Want to open apps, files, folders, and websites faster? Try creating shortcuts on your desktop. This tutorial shows you how to do that on your Windows 10 or 11 PC.

While Microsoft is de-emphasizing desktop shortcuts in Windows 10 and 11, you can still use them to get to your favorite apps, files, and websites faster. There are several ways to add shortcuts to your Windows desktop, and we'll take a look at each of them.

If you want to create a desktop shortcut to a Microsoft Store app (Photos, Calendar, etc.) or to a traditional program on your PC, the quickest way is to drag the shortcut from the Start menu's app list to the desktop.

In Windows 10, you can also drag pinned Start menu apps to the desktop as shortcuts.