Like other shell objects, a shortcut has an icon. The user accesses the object associated with a shortcut by double-clicking the shortcut's icon. When the system creates an icon for a shortcut, it uses the bitmap of the corresponding object and adds the system-defined link overlay icon (a small arrow) to the lower left corner. An application can set the location (path and index) of a shortcut's icon by using the IShellLink::SetIconLocation member function. An application can retrieve the current location (path and index) of a shortcut's icon by using the IShellLink::GetIconLocation member function.
A shortcut also has a description, which is a brief string that appears below the shell link icon. By default, the description consists of the words "Shortcut to" followed by the filename of the object. The user can edit the description string by selecting it and entering a new string. An application can set the description string by using the IShellLink::SetDescription member function and can retrieve the current description string by using the IShellLink::GetDescription member function.