Windows 7 comes with a built-in app launcher, but some apps don’t have one. If you want to use a custom launcher for an app that doesn’t have one, you can create a jumplist. To create a jumplist, open the Start menu and click All Programs. Then click Accessories and then Windows Explorer. In the Windows Explorer window, right-click on the desktop and select New > Folder. Type Jumplist in the Name field and click OK. In the Jumplist folder, right-click on the Desktop and select New > Item. Type App in the Name field and click OK. Right-click on App and select Properties. In the App Properties window, under Launcher Type, select Custom from the list of options and click OK. In the App Properties window, under Icon Location, type %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Appname\ into the Icon Location field and press Enter. Click OK to close the App Properties window. Now your custom app launcher will be added to your Start menu as Appname.exe ..
Windows 7’s redesigned taskbar makes it easier than ever to organize and run your favorite programs without having to constantly search for them in the Start menu. When you right-click apps on your Windows 7 taskbar, you’ll see a new jumplist that lets you open recent documents or start a common task in the app.
Unfortunately, many apps don’t include full-featured jumplists, so you can’t really do anything interesting without running the program directly.
If you’d like to add more features to your favorite programs’ jumplists, you can easily do it with the Jumplist Extender. This simple and free program lets you extend your programs with custom jumplists to make them work exactly like you want. To get started, download Jumplist Extender (link below), and install as normal.
Once it’s installed, you can run it and get started tweaking jumplists. Select Start a new jumplist to get started.
Now select an application in the Explorer window that opens to tweak that app’s jumplist.
You’ll next need to select the program’s window to tweak it’s jumplist. If it’s not already running, click the Run button to start it. Once it’s started, select the program and Jumplist Extender will automatically recognize it.
It’ll then open the Jumplist Extender window so you can start tweaking the jumplist. Make sure the program settings look correct, then select the Jumplist tab.
Now you’re ready to add new entries to the jumplist. On the right side of the window, enter a name for the action, select an icon, then enter the action you want that link to perform.
Under Task Properties, you can select to send a keyboard shortcut to the window, run a command prompt task, or start an AutoHotKey script.
Keyboard shortcuts are one of the easiest things to add to the jumplist. In this example, we’re tweaking the Calculator jumplist. If we’d like to be able to start Calculator in Scientific mode, then we’ll need to add the keyboard shortcut Alt+2 to our jumplist. You can often find keyboard shortcuts for standard tasks in the File menu of your favorite programs.
Back in the Jumplist Extender, enter your keyboard shortcut in the box just like you’d enter it in a program.
Once you’re finished adding a task, you can add an extra task or separator from the Plus button on the left.
When you’re done tweaking the jumplist and want to try out your new settings, click File then select Save and Apply to Taskbar.
Your taskbar icons may flicker or refresh momentarily, but after a few seconds you’ll be able to see your new jumplist with the tasks you added.
This works great for apps that don’t already include a Jumplist. However, if you use it on a program that already has a full-featured jumplist such as Media Player, your new jumplist will override the old one. So, if you want to tweak an app’s existing jumplist, you’ll need to add all the old features in your custom jumplist.
Add a Jumplist Quickly With Jumplist Packs
If you don’t feel like creating new jumplists for all your apps by hand, you can instead download premade jumplist packs from the Jumplist Extender download page (link below). Find the premade jumplist you want, then download it to your computer.
Once you’ve downloaded a Jumplist pack, simply double-click it to add it to an app. You’ll be asked if you want to add the jumplist to a new program, or import it into the jumplist you were previously editing.
You can then tweak the new presets if you want, then add them to the program as above. Once you apply the new settings, you’ll have full-featured jumplists ready for your program. This is a quick way to get nice jumplists without creating them all by hand.
Do note that we experienced some problems with some of the pre-made jumplist packs, but didn’t experience any problems with creating our own jumplists.
Overall, we found the Jumplist Extender to be a handy tool that makes it easy to make your apps feel more integrated with Windows 7. It worked great on bundled apps that don’t already include jumplists as well as older apps.
If you’d like to customize your taskbar more, check out our recent articles on How to Customize Your Windows 7 Taskbar Icons for Any App and How to Organize Your Programs in the Windows 7 Taskbar. Then you can have a fully tweaked-out taskbar with the icons and jumplist items you want for each of your favorite apps!
Links
Learn More About Jumplist Extender
Download Jumplist Extender and Jumplist Packs
