Why Customize the Windows 11 Start Menu
The Start menu is the first thing you see every time you sit down at your PC, and on Windows 11 it works very differently from the one you may remember from Windows 10. The live tiles are gone. In their place is a clean, centered grid of pinned apps, a search box at the top, and a Recommended section underneath that shows files and apps Windows thinks you will want next.
Out of the box, that layout is a reasonable starting point, but it is not really yours. It comes filled with apps Microsoft chose for you, in an order Microsoft chose, with recommendations you may never want to see. If you open the same five programs every day and they are buried on the second page of the All apps list, that is time wasted on every single workday.
None of this needs extra software, a registry edit, or a third-party Start menu replacement.
This guide walks you through the whole process: setting up the layout you want, pinning and organizing your apps, moving Start to the left, changing its color, cleaning up the Recommended section, and fixing the most common problems when Start misbehaves.
Before You Start
Before you rearrange anything, it helps to know a few things about how the Windows 11 Start menu works, so you do not waste time looking for options that no longer exist or expecting features from older versions of Windows.
Step 1: Check that you are running Windows 11. Press Windows key + I to open Settings, then go to System, then About, and look at the Edition line. The steps in this guide are written for Windows 11. Windows 10 has a different Start menu with live tiles, and most of these settings do not exist there.
Step 2: Make sure Windows is up to date. Microsoft has changed small details of the Start menu in feature updates, including extra layout options and new right-click choices. Go to Settings, then Windows Update, and click Check for updates. A fully updated PC means the menus you see will match the ones described here.
Step 3: Think about which apps you actually open every day. The best Start menu is a short one. Pick the five to ten programs you reach for constantly — your browser, email, word processor, music app, or whatever your day revolves around — and plan to pin those first. Everything else can stay in the All apps list, one click away, instead of crowding your first screen.
Step 4: Decide how you want Start to look before you start moving things. The biggest choice is the layout: more pinned apps and fewer recommendations, or the other way around. You will set this in the next section, and it is easy to change later.
How to Change the Start Menu Layout
The layout setting controls how much of the Start menu is given over to pinned apps and how much is given over to recommendations. Windows 11 offers three layouts, and switching between them is the single most useful change you can make, because it decides what you see every time you press the Windows key.
Step 1: Open Settings. Press Windows key + I, or right-click the Start button and choose Settings from the menu that appears.
Step 2: Go to Personalization. In the left-hand sidebar of the Settings window, click Personalization. This is where Windows keeps the settings for the background, colors, lock screen, themes, and Start.
Step 3: Click Start. In the Personalization list, click Start. This opens the Start settings page, which holds all the layout and recommendation options for the Start menu.
Step 4: Choose a layout. At the top of the page you will see three layout options: More pins, Default, and More recommendations. Click the one you want. More pins gives you an extra row of pinned apps and shrinks the Recommended section to a single row. More recommendations does the opposite, showing more recent files and fewer pins. Default splits the space evenly between the two.
Step 5: Open the Start menu to check the result. Press the Windows key and look at the new balance. If you chose More pins, you should see an extra row of app icons and only one row of recommended items. The change applies immediately, with no need to restart or sign out.
Which layout should you choose
More pins is the right choice for most people, because the apps you pin are the ones you chose deliberately, while the Recommended section mostly repeats files you have already opened. More recommendations only makes sense if you work with a constantly changing set of documents and like jumping straight back into the last file you touched. Default is a fair compromise if you are not sure yet, and you can always switch later once you know how you use Start.
How to Show or Hide Recently Added Apps and Recently Opened Items
Just below the layout options on the same Start settings page are three toggles that control what Windows puts into the Recommended section and the All apps list. These small switches make a big difference to how noisy or how quiet your Start menu feels.
Step 1: Open the Start settings page. Press Windows key + I, go to Personalization, then click Start, exactly as in the previous section.
Step 2: Turn on Show recently added apps. This toggle adds newly installed programs to the top of the All apps list under a Recently added heading. Leave it on if you install software often and want to spot new programs quickly. Turn it off if you prefer a clean alphabetical list with no extra headings.
Step 3: Turn off Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer if you want a tidy Recommended section. This is the toggle that fills the Recommended area with documents, pictures, and other files you have opened recently. Switching it off empties the Recommended section of file suggestions, leaving a much calmer Start menu. It also stops recent files appearing in Jump Lists when you right-click a taskbar icon, and in File Explorer’s Quick access area.
Step 4: Check the Start menu again. Press the Windows key. With the recently opened items toggle off, the Recommended section should be empty or nearly empty, showing only a short message instead of a grid of files. The space it frees up does not go to your pins, but the menu looks far less cluttered.
Can you remove the Recommended section completely
There is no built-in switch that deletes the Recommended section entirely. Turning off the recently opened items toggle is the closest Windows 11 gets: the heading stays, but the area underneath it is empty. Choosing the More pins layout shrinks it to a single row, which is the smallest it can be without third-party tools. For most people, that combination — More pins plus recommendations switched off — is tidy enough.
If you like the section in general but want one particular file gone, open Start, find the item in the Recommended section, right-click it, and choose Remove from list. The file itself is not deleted from your PC; it simply stops being suggested. If several unwanted files have built up, turn the recently opened items toggle off and then back on again: Windows clears the stored list when you switch it off, so turning it back on starts with a clean slate. On a shared PC, leave the toggle off so your documents do not appear on screen every time someone presses the Windows key.
How to Pin Apps to the Start Menu
Pinning is how you put your own apps on the front page of Start. A pinned app is just a shortcut: pinning does not install, move, or copy anything, and unpinning later does not uninstall the program. You can pin almost any app installed on your PC, including desktop programs, Microsoft Store apps, and even some system tools.
Step 1: Open the Start menu. Press the Windows key or click the Start button on the taskbar.
Step 2: Click All apps. In the top-right corner of the Pinned section, click the All apps button. This opens the full alphabetical list of everything installed on your PC.
Step 3: Find the app you want to pin. Scroll through the list, or type the first letters of the app’s name to jump straight to it. You can also use the letter headings at the top of the list to jump to a section of the alphabet.
Step 4: Right-click the app and choose Pin to Start. A right-click menu appears with several options. Click Pin to Start, and the app’s icon is added to the Pinned section. If you are using a touch screen, press and hold the app instead of right-clicking.
Step 5: Go back to the Pinned section to check. Click the back arrow at the top of the All apps list, or press the Windows key twice to close and reopen Start. Your new pin should appear at the end of the Pinned grid, on the last row.
Step 6: Repeat for your other everyday apps. Pin your browser, your email app, your office programs, and anything else you open daily. Try to keep the list to the apps you genuinely use every day, because a Start menu with forty pins is no faster to use than the All apps list.
How to Unpin, Move, and Reorder Your Pins
A Start menu you never tidy up slowly fills with apps you stopped using. Unpinning the ones you no longer need and dragging the rest into a sensible order keeps the first screen fast to scan. Both jobs take seconds, and nothing you do here can harm the app itself.
Step 1: Open the Start menu. Press the Windows key or click the Start button on the taskbar.
Step 2: Right-click the pin you want to remove and choose Unpin from Start. The icon disappears from the Pinned section immediately. The app itself stays installed and stays in the All apps list, so you can pin it again any time.
Step 3: Drag a pin to move it. Click a pin and hold the mouse button down, then drag it to a new spot in the grid. The other pins shuffle aside to make room. Release the mouse button to drop it in place. On a touch screen, press and hold the pin until it lifts, then drag it.
Step 4: Put your most-used apps in the top-left corner. Your eye naturally starts at the top-left of the grid, so that is the best home for your browser, email, and the one or two programs you open first every morning. Less-used pins can sit on the second page of the grid.
Step 5: Keep related apps together. Grouping by task makes the menu easier to read at a glance: all your browsers in one row, all your office apps in the next, all your media apps together. You do not need a strict system, just enough order that you can find things without reading every label.
Step 6: Unpin the apps Microsoft added that you never open. The default grid includes several apps chosen by Microsoft, and there is no reason to keep ones you never use. Right-click each one you do not recognise or do not need and choose Unpin from Start. Clearing these out first gives you a clean grid to build on.
How to create folders of pins
Windows 11 lets you group pins into folders, which is the best way to keep a large collection tidy without filling the whole grid. To make a folder, open Start, then drag one pin directly on top of another pin and release it. The two pins collapse into a single folder icon. Click the folder to open it and see the apps inside, and drag more pins into it the same way. To take an app out of a folder, open the folder and drag the pin out onto the main grid. To rename a folder, open it and click the name at the top, then type a new name. Folders are ideal for collections such as Games, Photo apps, or Work tools: one icon on the main grid instead of six, with everything still one click away.
How to Change the Start Menu Alignment
On Windows 11, the Start button sits in the center of the taskbar by default, and the Start menu opens above it in the middle of the screen. If you spent years with Start in the bottom-left corner, the centered position can feel wrong, and your mouse has to travel further every time you open it. Windows lets you move it back.
Step 1: Open Settings. Press Windows key + I, or right-click the Start button and choose Settings.
Step 2: Go to Personalization, then Taskbar. Click Personalization in the left-hand sidebar, then click Taskbar in the list. This page controls the taskbar icons, the system tray, and the taskbar’s behavior.
Step 3: Expand Taskbar behaviors. Scroll to the bottom of the Taskbar page and click Taskbar behaviors to expand that section. It holds the alignment setting along with a few other taskbar options.
Step 4: Change Taskbar alignment to Left. Click the dropdown next to Taskbar alignment and choose Left. The Start button, the pinned taskbar icons, and the search box immediately jump to the left-hand end of the taskbar, and the Start menu will now open from the bottom-left corner, the way it did in older versions of Windows.
Step 5: Switch back to Center any time. If you change your mind, repeat the same steps and choose Center from the dropdown. The move is instant and does not need a restart.
How to Change the Accent Color for Start
The Start menu follows your Windows color theme, but you can give it a personal touch with an accent color. The accent color appears on the Start menu background, the taskbar, and other parts of Windows, so picking one you like changes the feel of the whole desktop, not just Start.
Step 1: Open Settings. Press Windows key + I, or right-click the Start button and choose Settings.
Step 2: Go to Personalization, then Colors. Click Personalization in the left-hand sidebar, then click Colors in the list.
Step 3: Choose a mode for Windows. At the top of the Colors page, set Choose your mode to Dark or Light. Dark mode makes the Start menu dark grey or black, which many people find easier on the eyes, while Light mode keeps it white. This choice alone changes Start more than any accent color will.
Step 4: Pick an accent color. Scroll down to Accent color and choose one from the palette, or click View colors to open the color picker and choose an exact shade. Windows also offers an Automatic option that picks an accent from your desktop background.
Step 5: Turn on Show accent color on Start and taskbar. Just below the accent color picker, you will find this toggle. Switch it on, and the Start menu and taskbar take on your accent color. Note that this toggle is only available when Dark mode is turned on: in Light mode, Windows keeps Start and the taskbar light, and the toggle is greyed out.
Step 6: Open Start to see the result. Press the Windows key. The menu should now show your accent color, either as a tinted background in Dark mode or through the colored icons and highlights if you left the taskbar toggle off. If the color looks too strong, go back and pick a softer shade.
Common Problems and How to Fix Them
The Start menu does not open at all. Press the Windows key and nothing happens, or the menu flashes and closes again. First, restart your PC: a surprising number of Start problems clear up with a simple restart. If it still does not open, restart Windows Explorer. Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager, find Windows Explorer in the Processes list, right-click it, and choose Restart. Your taskbar and desktop will flicker for a moment, then come back, and Start should work again.
Pinned apps are missing after a Windows update. A feature update sometimes rearranges the Start menu or drops pins, especially for apps that were updated at the same time. The apps themselves are almost always still installed. Open All apps, find the missing program, right-click it, and choose Pin to Start to put it back. If an app is genuinely gone from All apps as well, reinstall it from the Microsoft Store or the developer’s website.
You cannot drag pins to rearrange them. Dragging only works inside the Pinned section itself, and only while the Start menu is open. If a drag does nothing, try a slower drag: press and hold the pin for half a second before you start moving the mouse. On a laptop, make sure you are not accidentally using a two-finger gesture, which scrolls instead of dragging. A restart of Windows Explorer from Task Manager, as described above, also fixes dragging that has stopped responding.
The More pins layout option is missing. Extra layout options were added in later Windows 11 updates, so a PC that has not been updated may only show the default layout. Go to Settings, then Windows Update, and install any pending updates, then restart. If the option is still missing after updating, your edition of Windows 11 may be an early build, and the update is the fix.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I bring back live tiles from Windows 10? No. Windows 11 removed live tiles completely, and there is no setting to turn them back on. If you miss them, third-party Start menu replacements can imitate the old look, but they change how Windows behaves and can break after major updates, so think carefully before installing one.
Can I add a folder or a file to Start, not just an app? You can pin a folder to Start by right-clicking it in File Explorer and choosing Pin to Start. Pinning an individual file is not supported directly: pin the app that opens the file instead, and use the Recommended section or the app’s Jump List to get back to the file quickly.
Does unpinning an app uninstall it? No. Unpinning only removes the shortcut from the Start menu. The app stays installed, stays in the All apps list, and keeps all of its settings and data. To uninstall an app, right-click it in the All apps list and choose Uninstall instead.
Final Thoughts
The Windows 11 Start menu is at its best when it reflects how you actually use your PC. Pin the apps you open every day, unpin the ones Microsoft chose for you, group the rest into folders, pick the More pins layout, and switch off the recommendations you do not want. That is most of the work, and it takes about ten minutes.
The smaller choices matter too. Moving Start back to the left feels like home if you have used Windows for years, and a dark theme with an accent color you picked yourself makes the menu feel like part of your desktop instead of a default screen. None of these changes is permanent, so experiment: try a layout for a week, rearrange your pins when your work changes, and tidy the menu again whenever it starts to feel cluttered.
Your Start menu is the front door to your PC. Set it up once, keep it tidy, and it will save you a small amount of time every single day, which adds up to a lot over a year.
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