However, in Windows 11, pinning Office files is no longer as easy as a drag-and-drop fix as it was on Windows 10. But it can still be easily done. Let’s see how.
Why You’re Having Trouble Pinning Office Files to Office Apps in Windows 11
To keep Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files a click away on Windows 10, you drag and drop them to their respective icons on the taskbar. However, if you’ve upgraded to Windows 11 or bought a new PC with Windows 11 pre-installed, you’ll soon discover that the drag-and-drop method does not work there.
So, how do you pin Office files to their taskbar icons on Windows 11? Fortunately, there is a workaround to this, and it’s easy to do too.
1. Pin the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint App to the Taskbar
First, you need to pin the Office app, be it Word, Excel, or PowerPoint, to the Windows 11 taskbar. Here’s how:
Click on the Windows icon in the taskbar to open the Start Menu. You may find the Office app icons there. Else, click on All Apps on the top right of the start menu to open the listing of all your apps. Right-click on the Word, Excel, or PowerPoint icon to open the context menu. Then select Pin to taskbar.
The Word, Excel, or PowerPoint app will get pinned to the taskbar. As you can see in the screenshot below, the Word and Excel apps have got pinned. You can pin the PowerPoint app in the same way.
2. How to Pin a Word File to the Pinned Word App on the Windows 11 Taskbar
Now let’s pin a Word file to the Word icon on the taskbar.
First, you must open the Word file you want to pin to the Word icon. As you can see in the screenshot below, I’ve opened the file named The 2022 LA Project. Now you don’t need to do anything except close the Word file. Since this would be the last opened Word file, it would now feature in the Recent list of Word—and that’s what you want. Right-click on the Word icon on the taskbar. It will open the menu and you will see the Word file under Recent. As you can see in the image below, The LA 2022 Project file is under Recent. Now you can right-click the file to open the Context Menu. Just select Pin to this list. Alternatively, when you hover with your mouse over the file you will see the Pin icon on the right. Just click on the Pin icon.
Now the Word file will get pinned to the Word icon on the taskbar.
3. How to Pin Excel and PowerPoint Files to Their Respective Pinned Apps
The method to pin Excel and Word files to their app icons on the taskbar is the same as detailed above for pinning the Word file.
Open the Excel or PowerPoint file you want to pin. Then close the file. Right-click the Excel or PowerPoint icon on the taskbar to open the menu and check for the file under Recent. Then either right-click the file and choose Pin to this list. Or pin it using the Pin icon.
You can also check out our guide to learn how to pin folders, websites, webpages, and even drives to the Windows 11 taskbar. And there are also several ways to customize the Windows 11 taskbar to your liking.
Access and Work on Your Office Files in a Snap
Yes, that’s how easy it is to pin an Office file to its app icon on the Windows 11 taskbar. So go ahead; pin your files and keep your most important and used files just a click away.
