Windows 11 App Organization

With the live tiles gone, what are you doing, if anything, to better organize your apps? I didn’t really use the “live” option of the tiles but I did group the tiles by category. I know we can PIN apps and move them around but no real way to group them. I try to keep my desktop clean and not sure if I want to clutter taskbar either. I do have to say that using search to find and run an app works great but it would still be nice to group the apps. Wonder if it may come in a future Dev channel update?

Conversation 8 comments

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    02 July, 2021 - 4:49 pm

    <p>I know you’re directing this to those who use the bundled Start menu, but there are 3rd party replacements. Sometimes when there are features one really wants (perhaps needs) such as a file manager with tabs, 3rd party ones are the only alternatives. Same may be true to get around Redmond’s homage to the Chrome OS Shelf.</p><p><br></p><p>| <em>it would still be nice to group the apps</em></p><p><br></p><p>You need to consider why MSFT has changed the Start menu to behave the way it does in Windows 11. If the main reason is to maximize simplicity, wouldn’t that mean grouping would become unacceptable complication? If so, this may be the NEW WINDOWS, meaning getting what you want may require using 3rd party alternatives to what MSFT provides.</p><p><br></p><p>As they say on reddit, [Win]+F is your friend.</p>

    • hrlngrv

      Premium Member
      02 July, 2021 - 8:23 pm

      <p>Another type of organization appears to be gone: jump lists.</p><p><br></p><p>When I over over my Edge icon pinned to the Start menu, nothing appears. When I right-click on it, the popup menu shows only <strong>Unpin from Start</strong>, <strong>Run as administrator</strong>, <strong>Open file location</strong>, and <strong>Pin to taskbar</strong>. I have to click the All apps button, scroll down to the Edge icon, and right-click on it to see the jump list, now labeled <strong>Recently closed</strong>.</p><p><br></p><p>There SHOULD BE a difference between dumbing down Windows and lobotomizing it, but that seems to be a distinction MSFT is incapable of making.</p>

      • lvthunder

        Premium Member
        03 July, 2021 - 3:55 pm

        <p>Or it’s just an oversight that will be fixed in a future build. Remember no one has said that Windows 11 is feature complete. So let’s keep the insults to the Microsoft Engineers to a minimum until later.</p>

        • hrlngrv

          Premium Member
          03 July, 2021 - 4:33 pm

          <p>The final destination may remain unknown, but the direction of travel is quite clear.</p>

  • lindhartsen

    Premium Member
    02 July, 2021 - 4:56 pm

    <p>Since this appears to be a rebuilding of the Start menu from scratch, it’s certainly possible this reappears in the future if there’s enough interest shown in Feedback Hub. I’m not overly familiar with Chrome OS but from what I can think of in iOS and macOS it’s possible to do apps in folders so that could be a future option Windows implements.</p><p><br></p><p>On Windows 10, I have groups in my Start menu. For 11, not sure so far myself, went as far as clearing out all pinned apps to start with.</p>

  • shark47

    02 July, 2021 - 5:10 pm

    <p>I don’t know. I find it easier to hit Start and start typing in the name of the app I want to run. I do have some apps that I use frequently like Edge and Outlook pinned to the taskbar. </p>

  • wright_is

    Premium Member
    04 July, 2021 - 7:35 am

    <p>iv never used the Live Tiles. The first thing I do, when setting up a new machine is to collapse the start menu down to a single column with just the all applications visible.</p><p><br></p><p>Regularly used applications get pinned to the task bar. I probably only use the start menu a couple of times a week.</p>

  • darlingtonpear

    14 July, 2021 - 8:01 am

    <p>With the ‘recommended’ section that is un-customisable, what is the point in trying to sort it out. It just puts a load of random stuff there that is useless.</p><p><br></p><p>The worst is when you have installed some new apps and not sure what the title of the apps are. In the old start menu it could be set to put newly installed apps at the top … because the first thing you want to do after installing them is running them.</p>

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