How to Add Site Shortcut Link on Windows Desktop?

There might be a few sites on your bucket list that you would visit on a regular basis. To easily access them in just a few clicks, there are quite a few approaches you could take. These include the option of creating a bookmark of that site, pining that website’s tab, or using a browser-specific feature (such as Microsoft Edge’s Collection).

However, for each of the aforementioned tasks, you will first have to launch the browser and then head over to the desired option. On some low-end PCs, you might even have to wait for a few seconds before you could actually start using any of the browser’s functionalities. And that’s not it.

For some users, the bookmark tab is already filled with a plethora of sites. Hence it becomes a really challenging task in finding the required site. Likewise pinning the tab might slow down the startup time of your browser. Well, you’ll be glad to hear that there exists a handy method that bypasses all these limitations.

It involves directly creating a website shortcut link onto your Windows desktop. The next time when you open that shortcut link, you will be directly taken to its associated website, thereby minimizing most of your manual efforts. Interested in knowing its ‘how-to’? Well, then here are the required instructions.

Related: How to Create Shortcut and Add to Desktop in Chrome Computer?

There are two different approaches to carry out this task. The first method is a shorter one and is universally applicable across all browsers. On the other hand, the second method is a browser-specific feature that might vary across different web-browsers. With that said, we have shared both the methods below, you may refer to the one that meets your requirement.

Via Drag and Drop Feature

The shorter and quicker of the two, you only need to drag a specific portion just before the URL and drop it to the desired location on your desktop.

Here are the steps to add a site shortcut link using drag and drop:

1. Launch any web browser on windows.
2. Open the desired website that needs to be created as a shortcut.
3. Resize the window in such a way that both the desktop and the browser are visible simultaneously.
4. Click and hold the View Information icon or in the URL address bar.
   It would either be a lock icon (in case of a secure connection) or a warning sign (for insecure sites).
   
5. Drag that  icon to any location on your desktop and drop.
   

The associated browser shortcut link for that site will then be created on your Windows desktop. You may also give it a different name by right-clicking on it and using the Rename option. So this was all from this section, let’s now turn our attention towards the second method.

Using Browser Specific Feature

While this approach does require a few extra efforts, but it’s always a good idea to have a backup plan in hand. Furthermore, this ‘backup’ method has another pretty useful benefit. If you create a shortcut through the first method, then it only displays the associated URL of that shortcut.

On the other hand, if you choose the second approach, then the shortcut created will also display its associated metadata. These include the logo of the site, its description, and the URL.

Here are steps to create site shortcut links from a web browser:

1. Launch your best browser on Windows (say Chrome).
2. Open a website to add a shortcut link.
3. Click on icon for the menu list.
4. Hover on More Tool and select Create Shortcut…
   
   A dialog box to create a shortcut will pop-up on the screen.
5. Hit on the Create command button.
   

That’s it. The browser shortcut link of that website will be created on your Windows desktop. You can also rename the shortcut and enable the checkbox to Open as window option.

A similar option to create a shortcut link will also be available on other web browsers running on Windows.

Related: How to Create Shortcut and Add to Desktop in Edge Computer?

Bottom Line: Web Site Shortcut Link

So this was all from this guide on how to add a browser shortcut link for your desired site. There is an important point to keep in mind though. It doesn’t really matter which browser you have used while creating the shortcut, the latter will always open via your default browser only.

For example, if you have created a link via Firefox but your default browser is set to Edge, then the system will respect this decision and will open the site via Edge itself. With that said, we have shared two different methods in this guide.

Related: How to Add Shortcut Link to Home Screen in Firefox Computer?

As far as my preference goes, I am inclined towards the second approach as it gives out much detailed information about the link. What are your views on the same? Does the drag and drop feature meet your requirement or you echo my reasoning and prefer the second method?