Enable and Disable the Quick Launch Bar in Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP 1, CurrentBuild 7601)

Enable the Quick Launch Bar

1. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, point to Toolbars, and then right click New toolbar.

new_toolbar_1

Step 1 quoted directly from Step 1 of [1].

2. In the dialog box, copy and then paste the following folder name to the Folder box, and then left-click Select Folder:

%AppData%\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch

click_select_folder_2

Step 2 quoted directly from Step 2 of [1].

3. Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, point to Lock the taskbar, and then left-click.

lock_the_taskbar_3

4. Now you see the Quick Launch bar with the text on the rightside of the task bar. To hide the Quick Launch text and program titles, right-click Quick Launch, clear Show Text and Show title.

show_title_4

Step 4 quoted directly from Step 3 of [1].

5. Unpin each of the applications by left clicking on each and right clicking on Unpin this application from the taskbar.

unpin_all_applications_5

6. Drag the Quick Launch bar to the leftside of the task bar. You must drag it all the way to the Start button for this to work.

drag_quick_launch_bar_to_start_button_6

Step 6 was paraphrased from Step 4 of [1].

7. Now drag the other line over.

drag_other_line_over_7

8. Done.

done_8

Disable the Quick Launch Bar

Right-click an empty area of the taskbar, point to Toolbars, and then left-click Quick Launch.

check_quick_launch_9

Paraphrased from Step 7 of [2].

Reference

I used:

[1] Guided Help: Enable the Quick Launch bar in Windows 7 from Microsoft
[2] How to Enable or Disable Quick Launch Bar Toolbar in Windows 7 from David Amador’s 2009 instructions
[3] Add the Quick Launch Bar to the Taskbar in Windows 7 from Lowell Hedding’s (How-To Geek)
[4] Google, “how to find which windows 7 build” instant search result at ccm.net

Notes

1. I started with Microsoft’s write up and got stuck. I needed Lowell Hedding’s tip about unlocking the task bar and David Amador’s tip on un-pinning all the applications to move the Quick Launch bar to the left.

In Article ID: 975784 - Last Review: Sep 23, 2011 - Revision: 1

Before you do Step 3:

3. Now you see the Quick Launch bar with the text on the rightside of the task bar. To hide the Quick Launch text and program titles, right-click Quick Launch, clear Show Text and Show title.

…you need to unlock the taskbar. You also need to unpin the apps. The complete steps are detailed above.

Step 4 does note:

4. Drag the Quick Launch bar to the leftside of the task bar. If you cannot move the Quick Launch bar, right-click the taskbar again, and make sure that the Lock the taskbar option is cleared .

…but you need to do this in Step 3 or before.

3. I used Character Map select and copy “arrows” to paste into Microsoft Paint:

character_map_10

Type charmap into the Run command field to launch Character Map:

type_charmap_11

4. To find your Windows build number do this:

Open the registry editor (Start > Run > regedit)
Go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Software>Microsoft>Windows NT>CurrentVersion.
Double click on the CurrentBuild key located in the right pane

Copied from [4].