Okay, this is sort of a combination tip that is really easy, but didn’t occur to me until recently. I’ve written about how you can customize the Taskbar and how you can create desktop shortcuts to your favorite folders. But if you sort of mentally combine the two tips, you can include shortcuts to folders in a toolbar. Although that might not seem exciting, it could be handy for those times when you want to quickly get at a folder, but your desktop is cluttered with windows. You can always see the Taskbar and toolbars, even when you have a gazillion windows open.
To add folders to the Taskbar, follow these steps:
1. Right click an empty area of the Taskbar and choose Toolbars|New Toolbar.
2. In the New Toolbar dialog box, navigate to the folder you want to add and click OK.
In the Windows XP Taskbar, you see a new little toolbar with your folder name on it. There is a double arrow icon next to the folder name. If you click the arrow icon, a pop up menu appears that shows the files and folders underneath.
If you had put in a top-level folder, you see the subfolders with arrows next to them when you click. So you can navigate to folders and documents in much the same way you do with the Start menu. You click the folder name and hold your cursor over the subfolder until the fly-out menu appears showing its subfolders. You hold the cursor over that until you get down to the actual document you want and then click. The document launches in whatever program is associated with it.
If you have an organized hard disk, this little folder tip is a great way to launch your documents quickly, no matter how many windows you have open on the desktop.