Windows 7: Put a Recycle Bin Shortcut on the Taskbar

Contributor Icon Contributed by shamanstears Date Icon May 11, 2009  
Tag Icon Tagged: Microsoft Windows 7

If you like keeping a clean desktop, then even having the Recycle Bin icon sitting there can be annoying. By placing a shortcut on your taskbar, you will have easy access while keeping it off of your clean desktop. This recipe adds the shortcut to the Taskbar instead of pinning it to the Windows Explorer icon.

1. Right-click on your Desktop.

2. When the context menu appears, mouseover New and select Shortcut.

3. The Create Shortcut window will appear, input the following into the Type the location of the item textbox:
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder

4. Click the Next button.

5. Input a name for the shortcut, such as Recycle Bin or Trash.

6. Click the Finish button.

7. The shortcut will appear on the Desktop, however, you will need to change the icon. Right-click the newly created shortcut and select Properties.

8. Click the Change Icon button.

9. Input the following in the Look for icons in this file textbox:
%SystemRoot%\system32\imageres.dll

10. Press Enter on your keyboard.

11. Select the Recycle Bin icon. Click the OK button.

12. Now that your icon looks good, move the shortcut to your Documents library (or some other location).

13. Right-click the shortcut and select Pin to Taskbar.

14. The icon will now be on your Taskbar. Move it to the desired location.

An even better place to put it on your Taskbar is on the Quick Launch Bar.

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  • texasdon
    Another citation makes it on Lifehacker.com. Congratulations and great job!!!!!!!
  • Sheeko
    the only problem with this solution is that the empty recycle bin option in the right click menu is no longer there ...
  • Useless, IMHO. You can't drag and drop files to it and you can't right click to empty....
  • agreed.
  • thomasz
    it's great informations, Thanks for your guides. i have learnt lots of experiences from your blogs. Thanks in advance
  • technogran
    You have missed out how to get rid of the recycle bin once you have placed it on the taskbar
  • ascian
    This is silly, superfluous, and useless.

    Simply right-click the original Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and copy/create shortcut. I did this and put a Recycle Bin link in the base directories of all my hard drives for easy access,. You can also change these icons or pin them to the start menu/task bar/quick launch and they maintain full functionality like dragging files to them, or right-clicking and being able to empty the recycle bin.
  • Matt
    Not only useless since you can't drag files but also there are plenty of much easier and more elegant ways of achieving the same result. Ever heard about "Create shortcut" ? :)
  • Jefferson
    The taskbar no show my icon. I move to taskbar but no add icon. Do you have some solution?
  • that would be amazing, if only you could empty it without actually opening it.
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