Solved Custom title for taskbar icon? How?

I've done this and done this, and I can't for the life of me remember how I did it. It just doesn't seem to work with any method I try. I managed the first two here, but the third one is what always happens now, because I can't remember how I did the first two. If you've done it, please share.

Wisewiz said:

I've done this and done this, and I can't for the life of me remember how I did it. It just doesn't seem to work with any method I try. I managed the first two here, but the third one is what always happens now, because I can't remember how I did the first two. If you've done it, please share.
View attachment 67323 View attachment 67324 View attachment 67325

Click to expand...

I don't know which title you're trying for, but... create a Desktop shortcut to Thunderbird... name it w/e you want, then "pin" it to the Taskbar.

Like so....



1. In File Explorer, find Thunderbird.exe
2. Right click and choose: Send To > Desktop (create shortcut)
3. On the Desktop, right click the new shortcut and choose Properties and then the "General" tab.
4. In the top-most box, change the name to whatever you want.
5. Delete (unpin), any Thunderbird icons on the Taskbar, then "pin" the altered one, to the Taskbar.

@Ghot: Thanks, but here's the catch I forgot to mention: Thunderbird has this nasty habit of throwing a duplicate icon into the taskbar when you open it. With your help (I think), I learned to scrap the toolbar icon, launch Thunderbird from a new File Explorer shortcut, and then pin the icon that shows in the taskbar. That works to eliminate the duplicate icon, but the icon, once pinned, seems to have a title-default of its own. Even if I create a new shortcut in the program folder and then pin that to the taskbar, it gets the generic name. If I send the executable to the desktop as shortcut, name it what I want, and pin it to the taskbar, when I use this taskbar icon to launch TBird, it generates the duplicate, and if I then scrap the first icon and pin the newly generated icon to the tbar, it has the generic name.

Hmmmm????

Wisewiz said:

Hmmmm????

Click to expand...

Make note of steps 1 through 5 above. You need to do it exactly like that.
There may be other ways to do it, but I know those steps work.
You can see in the pic, where I renamed the Firefox taskbar icon.

As for the duplicate Taskbar icon when you run the program... I don't know how to prevent that.
Some programs do that, some don't.
For example... Macrium Reflect doesn't make a duplicate when the program is run.
Neither does Firefox or File Explorer.
But MS Links 2003 and EVGA Precision X1 both do.
I think that's hard coded in some of the programs.

I think the short circuit I'm hitting is caused by the fact that I have two TBird icons in the taskbars of both my office machines: one for portable 102.14, and now one each for installed 115.1 and for portable117.0bx. But I've had no difficulty getting the tooltips for two Thunderbird icons to show plain Thunderbird (though I had to fight a little to get rid of Thunderbird (2) in the tooltip), and it seems I can name a single TB icon what I want, using the various methods, but when there's a second TB icon, Windows fights me.

I'm trying to run both the 102 and the SN versions because I'm monitoring for when the devs decide 115 is repaired enough so that 102 can update to it without any disasters. I run the 102 once a day, to go to Help > About and check.

Maybe I should just give that up. I'm happy with 115.1.0 and as of today, I'm happy with 117.0b2.
OTOH, I've been helping out on the TBird support site for a while now, and many seeking help there are using 102 still. I'll give it another think. As the saying goes, I've (You've) got another think coming. (That's not and never will be another thing, but millions use thing,)

Wisewiz said:

caused by the fact that I have two TBird icons in the taskbars of both my office machines: one for portable 102.14, and now one each for installed 115.1 and for portable117.0bx.

Click to expand...

Yeah... when you start getting fancy like that... anything can happen.
I doubt programmers plan ahead for strange Wizardly concoctions.






But you can relax, because...

♫ A-well-a don't you know, about the bird?
Well, everybody knows that the bird is the word! ♫

Got it. On both machines. Your guide got it close to right, but in order to get it right-right, I had to edit the icons from the taskbar right-click menus, and then ... wait for it ... and then, restart Explorer to get the changes applied. Silly me. I hadn't even thought of the crucial role restarting Explorer plays in many, many things. Sincere thanks for all your help with this rather trivial (to anybody else) but still important (to me) detail.

Points above. Thread marked solved.

How to Customize Taskbar Tooltips in Windows 11
(That's for the benefit of Google seekers)

Two easy ways to put any title you want in the tooltip of any icon pinned to the taskbar.

1. [Make sure the app the icon represents is not running.]
Right-click the icon, then right-click its current name in the pop-up context menu. Choose Properties. On the General tab, enter the name you want to show in the tooltip. OK.
Now restart Explorer or restart Windows. Either will install your change of tooltip title.

2. [Make sure the app the icon represents is not running.]
Navigate to
"C:\Users\<yourusername>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch\User Pinned\TaskBar".
Click the icon name you want to change, and click Rename in the toolbar. Enter the name you want to show in the tooltip. OK. Close File Explorer.
Now restart Explorer or restart Windows. Either will install your change of tooltip title.

And as our Master Tweaker here on Eleven Forum, Shawn Brink, always says, "That's it."

Major thanks to @Ghot on this forum for all the help with finding these methods.