar is a separate step and starts from an installed app.
Edge's Create Desktop shortcut points at an installed app. Choose Settings and more …, More tools, Apps, Install this site as an app. A PWA may prompt first. At edge://apps, open Details and choose Create Desktop shortcut. Open launches a separate app, and Auto-start on device login starts it when you sign in to Windows.
Chrome's shortcut page, read the same month, is More, Cast, save, and share, Create shortcut..., then Create. It does not say where the icon is saved, and it does not describe a separate window. Install page as app... in that menu, or the Install icon some sites show in the address bar, turns the site into an app you open from your dock or desktop. Then open chrome://apps, right-click the app, choose Create shortcut, pick a place, and click Create. Launch at startup opens it when you sign in.
Add a website to the Mac desktop
In Safari, drag a link on the page to the desktop, as Apple's webpage guide describes. The result is a .webloc file, the Mac counterpart of a Windows .URL file; it holds the address, and opening it hands that address to your browser.
On macOS Sonoma 14 or later, choose File, Add to Dock, or click Share and choose Add to Dock. Type a name and click Add. Apple saves the web app in the Applications folder of your home folder, and you open it from the Dock or Spotlight. It shares no history, cookies, website data or settings with Safari, so sign in once inside it. Share, then Open in Safari, is how you get back to bookmarks and tabs.
For a desktop icon, select the app and choose File, Make Alias, then drag the alias to the desktop, or hold Option-Command while you drag the app. To delete a web app, drag it from the Applications folder in your home folder to the Trash. Chrome on a Mac uses the same commands as on Windows. Turn a website into a Mac app covers window size.
Add a website to the Linux desktop
A desktop entry is a text file ending in .desktop. The spec requires Type and Name. A link is Type=Link, and URL is required only then:
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Link
Name=Example
URL=https://example.comSave it in ~/.local/share/applications, where user entries live, and run desktop-file-validate example.desktop from the desktop-file-utils package to catch a key the spec no longer accepts (Arch's notes).
Arch's table of launchers says KDE Plasma launches Link entries, and Cinnamon, GNOME, MATE, gtk-launch, dex and xdg-open do not. GNOME Web, also called Epiphany, does not rely on that. Open the page, use the menu button, and select Install as Web App…, then name it and press Create. It appears in the Activities overview and opens without the address bar or the menus.
Why the shortcut opens in the browser
The shortcut stores an address and names no program. Windows asks the handler to open the URL, and that handler is typically the default browser. Apple's internet location type, com.apple.internet-location, is a base type that conforms to public.stored-url, which is what a .webloc file is: a stored URL. In Terminal, plutil -p Example.webloc prints the address under the key URL, and mdls -name kMDItemContentType Example.webloc reports com.apple.web-internet-location. A Type=Link entry has URL and no Exec. No new program is registered, so the Dock, taskbar and app launcher still have only the browser, and the page opens there with that browser's login.
An installed site is a program entry, so the window and the slot belong to that program. Safari keeps the web app's cookies apart from Safari. A Pake app keeps sign-in, cookies and site data when Incognito is off, and starts clean when it is on. How a PWA compares with a desktop app follows the split.
Make a program when you want a real window
Stay with Chrome, Edge or Safari when the browser's own install is enough. Use Pake when the icon should be its own program, under the Name you set for the Dock, Finder or Start menu. The gallery lists 30 sites. Any other address is pasted, and a bare host such as example.com gets https:// added. Create an app lists every option.
On a Mac, open Create and paste into Paste a web address or search the apps below to start. A pasted address opens at once. A typed one needs Return or Continue. Click Create App. On App Created, click Open. Show in Finder is /Applications, or ~/Applications when that is the folder Pake can write. Option-Command drag to the desktop, or drag the app to the Dock.
On Windows, leave Incognito off and click Create app. App created has Open and Open file location. The app is at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Pake Apps\<name> and in the Start menu. Choose Start, All, and drag it to the desktop so the icon opens the app. Windows 11 includes the WebView2 Runtime. If it is missing, Pake shows Apps created with Pake need the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime.
Linux desktop builds are for Arch-based distributions. Click Create from this website, or press Return, then Create App. The app is in ~/.local/share/Pake/apps. The launcher file is in $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications, by default ~/.local/share/applications. It is Type=Application, Exec is the app's program, and Terminal is false. Open it from the app launcher. On Ubuntu, Fedora and other distributions, the CLI writes the installer:
pake https://example.com --name ExampleYou get a .dmg on macOS, an .msi on Windows, .deb plus AppImage on Debian and Ubuntu, and .rpm plus AppImage on Fedora and other RPM distributions. Google and some other providers refuse sign-in in Pake's web view. Use the browser install when that happens. Google sign-in in a web view explains it.
When the icon does the wrong thing
If the click opens the browser, the icon is only an address, so install the site or make the Pake app for a window. Create Desktop shortcut shows up under Details at edge://apps after the Edge install. Add to Dock needs macOS Sonoma 14 or later. A Linux file that does nothing is on a launcher Arch lists without Type=Link support: Cinnamon, GNOME, MATE, gtk-launch, dex and xdg-open. Use Install as Web App…, or Pake's application entry. If a Pake app signs you out every launch, turn Incognito off and sign in again. The taskbar article covers a taskbar icon.
FAQ
Does a desktop shortcut open the site in its own window?
A .url file, a .webloc file or a Type=Link entry opens the address in the browser. An installed app is what opens on its own.
Can the website open when I sign in to the computer?
For an installed app, Chrome has Launch at startup and Edge has Auto-start on device login. Apple says a Safari web app can be a login item. An address shortcut has no such setting.
Where does Safari store Add to Dock?
In the Applications folder of your home folder. Open the Applications folder in your home folder and drag the app to the Trash to delete it.
What is a url or webloc file?
It is a stored address, not a copy of the page. Windows opens a .url file in the handler, typically the default browser. macOS keeps it as a .webloc file.
Does the shortcut keep working if I change my default browser?
A Windows Internet shortcut follows the handler, so it opens in the new default browser.