Using the Desktop Dock and Taskbar
The taskbar is the one part of the launcher that never scrolls away. This page covers where it sits, pinning and managing the apps on it, the fastest ways back to your files, the quick-launch dock that opens from it, and a couple of switches that need no screen of their own.
Why You'll Love This
The desktop holds what you look at; the taskbar holds what you reach for. It is the one bar that stays on screen no matter which section, screen or gadget you are looking at, so the apps you use most, the way back to your files, and a couple of one-tap switches are never more than a glance away.
This page covers the taskbar itself - where it sits, what you can pin to it, and what a long press on one of its buttons offers - plus the quick-launch dock that opens from it.
- FastMediaSorter in the Standard edition or the noLegal edition, with the launcher turned on - see Your launcher desktop.
- A few apps or programs worth keeping one tap away.
Choose which edge the taskbar sits on
Open the launcher settings - Launcher settings in the long-press menu - and in the Taskbar group tap Taskbar position. Pick Top or Bottom. The Start button, the pinned and recent apps, and the tray all move together as one bar, and the desktop takes whatever space is left.
Bottom is the default on every device profile except the car head unit, which starts at the top.
Launcher settings, Taskbar group, Taskbar position dialog open with Top and Bottom options.
Pin apps and manage what is already there
Touch and hold any app to pin it, or use Pin to taskbar from its menu. Touch and hold a pinned icon on the taskbar itself and a small menu offers Launch or Unpin.
The taskbar also keeps a strip of apps you opened recently, without you pinning anything. Touch and hold one of those and the menu offers Open, Pin to taskbar - so a recent app becomes a permanent one - or Remove from taskbar, which only drops it from the recent strip.
Launcher taskbar, a recent app icon long-pressed, context menu open with three actions.
Get to your files and back again
The Start button on the taskbar opens the Start menu - see The Start menu and the full app list for what is on it.
Tapping the FastMediaSorter app icon itself depends on one setting: Settings, General, Primary startup window, with Device home screen, Desktop as primary window or Main screen to choose from - the same choice the welcome wizard offers on first install, and it can be changed later at any time. Whenever the app is not set as your device's actual home screen, tapping its icon opens the main screen with your files and folders directly, instead of a second copy of the desktop.
And from anywhere the taskbar or desktop sent you, the system Back button brings you straight back to the desktop rather than leaving you stranded in whatever screen you reached.
Open the quick-launch dock
Wherever a gesture or a button opens the quick-access panel, it appears as the Quick launch dialog: a grid of your chosen apps and shortcuts, with an explicit close button (an X) beside the title, so a tap closes it as easily as Back or tapping outside.
Each built-in program on the grid - Calculator, Streams, Favorites and the rest - keeps its own accent color on its icon in the grid, in its edit picker and in the programs menu, so you can spot the one you want by color as well as by shape, in either theme. Monochrome icons such as Calculator or Settings stay legible on the light theme too, tinted to read against a bright background, while colored app icons keep their own colors.
The function picker for Edit panel also offers the same camera and video actions as the screen-edge gestures: Take a photo and send to.., Take a photo and edit, Take a photo and OCR-translate, and Start video recording - see Customizing navigation gestures and shortcuts for the gestures themselves.
The dock itself also exists in the Lite, Photos and Legacy editions, even though the rest of this page is Standard and noLegal only.
Quick launch dialog open, close X visible before the title, grid of app and program tiles with accent-colored icons.
Flip a switch without opening a screen
A Wi-Fi or Bluetooth tile on the desktop or in the quick-launch dock switches that radio directly - the system screen only opens if Android itself refuses the switch. The tile's icon always shows the current state, even when it was changed outside the app.
Camera flashlight works the same way from the programs menu, the quick-launch dock or a desktop shortcut: it turns the physical flash on or off without opening a camera screen. A device with no flash does not offer it, and if the torch is briefly unavailable the app says so and asks you to try again.
Launcher desktop with Wi-Fi tile on, Bluetooth tile off and Camera flashlight tile, all shown together.
What You Get
The taskbar sits on the edge you picked, with the apps you use most pinned to it and your recent ones a long press away. The Start button, the app icon and Back all take you exactly where you expect, the quick-launch dock opens with one tap and closes with another, and a couple of switches never need their own screen.
Tips and Troubleshooting
- Can't find Unpin? It only shows on an icon that is already pinned - a recent app's menu offers Pin to taskbar instead.
- Program colors look the same in both themes? They are deliberately different per theme so they stay readable - only the neutral placeholders and third-party app icons stay plain.
- Looking for the long-press menu on a desktop shortcut instead of the taskbar? That is covered in Desktop context menus and fast actions.