Windows 7: How to Use Jump Lists

Here’s yet another nifty Windows 7 feature – Jump Lists. If you think Microsoft has already thought of all of the possible tweaks that it can do to the good old Start Menu, well, this introduction of Jump Lists would definitely be something new even to the loyal Windows user.

Anyway, Jump Lists are basically a listing that the Start Menu provides when you hover on a particular application icon. Think of it as every application that you have installed would have its own sub-Start Menu. A Jump List displays folders and tasks that are related to the application.

Say, hovering on the Windows Media Player will display a “Frequent” list displaying all your most frequently accessed media files and “Tasks” which included the common commands in WMP like launching playlists. For other apps, the lists might show recently opened files and related folders. You can even pin your most commonly used files or tasks.

Another quick way to access Jump Lists is to right-click on taskbar items. Say you have your app icons in the Quick Launch menu, simply right-click on them and instead of a standard context menu, you get Jump Lists.

Pretty nifty if you’re the type who wouldn’t be bothered navigating through layers and layers of folders and such. It might take a bit of getting used to but I’m pegging it as indispensable tool in the long run, much like the instant search feature in the Start menu. That feature was enough for me not to downgrade to XP from Vista.

Related posts:

1. Windows 7: How to Set Up Speech Recognition
2. Windows 7: How to Use Windows Logo Shortcuts
3. How to Make Effective To-Do Lists
4. Windows 7: How to Speed Up Wallpaper Change
5. Windows 7: How to Navigate the Desktop