Quick Launch

AdamBC · Jul 7, 2007

Wonder if you can help me with this one???
Quick Launch toolbar is visible on Taskbar (which is NOT locked) - shortcuts I want on the QL toolbar are in the correct folder (and permissions on the folder are Full Control) - but the shortcuts icons are NOT displayed on the QL toolbar - ANY ideas what's happening???

Brink · Jul 7, 2007

Hi AdamBC,

Do you mean that the shorcuts are not in QL, or that the icons are incorrect for the shortcut in QL?

If they are not in QL, then try refreshing the desktop or do a restart.

If they have incorrect icons, then :
1. Right click the shortcut.
2. Click Properties.
3. Click Change Icon button.
4. Select the correct icon and click Ok.
5. Click Ok to apply and close properties.

Shawn

FightingScallion · Aug 18, 2007

I came to this link through the Windows Vista Community boards. Shawn had linked after someone reported that some Quick Launch icons wouldn't work.

I've got the same problem and additional details, if anyone can help.

Here's what's happening (as I've posted a couple places, to no avail):

I've added MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook icons to my Quick Launch toolbar. All of these are Office 2007 Enterprise edition and I'm operating Windows Vista x64 Home Premium.

So, here's the rub. If I have my Quick Launch set up so that only a few (let's say 3) icons are visible and the rest come from expanding the window, the ones in the expansion don't work.

To make the problem more clear, let me explain a little more how it would work. Let's say I've got an MS Word icon in there. If it is one that is seen all the time, without expanding the selection, MS Word will launch when I click on the icon. If I move the same icon into the expansion group, it won't launch MS Word.

If I unlock the toolbar and make all my Quick Launch icons visible all the time, they all work. Again, if I collapse this to save space on the bottom, every Office icon hidden becomes unresponsive. Non-Office icons appear to still work.

Ideas on how to fix this? I like having those icons in there, but I really don't want to lose that much task bar space.

Thanks for any help,

Frank

Brink · Aug 18, 2007

Hi Frank,

Try restarting the computer to see if it will reset Quick Launch. If it doesn't, then try running the command sfc /scannow in a elevated command prompt. You can see how here:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files.html

Shawn

FightingScallion · Aug 18, 2007

Tried both. No improvement.

There are a lot of weird things about this problem. Other QL links in the expansion menu still work. The WindowsKey + number hotkeys work for things in the expansion. If I drag one of the Office icons out to one of the visible ones, it works.

It's just a few icons that don't work, and only when they are in the drop-down (pop-up?) expansion menu.

I've solved lots of problems before, but this one is just plain baffling to me. Too many things are going right that should go wrong at the same time.

Brink · Aug 18, 2007

Ok Frank,

Try deleting the ones that do not work from Quick Launch in the expansion area, then create new shortcuts for them and put them in Quick Launch. Hopefully the new ones will work. The old ones must have gotten corrupted some how.

Shawn

FightingScallion · Aug 18, 2007

Done that one quite a few times. No luck. I'm starting to think I might have to call MS and then probably wait for a Hotfix.

Brink · Aug 18, 2007

Ok Frank,

One last thing to try.

1. Uncheck "Hide protected operating system files..." in folder options.
2. Check "Show hidden files and folders" in folder options.
3. Go to C:\Users\(your username)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch
4. Delete the desktop.ini file inside the Quick Launch folder.
5. Restart computer.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

FightingScallion · Aug 18, 2007

Hmm...now that's interesting. I don't seem to have a desktop.ini file in there. Wonder what that means...

Brink · Aug 18, 2007

Frank,

I attached my desktop.ini here in a ZIP file. Download to your desktop, unzip it, and copy the desktop.ini into that location and do a restart to see if it helps your Quick Launch.

You can view it's contents by opening the desktop.ini file in Notepad.

Download Removed

Shawn

FightingScallion · Aug 18, 2007

Shawn,

Thanks for that bonus effort there. No luck, though. Everything is still the same.

The thing that baffles me the most is that the same icons work if I unlock the toolbar and make all my QL icons visible.

Let me know if you come up with any other ideas. I'll keep searching and post if I find anything.

Again, thanks,

Frank

Brink · Aug 18, 2007

Ok Frank,

Sorry it did not work. I'm stumped and scratching my head to. Please do post if you find anything.

Shawn

FightingScallion · Aug 18, 2007

So, here's the solution. It's a bit painful, but it seems to work:

1) Go to the Quick Launch root folder (probably "C:\Users\[User Name]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch")
2) Right click in the field, go to New, click Shortcut
3) Browse for the location of the file (example: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Office12\POWERPNT.EXE")
4) Click next
5) Type name for your shortcut (example: "Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007")
6) Click Finish.

Your shortcut is added and is that simple. It has full functionality.

The only real difference this seems to make is in the "Target" part of Properties, which is now a file instead of "Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007." That doesn't really explain why the other one doesn't work.

Feel free to use this information in a new tutorial or to share with others as needed. It should be shared so everyone can get around this weird problem.

Thanks again for all your help earlier,

Frank

Brink · Aug 18, 2007

Great news Frank,

I was just doing some research on this and was not finding much on this particular issue. Who would of thought that it was a "Target" issue and still work when in the first 3. I will add this to the tutorial above now in case any one else has this problem.

Thank you for the feedback.

Shawn

kgursu · May 21, 2008

Hi Shawn,

Great tutorials for all.

I have a similar problem with a Skype shortcut, but I assume it might be related with the Windows Installer. Everywhere except clicking from the Quick Launch works perfectly.
Here, you can see the shortcut tab of its properties. (It's in Turkish.

)

What do you think?

Brink · May 21, 2008

Hi Kgursu,

Welcome to Vista Forums. :party:

I would delete the one in Quick Launch, then go the EXE (application) file for Skye in Program Files and right click on it and click Send To and Desktop (Create Shortcut). Next, rename it to what you want and move that new shortcut into Quick Launch. That one should work now.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/72439-quick-launch.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

kgursu · May 21, 2008

Thanks, it worked as you suggested!...

But, what might be the source of the problem? Shall I report this to Skype or to MS, maybe?

Brink · May 21, 2008

Your welcome Kgursu. I'm glad to hear that it worked for you. This could of happened if say the file the Quick Launch shortcut was made from was deleted or moved causing the Quick Launch shortcut to still only being pointed to the old location when it is no longer there now.

Shawn

jfcunniffe · Aug 24, 2008

HI I had the some problem that the quick launch would not work at all. I fixed this by doing the following.

1. Make a new user account
2. open the c:\users\(the new account)\appdata\roaming\microsoft\internet explorer
3. copy the quick launch folder to your main account
4. log off
5. log in with your main account.
6. and the quick launch should be their.

this worked of me the only pain is that you have to re-pin the programs to the quick launch

Quick Launch

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