This one aggravated me for a bit; maybe the solution will help you, too.

I have a spreadsheet that I use to track finances. It’s the only spreadsheet I use regularly, so naturally I want to be able to access it quickly and easily. I googled a solution, but found a lot of “you can’t do that” sort of answers. Finally I happened across a suggestion on Lifehacker for pinning folders, and tried applying that to my problem. Voila, it worked. It should work just as well for the data file of any application that’s known to windows explorer.

Here are the steps:

• Create a shortcut to your file (right click/hold, drag, drop, create shortcut here)
• Open the properties of the shortcut you just created (right click, properties)
• In the “Target” box, add the word “explorer” in front of whatever is already there (and a space)
• Save the shortcut
• Add the shortcut to the taskbar (right click, Pin to Taskbar)

There are a few problems with this method: 1) the “superbar” adds a second icon with the file is in use, instead of highlighting the existing icon, and 2) the file always thinks it has been edited (asking to save changes on exit). I have not yet decided if these issues are more annoying than my usual “click spreadsheet icon, realize that it opened excel and not my spreadsheet, right click the same icon, move up the list (a list of one damned thing, mind you), and finally click on my spreadsheet.”