Desktop

The Windows 11 Desktop works much as it did in Windows 10, but it has been updated with new iconography—as evidenced by the Recycle Bin—and a new Themes feature that combines desktop wallpapers, sounds, and colors to provide a more personalized experience.

What’s changed with the Desktop context menus?

When you right-click the Desktop or any of the icons on the Desktop, Windows 11 displays a context menu that provides options related to that specific object. For example, when you right-click the Recycle Bin, you see one option, “Empty the Recycle Bin” that only applies to that item.

And when you right-click an icon for a folder, shortcut, app, or another file, you will see several items that apply to whatever type of object you’ve selected.

This behavior should be familiar to most Windows 10 users. But aside from the obvious new visual style,
there are other changes to these context menus in Windows 11. And they are related to Microsoft’s simplification efforts in this release: these menus tend to be much shorter than the similar context menus you saw in Windows 10 because Microsoft has replaced some options with icons, and because there are now fewer options than before.

Let’s take a closer look.

Make sense of the icons in the new context menus

In Windows 10, the Desktop context menus display text-based options for commands like Cut, Copy, Paste, Rename, Delete, and Share appear alongside the other items. But in Windows 11, these commands have been changed to icons that all appear in a single row at the top (or bottom) of the context menu.

This can confusing, and these icons will be as indecipherable as Egyptian hieroglyphics to many. Fortunately, you can mouse-over each icon to display a tooltip that explains what each does and provides its keyboard shortcut.

As confusing, the row of icons can appear at the bottom of the context menu instead of the top. But this is purposeful: Windows 11 will always display these icons as close as possible to the mouse cursor, and if the item you’re right-clicking is too close to the bottom of the Desktop, the context menu that appears will have to display above the mouse cursor. And so the icons will be on the bottom.

Display the classic, Windows 10-style context menus

The Desktop context menu icons described above can be confusing enough, but Microsoft has also removed some options that were available in the similar Windows 10 context menus. And that can be problematic if you are used to using one of those options.

Fortunately, Windows 11 allows you to display the old Windows 10-style context menus when you right-click the Desktop or an item on the Desktop. You can’t switch to these context menus permanently, but you can at least access them on the fly.

To access the Windows 10-style context menu, right-click the Desktop or an item on the Desktop and choose “Show more options.” The old context menu, with its text-based commands and missing commands, appears.

Alternatively, you can open this older context menu style directly by holding down the SHIFT key while you right-click.

Display the Desktop when it’s covered with windows

Many people use the Desktop to store files and folders permanently, or perhaps temporarily while they’re working on various projects. There’s nothing wrong with that, but as you use Windows 11, the Desktop gets covered up with apps and other windows, hiding its contents. Fortunately, you can use a feature called Show desktop to minimize all open windows so you can access the Desktop.

To do so, mouse into the lower right corner of the display. As you can see, there is a small hidden area to the right of the time/date display in the Taskbar called Show desktop.

To hide all of the open windows, click Show desktop. When you’re done working with the Desktop, mouse back over to Show desktop and click it again to restore all of the previously open windows.

You can also toggle Show desktop by typing WINKEY + D.

Hide all windows except for the one you’re using

Windows 11 has a fun feature called Shake that lets you grab any window’s title bar with the mouse and then shake it in any direction to minimize all other open windows. But this feature is disabled by default, so you need to enable it first.

To do so, open Settings (WINKEY + I) and navigate to System > Multitasking. Then, find the setting titled “Title bar window shake” and set it to On.

Customize the Desktop

Like its predecessors, Windows 11 provides various ways to customize the Desktop with backgrounds, colors, and, new to Windows 11, Themes.

Here, we’ll focus on what’s new and non-discoverable.

Get a beautiful new photo background every day

Windows 11 lets you set the Desktop background—what many think of as wallpaper—to a solid color, a picture, or a slideshow. But you can also use the Windows Spotlight feature that was previously available only on the Lock screen to get a new, high-quality new background from Bing every day.

To do so, open Settings (WINKEY + I) and navigate to Personalization > Background.

Select the drop-down next to “Personalize your background” and change it to “Windows spotlight.”

The background is replaced with a photo from Bing, and you will see a new “Learn about this picture” icon appear in the upper right of the desktop.

This icon cannot be removed. But you can move it anywhere on the desktop, and when you right-click it, you will see a context menu with various options that somewhat mirror what you can do with Windows spotlight on the lock screen.

The good news? There are no ads or suggestions.

Use Themes to customize how Windows 11 looks

Windows 11 ships with six themes—Windows (dark), Windows (light), Glow, Captured Motion, Sunrise, and Flow—the latter four of which feature 4 backgrounds that appear, in turn, on a schedule. Windows (light) is the default and it contains just one background.

When you open Settings (WINKEY + I) and navigate to Personalization, you will see the selected theme and five others highlighted at the top of the page. This makes it easy to switch between the most recently-accessed themes.

For a much wider range of options, select the Themes option (Personalization > Themes).

Here, you can perform the following actions.

Customize a theme

Each theme provides a background (which can be one or multiple images), an accent color, a sound scheme, and a mouse cursor. But you don’t have to accept a theme’s defaults: you can instead customize any of these items and, if desired, save it as a new custom theme.

To do so, select the theme you wish to customize so that it appears at the top of Themes settings. Then, select Background, Color, Sounds, or Mouse cursor to customize that item. When you’re done and return to Themes settings, the Customize button has changed to Save. Click that button to save the theme as a new theme.

W> There is a long-standing bug with the Sound control panel that appears when you try to customize sounds that impacts the “No Sounds” sound scheme. Windows 11 will not remember this setting, and if you select it as part of theme customization, it will not save either.

Find new Themes

Microsoft makes many more additional themes available from the Microsoft Store. You can select the “Browse themes” button next to “Get more themes from the Microsoft Store” to open that app and see what’s available.

Unfortunately, you do have to browse mindlessly through the huge collection of themes and can’t easily filter the view or search for themes, despite the presence of both features on this page.

If you find a theme you like, select it to display its details page. Then, select the “Get” button to download it and install it on your PC.

When you return to Themes settings (in the Settings app), you will see that the new theme has been added to the grid of available themes so you can apply it to your PC.

It will also appear at the top of Personalize settings because it is now one of your six most recently accessed themes.

Delete a theme

To delete a theme, open Themes settings, right-click the theme you wish to remove, and then select “Delete” from the context menu that appears.

You can also delete recent themes from the top view in Personalization settings.

You cannot delete any of the themes that come with Windows 11.

Determine which icons appear on the Desktop

Two decades ago, Windows would display various system icons on the Desktop, but these days, the Recycle Bin is the only system icon you’ll find. If you’re feeling nostalgic or simply prefer to access file system locations like Computer, Network, your home folder, or the legacy Control panel in this fashion, you can still display them on your Desktop.

To do so, open Settings (WINKEY + I) and navigate to Personalize > Themes. Then, select the “Desktop icon settings” item to display the Desktop Icon Settings control panel.

Select the Desktop icons you wish to use and then select OK or Apply to see them on the Desktop. It’s 1995 all over again!