Jump Lists are a new feature in Microsoft Windows 7 that are designed to make it easier to find what you want and perform common operations associated with an application. Jump Lists appear on the Start menu as well as on the Taskbar when you right-click on an icon. As I’ve been working with Windows 7, I’ve learned to take advantage of Jump Lists and really love the boost in computing efficiency.

Recently, I was extolling the benefits of the Jump List to a couple of friends, and one of them blasted my newfound penchant, saying that the Jump List feature was nothing more than a glorified My Recent Documents menu. (Obviously, he is still using Windows XP.) I responded that he was actually right, but he was also wrong.

It’s true that the Jump List feature is an enhancement that can very easily trace its origins to the Recent Documents feature, which by the way first made its appearance on Windows 95’s Start menu as the Documents menu. However, delivering a listing of recently opened documents is but a small piece of what the Jump List provides.

In this edition of the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Report, I’ll introduce you to Windows 7’s Jump List feature. As I do, I’ll show you the Jump Lists for several applications and describe the features in more detail.

Note: Keep in mind that this is a prerelease version and that the look and features of Windows 7 that I will discuss here may very well change between now and the time the operating system is actually released.

Jump List feature in a nutshell

The Jump List feature is designed to provide you with quick access to the documents and tasks associated with your applications. You can think of Jump Lists like little application-specific Start menus. Jump Lists can be found on the application icons that appear on the Taskbar when an application is running or on the Start menu in the recently opened programs section. Jump Lists can also be found on the icons of applications that have been specifically pinned to the Taskbar or the Start menu.

Jump Lists on the Start menu will appear a little different than Jump Lists on the Taskbar. However, they will provide the same functionality.

By default, the Jump List can contain the application’s shortcut, the ability to toggle pinning, the ability to close one or all windows, access to specific tasks associated with the application, and once you begin using the application, a list of recent documents or destinations depending on the application.

Now that you have a general idea of how Jump Lists work, let’s take a look at the Jump Lists for several applications.

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