Pin a website to the Windows 11 taskbar
Install the site as an app first, then right-click its icon and choose Pin to taskbar. In Edge the pin is also under Details at edge://apps. Edge, Chrome and Pake all work this way, and they differ in what the icon stays tied to when you later update, sync or uninstall.
Why a plain browser shortcut is not enough
A taskbar pin is a shortcut to a program. If you pin the browser, you get the browser, and the site is just whichever tab was last open. To get an icon that opens one site in its own window, the site has to exist as an app first, so Windows has something to point at. Edge and Chrome create that app from the site; Pake creates a small separate program. After that, pinning is the same step for all three: Microsoft's taskbar guide says to right-click the app's icon on the taskbar, or the app in the search results, and choose Pin to taskbar. Unpin from taskbar removes it, and dragging a pinned icon changes its order.
Pin from Microsoft Edge
Microsoft's install guide says to open the site in Edge and choose Settings and more …, More tools, Apps, then Install this site as an app. If the site is a progressive web app, Edge prompts you to install it instead. The app opens in its own window and appears at edge://apps.
On that page, select Details on the app's card for Pin to taskbar, Pin to Start and Create Desktop shortcut. The same page has an Auto-start on device login toggle, which is useful for a dashboard you want open every morning, and Uninstall, with a choice to delete the app's history and data.
Pin from Chrome
Chrome's web app help describes installing a site from More › Cast, save, and share › Install page as app.... Some sites show an Install icon in the address bar instead. Open the installed app, right-click its icon on the taskbar and choose Pin to taskbar.
Chrome also has Create shortcut... in the same Cast, save, and share menu (Google's shortcut help). That page does not say the shortcut opens a separate window, so install the page as an app if a window of its own is the goal. To remove an app, open it and use More, Uninstall followed by the app's name, then Remove; select Also delete data from Chrome to remove its data too.
Still tied to the browser
An app installed from Edge uses Edge's web engine, settings, extensions and features. Microsoft's page on apps that depend on Edge says that a site installed this way does not have the same capabilities as a progressive web app, that it syncs across your devices when you are signed in to Edge with a Microsoft account, and that uninstalling Edge makes it stop working. Chrome apps are installed and removed inside Chrome.
For many people that is the right trade. Extensions such as a password manager, and sync, come along with the browser, and there is no second program to maintain.
A separate app with its own icon
If the icon should belong to a program that does not depend on a browser, make the app in Pake for Windows. Pake draws the site with the Microsoft Edge WebView2 Runtime, which Windows 11 includes and which updates itself (Microsoft), so the app does not need Edge installed or running.
- On the Create tab, paste the address into Search apps or paste a web address.
- Name is what the Start menu shows. The Icon row uses the site's icon by default; click Choose... or drop an image there for another one.
- Leave Incognito off so sign-ins are kept, then click Create App. Create an app explains every option.
- When App Created appears, click Open.
- Right-click the app's icon on the taskbar and choose Pin to taskbar. If you closed it, find it in the Start menu or search, right-click the result and choose Pin to taskbar.
The app lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Pake Apps\<name> and keeps working after you remove Pake (install page). If a provider such as Google refuses sign-in inside the app, the sign-in guide explains why.
The CLI does the same from a terminal and writes an .msi to install:
pake https://example.com --name ExampleWindows Pake apps have a Hide on close option. With it on, closing the window leaves the app running in the tray, and the pinned icon opens it again. With it off, closing the window ends the app. That choice, rather than the pin, decides whether the site stays loaded; Making a Windows app from a website covers it.
If the pinned icon behaves oddly
- The pin opens the browser, not the site. You pinned the browser. Unpin it with Unpin from taskbar, install the site as an app, and pin the app instead.
- The pin stops working after you uninstall the app. Removing an app removes the program the pin pointed at, so install it again and pin the new icon.
- The app opens signed out. Sign in once inside the app, and for a Pake app keep Incognito off, because it starts each session clean.
- A Pake app is hidden in the tray instead of closing. Check Hide on close, which keeps the app running in the tray after you close the window.
Which to choose
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| Edge's extensions and sync | Install from Edge, then Pin to taskbar |
| A Chrome web app managed in Chrome | Install page as app..., then Pin to taskbar |
| An app that does not depend on a browser, with its own window options | Pake, then Pin to taskbar |
FAQ
Can I pin to the Start menu instead?
Yes for an Edge app: Details on its card at edge://apps has Pin to Start. Pake apps have a Start menu shortcut already, as the install page describes.
How do I remove the pin?
Right-click the pinned icon and choose Unpin from taskbar. That removes the pin only, and the app stays installed.
Does the app start with Windows?
Edge has an Auto-start on device login toggle in an app's Details.