How To Create Desktop Shortcut Windows 11 (2026)

She right-clicked on an empty area of the desktop. A menu popped up. She hovered over , then clicked Shortcut .

Leo squinted at his new Windows 11 laptop. The crisp, centered Start menu and rounded corners looked sleek, but he felt lost. He was a "desktop person." Every day, he had to click through three folders just to open his financial spreadsheet, Q4_Report.xlsx . It was buried in Documents > Finance > 2024 > Final . how to create desktop shortcut windows 11

"See that? If you just drag, you move the file. To make a shortcut , hold down while you release the mouse button." She right-clicked on an empty area of the desktop

Maya smiled. "You just used the veteran method." Leo leaned back and admired his clean desktop: three new shortcuts with their little curved arrows. He felt like a wizard. Leo squinted at his new Windows 11 laptop

His teenage daughter, Maya, looked up from her phone. "You okay, Dad?"