Put A Recycle Bin Shortcut On The Windows 7 Taskbar

@mr_peeks: Yeah, that's the only reason I'd add it too.

libertao

@chrisaroz: I had the same question, although putting the taskbar on the left-hand side made that feature of Win7 much more useful.

libertao

"[...] especially since Windows 7 doesn't natively include the ability to pin the Recycle Bin to the desktop."

You mean show the icon on the desktop?

Control Panel>>Personalization. On the left hand side, there's a link to "Change desktop icons." Clicking this lets you select which icons are on the desktop, and Recycle Bin is one of them.

shrutis

@mr_peeks: Me too!!should be standard

thegreyspot

I would like to do this for Vista in the System Tray, would be pretty sweet

Christian Velasquez

I mostly shift-delete files, so my recycle bin is always empty.

ssj4Gogeta

@mr_peeks: I was just about to say the same thing!

I did this in XP, though to do it there, I made a shortcut to one of the directories in the RECYCLER directory on C:\.

That's pretty neat, but you can't drag files over it to delete them which would be the reason I'd add it to the taskbar :)

mr_peeks

Is there a similar way to make seperate shortcuts for individual folders? I hate how they all go under the Explorer icon.

chrisaroz

@Jarek James: and yet, not quite! :D

@topaz420: congratulations!! You're a lucky man.

the_gank

@shrutis: No, he means pin the Recycle Bin to the taskbar.

kylenalepa

That's weird, this is my 4th Windows 7 install (7000, 7057, 7068, 7100) and all of them have defaulted to have the Recycle Bin on the desktop.

@Blah8: I agree, i can't imagine why they would have left that out. It seems like almost a no brainer to include it.

In my opinion, while W-7 is a nice improvement over vista, it seems a lot of the new features are only half thought out. Its a shame really, this couldve been an unbelievable OS if they had put some extra thought into it.

medicina212

Call me when a proper shell(LS/BB) is compatible with Seven. Nothing can be done to that horrid taskbar that'll make me use it. Give me tasks, date/time and a tray and I'm happy, none of this other bullcrap.

Tordenflesk

@Fred Garcia:
Try this:
[img25.imageshack.us]

Blah8

@Fred Garcia: "The Tech-Recipes tutorial blog writes up a quick guide on docking the Recycle Bin icon as a separate item on the Windows 7 taskbar, instead of underneath Windows Explorer."

ssj4Gogeta

@achali:
Exactly!

Blah8

@ritchie82: Same here. I'd rather use an undelete program to recover my files than have a full recycle bin.

ssj4Gogeta

@Christian Velasquez:
You can do it in the Quick Launch bar, though, so it's just about the same thing. Just drag the desktop icon onto it.

Blah8

I agree, this seems totally useless. I can't drag and drop files to it and I can't right click to empty it.

@mr_peeks:
Hm, that's disappointing since I have my Recycling bin set in my QuickLaunch bar right now in Vista and I'm able to drag and drop just fine. It'd almost seem like a step back in terms of productivity to cut that out.

Blah8

@ssj4Gogeta: i always do this - but once in a blue moon i delete something i want back!!! - why are we so bleedin OCD! - oooh i cant have a full bin! grrr

ritchie82

Tried this hack. But found it useless since you can't drag anything to the Bin.

Instead, enable the Quick Launch toolbar... [[www.sevenforums.com]] and just drag the recycle bin to it! Delete the other default quick launch shortcuts (internet explorer, show desktop, etc), so just your recycle bin is there.

achali

@framitz: yes, because everyone should have their desktops exactly the same and the way you'd prefer yours? Come now, be reasonable - some people prefer their desktops completely clear.

@mr_peeks: Gotta back you up here. It's a great idea if you love keeping a completely clean and tidy desktop, but as far as usefulness goes it'd be great if I could drop files there!

You can also drag the Bin icon to the Taskbar. This will allow you to pin the Bin to Explorer. From there, its just a right click on the Explorer Taskbar icon to access the Bin.

Fred Garcia

@chrisaroz: not sure if this is what you were looking for, but I imagine these would work:

List of Commands for Windows 7: These Commands are extra commands than the above commands only for Windows 7.

shell:Libraries
shell:User Pinned
shell:UsersLibrariesFolder
shell:PicturesLibrary
shell:ImplicitAppShortcuts
shell:UserProgramFilesCommon
shell:Ringtones
shell:CommonRingtones
shell:MusicLibrary
shell:VideosLibrary
shell:OtherUsersFolder
shell:Device Metadata Store
shell:PublicSuggestedLocations
shell:SuggestedLocations
shell:RecordedTVLibrary
shell:UserProgramFiles
shell:DocumentsLibrary

cyberguy91

There is no need for this mostly worthless hack. Just turn on the recycle bin icon on the desk top and move a long.

I agree, should be able to pin folder individually. OS X has finder, yet it still allows you to pin whatever file/folder you want to the Dock. Granted, OS X has stacks, which is significantly better =P

EnzoFX

just like mac :D

Jarek James

@mr_peeks: Just get rid of it and get used to the change: select > control D..or right click delete. One hand's normally on the keyboard anyhow to control & mouse select non-adjacent files.

I have my bin hidden in my quick launch pop-up menu--no desktop/task icons. I just control+d to dump it and right click the icon to "empty recycling" or run CCcleaner in the same quick launch menu to fully delete. That or run launchy to open the bin; once the recycle bin is open you can do all of the above at once, including drag and drop to a taskbar icon or the window itself.

Star/objectdock and the likes add a drag drop garbage if you like the apple-look.

And yes, agreed--why remove D&D from any icon or force a desktop replacement!

It doesnt show when there is stuff in it and you cant right click empty recycle bin so I pass. If it did have that I would def. stick it up there.

Dav1dC

@achali:

Now that tip is much better! I can drag and drop and right click to empty...it it takes up a tiny little bit of space on my taskbar.

Thank Achali!

@achali: Agreed - looks like lifehacker was a little desperate for Windows 7 content. ;)

Windows 7 doesn't have a Recycle bin on the desktop?

Each of my installs came with a Recycle bin on the desktop.

(For those You can control this through Group Policy -> User Configuration -> Desktop -> Remove Recycle Bin icon from desktop, and turn it to off)

kli6891

@shrutis: Doh! I definitely meant taskbar. Fixing!

Question. Does the Win7 bin represent itself as other than full or empty? I mean, if it's a quarter full or 3/4 or half, or nearly fulll or whatever, does the icon reflect that? I realize this is more helpful if you can remember how much disk space you allowed for RB. Plus, it's probably overkill for a lot of people. I just thought it was about time the recycle bin were represented in a more fluid way, so to speak.

paintbox

@achali: Ah, I tried this, but used the links toolbar. It seems to work alright, but the one little hiccup I noticed is that if you want to view large icons to match the rest of the taskbar, the taskbar gets enlarged and then the rest of the icons do not fit correctly.
Does the same thing happen with the Quick Launch toolbar?

runthroughtherain

@chrisaroz: Try a toolbar.Right click taskbar, toolbar,new toolbar.

You can also get the recycle bin in the taskbar in this ghetto way -select a folder with the shortcut or the recycle bin only then adjust the toolbar till the icon appear (unlocked taskbar needed

not_here

Why the hell would you spread misinformation by stating that "Windows 7 doesn't natively support pinning the Recycle Bin to the desktop"? Windows 7 does natively support pinning the recycle bin to the desktop, in fact it does by default, just like in every other version of windows for the past decade and a half.

VladimirCato

Is there a way to do this with the Games folder?

OrvinEgonon

Really a good trick, and useful for quick access to deleted files by just one click.

smith134

@runthroughtherain: Unfortunately, yes.

Dang. I didn't even notice that until I read your comment. Now it's unbearable! :) Or is it? I don't know yet. I'll need to wait to see if I notice it again after I've moved on to my regular schedule...

Either way, I'm sure some UI-hacker will have a proper solution to get a fully working Bin on the Win7 taskbar in no time. In the meantime I'll continue repeating my new mantra to myself: *Yes I CAN deal with this bug, Windows7 is free for a year, free for a year, free for a year*

achali

@mr_peeks: Isn't that what the delete key is for...?

whiteflea

@VladimirCato: How did you misquote him like that? Did you not copy/paste or did the author change their post since you made this comment?

"Windows 7 doesn't natively include the ability to pin the Recycle Bin to the taskbar."

whiteflea

I do this in Vista by just dragging it onto the taskbar. Windows 7 requires this end-run procedure? Why?

whiteflea

Please LH - delete this post and REPLACE IT with the solution proposed by Achali in the comments. It explains how to do this properly - i.e. enable the QuickLaunch bar, put the Recycle Bin in it, and then it will be droppable, right-clickable, and thus enable you to do away with the desktop icon. Much more useful wouldn't you agree? C'mon - this is what commenting is for - to IMPROVE the quality of posts.

@achali:
Easy fix... unlock the bar, then right click on the Quick Launch toolbar and under "view" select the icon size you want. This fixes only the QL bar. For the remainder of the taskbar, right click on the start-menu and select "properties", then under the "taskbar" tab, check/un-check the "Use Small Icons" box. This way you can match the 2 bars (taskbar and QL bar) to have the same size icons.

too close, yet still far... too linuxy ^_^

ikawka

if windows people did this thing and callet it "superbar", they must make some plugins as integrating recycle bin completely (drag&drop, right click->empty) or some other useful stuff.
Oh but it's windows, I forgot, I'm sorry.

balcis

@EnzoFX: pretty much the only thing better about the OS X dock compared to the Windows 7 taskbar

apollo89

@whiteflea: It's new and improved

orlo

This is silly, superfluous, and useless. Simply right-click the original Recycle Bin icon on the desktop and copy/create shortcut. I did this and put a Recycle Bin link in the base directories of all my hard drives for easy access,. You can also change these icons or pin them to the start menu/task bar/quick launch and they maintain full functionality like dragging files to them, or right-clicking and being able to empty the recycle bin.

SangitaHizanyous