How to Create an Internet Shortcut in Windows 10

When there is a website that you visit a lot, you often want to do something to make it easy to access. This could involve making it the home page in your Web browser or creating a bookmark, but you might prefer simply having an icon that you can click.

Fortunately, you can create an Internet shortcut in Windows 10 on your desktop for any site that you visit, or even a site that you have created someplace like Google Sites.

Once the shortcut is on the desktop, you can just double-click it to open that site in Internet Explorer. This behaves similarly to if you put an application there, such as you can do with our guide on how to add Google Chrome to desktop.

Note that there isn’t a good way to do this in Microsoft Edge. The steps below involved performing these actions in Edge, but you can cut out the first four steps if you open Internet Explorer directly by typing “internet explorer” into the search field at the bottom-left of the screen.

Alternatively, if you use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, you can click and hold on the padlock or “i” icon to the left of the Web page address, then drag it to the desktop.

Find out more about how to add a shortcut to desktop if you would like to add your favorite applications or websites to your desktop.

Use these steps to make an Internet shortcut in Windows 10.

Step 1: Open the Microsoft Edge Web browser.

This is the default browser in Windows 10. There is usually an “e” icon in your taskbar at the bottom of the screen that you can click to open it.
open Microsoft Edge

Step 2: Browse to the Web page for which you wish to make a shortcut.

open the Web page for the shortcut
You can open a bookmark, search for a page, or navigate directly to one by typing in the address.

Step 3: Click the three dots at the top-right of the window.

click the three dots at the top-right
Open the Microsoft Edge settings menu.

Step 4: Choose “More Tools” then “Open with Internet Explorer.”

choose More Tools, then Open with Internet Explorer
Set the page to open the Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Step 5: Click and hold on the site icon in the tab, then drag it to the desktop.

This will cause the page to open in Internet Explorer when you double-click on the desktop icon.
how to create an Internet shortcut in Windows 10

Now that you know how to add an Internet shortcut in Windows 10, you can give yourself an easier method for finding Web pages if you prefer to store information on your desktop.

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t an ideal solution if you use Microsoft Edge. This process is much simpler in Chrome or Firefox.

You can check out our how to add Chrome to desktop guide if you would like to make it easier to launch the Google Chrome Web browser in Windows.

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