Windows offers multiple ways to pin items to your desktop, ranging from simple drag-and-drop actions to manual creation.

Locate the item in File Explorer . Right-click it, select Show more options (on Windows 11), then navigate to Send to > Desktop (create shortcut) .

You can create a desktop shortcut that opens a specific website directly. This works on both Windows and macOS.

On a Mac, shortcuts are technically called . The icons will appear with a tiny curved arrow in the bottom-left corner.

Here’s how to create a desktop shortcut on (the “make a paper” method likely refers to creating a new text/document file shortcut):

There are three main ways to create shortcuts in Windows depending on what you are trying to link to.