This article lists several methods for organizing your Windows 10 Start menu. Instructions apply to Windows 10.

What to Know

  • To change your Start menu’s size, click and drag it.To edit the default groups, change their names, change the apps, or reorder them.You can also use the live tiles feature and even resize them.

Adjusting the Start Menu

The first thing you might want to do is change the size of your Start menu. By default, the Start menu is a little wide and not the more narrow column most of us are used to from Windows 7, Vista, and XP.

If you prefer the column, change the size.

  • Select Start.
  • Hover your pointer over the far-right side of the Start menu until it turns into a double arrow.
  • When you see the arrow, click and drag it towards the left. The Start menu will now be in a more recognizable size.

Grouping the Menu

Microsoft starts Windows 10 with some default groups. You can keep these as-is, edit the names, change the apps, reorder the groups, or delete them entirely.

Select Start.

Hover your pointer over the far-right side of the Start menu until it turns into a double arrow.

When you see the arrow, click and drag it towards the left. The Start menu will now be in a more recognizable size.

The Start menu is where you go to shut down the PC or access your programs and system utilities, but Microsoft added a new dimension with the addition of Windows Store apps and live tiles on the right side. This is the only side of the Start menu that is completely customizable.

  • To move a group, select the group name and then drag to move the group to a new spot in the Start menu.
  • To change the name of an app group, select the title. The title bar will turn into a text entry box. Delete the current title, type in your new title hit, and press Enter.
  • To remove a group, you have to remove every app inside it and then it will delete automatically. Right-click each app one at a time and select Unpin from Start.

Adding Apps

There are two ways to add apps and desktop programs to the right side of the Start menu. The first way is to drag-and-drop from the left side of the Start menu. This can be from the “Most used” section or the “All apps” list. Drag-and-drop is the ideal method for adding new apps and tiles since you can control which group an app will be added to.

To move a group, select the group name and then drag to move the group to a new spot in the Start menu.

To change the name of an app group, select the title. The title bar will turn into a text entry box. Delete the current title, type in your new title hit, and press Enter.

To remove a group, you have to remove every app inside it and then it will delete automatically. Right-click each app one at a time and select Unpin from Start.

The other method is to right-click an app and select Pin to Start from the context menu. When you do this, Windows will automatically add your program as a tile to a new group at the bottom of the Start menu. You can then move the tile to a different group if you prefer.

Live Tiles in the Start Menu

Any program you add to the Start menu appears as a tile, but only Windows Store apps can support the live tiles feature. Live tiles display content from within the app such as news headlines, the current weather, or the latest stock prices.

When choosing to add Windows Store apps to your Start menu it’s important to think about where to place tiles with live content. If you like the idea of hitting the Start menu to quickly get the weather then make sure you place that tile in a prominent spot on your Start menu.

You can even change the tile’s size if you want to make it more prominent. To do this, right-click the tile and select Resize from the context menu. You’ll have several choices for sizes including small, medium, wide, and large. Each size is not available for every tile but you will see some variation of these options.

The small size does not show any information, the medium size will for many apps, and the large and wide sizes definitely do — as long as the app supports the live tiles feature.

If there’s an app you don’t want displaying live tile information, right-click it, and select More > Turn live tile off. Those are the basics of the right side of the Start menu.

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