The Start Menu in Windows 11 has been completely redesigned and simplified compared to Windows 10.
Start Menu Overview
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Search |
Type here to search installed Apps, Documents and the Web
Another way to quickly search is to click on the Start button and then start typing the name of the app you want
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Pinned Apps |
This area shows all apps you have chosen to pin to the Start Menu |
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All apps |
Clicking here shows an alphabetical list of all installed apps |
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Pinned Apps Scroll |
Click here to scroll between pages of pinned apps if you have more than one page (18 apps) |
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Recommended |
This pane shows all recently opened files and apps |
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User Account |
Click on your user name to change account settings, to lock computer or to sign out from your account |
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Power |
Click here to sleep, hibernate, restart or shut down your computer
You can also show additional icons here such as Settings, Documents, Pictures etc - this can be done via Settings > Personalization > Start > Folders
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Start Menu Folders
You can group pinned items into folders on your start menu.
You can do this as follows:-
1)Click on an pinned item you would like to group and drag it on top of another item you would like to group it with.
2)A new group will be created called Folder containing the two items.
3)You can now click on this group to open it and view the contents - once open you can rename it by clicking where it says Edit name.
4)To add additional shortcuts drag them into the folder, or to remove shortcuts drag them out of the folder, when you remove the penultimate shortcut the folder is automatically removed and the last shortcut goes back onto the start menu.
Search
You can search through your installed Apps, Documents and the Web in three ways:-
1)Type into the search box at the top of the Start Menu
- or -
2)Open the Start Menu and just start typing
- or -
3)Click the Search icon on the Taskbar
Either method will change the Start Menu view to the below which will show your search results along with a list of Top apps (those you use the most), Recent (apps you have opened recently), and links to Quick searches.
You can also choose whether to show results for All, Apps, Documents, Web, Email, Photos and more across the top of the search panel.
Clicking the three dots in the top right corner allows you to view a list of Connected accounts (Microsoft accounts you use which will be included in search results e.g. content in OneDrive etc), you can also configure Search settings and Indexing options here.
Start Settings
You can access the Start Menu Settings by clicking the icon on the Start Menu.
or by right clicking on the Start Menu icon.
or by pressing.
+ 
and then clicking Personalization > Start
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Pins / Recommendations |
You can adjust the layout of the start menu to have more pinned items, more recommendations or an equal amount of space for both (default) |
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Show recently added apps |
When enabled this will show any recently installed apps in the Recommendations pane at the bottom of the start menu |
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Show the most used apps |
When enabled this will show the apps you use the most in the All apps section of the start menu |
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Show recently opened items.. |
This shows all recently opened files and apps in the Recommendations pane at the bottom of the start menu (in jump lists and in file explorer) |
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Folders |
Here you can choose additional icons to show at the bottom of the start menu next to the power icon e.g. settings, documents, pictures, File Explorer etc |
