Replacing Office Shortcuts in Windows

How-to replace missing or broken shortcuts to Office apps

When upgrading from Office 2016 to Office 365, old shortcuts are removed or left behind.  Follow these steps to restore them to your Windows desktop or Taskbar.

Here is an example of what Windows 10 looks like with some Office 2016 shortcuts on the desktop and Taskbar:

An image of Windows 10 with shortcuts on the desktop and taskbar

After Office 365 installs, it removes some shortcuts and breaks others.  So, the same desktop after uninstalling Office 2016 and installing Office 365 looks like this:

Windows 10 desktop with shortcuts broken or missing after Office 2016 installation

To remove the broken shortcuts on the Taskbar, right-click on them and choose "unpin from taskbar":

Windows 10 desktop showing how to right-click and remove broken shortcut from taskbar

To pin an app from Office 365 (Excel in this example):

  • Click on the Windows start button
  • Navigate to the app you want to put on the taskbar
  • Right-click on the app
  • Choose more, then Pin to taskbar

This will put the shortcut on your taskbar

Showing how-to pin an app to the taskbar in Windows 10

To add a shortcut to the desktop:

  • Click on the Windows start button
  • Navigate to the app you want on the desktop
  • Click, hold and drag the app to the desktop background and release

Dragging an app to the desktop to create a shortcut



Keywordsoffice, o365, excel, word, outlook, powerpoint, teams   Doc ID123366
OwnerJoe R.GroupCollege of Applied Health Sciences
Created2023-01-10 14:07:18Updated2024-01-29 12:25:42
SitesUniversity of Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences
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