The Windows 11 Start menu is genuinely different from Windows 10, and reactions to that difference have been mixed. The live tiles are gone. The Start button is centred by default. The Recommended section shows recent files. Many power user features that people relied on have been removed or changed. This guide covers what you can and can’t configure, and how to get the most out of the current design. If you want the full context, see our Windows 11 How-To Guides.
The basic layout
The Windows 11 Start menu has three sections:
- Pinned apps: the grid of application icons at the top. Fully customisable.
- Recommended: recent files and recently installed apps. Can be reduced or disabled in settings.
- User and power buttons: at the bottom — your account name, and the power button.
Click the Start button (Win key) or press Win on the keyboard. The menu opens centred on the taskbar by default. Type immediately to search — you don’t need to click a search box first. Win → type the app name → Enter launches it. This is the fastest way to open most applications.
Pinning and unpinning apps
The pinned apps grid holds 18 icons by default (3 rows of 6). These are the apps you can launch with one click from Start. Managing them:
- Pin an app: right-click any app in the All Apps list (the “All apps” button at the top-right of Start reveals the full installed apps list) → “Pin to Start”
- Unpin: right-click any pinned icon → “Unpin from Start”
- Rearrange: drag pinned icons to different positions in the grid
- Create groups: drag one pinned app on top of another → they form a group. Give the group a name by clicking the name field above it. Drag apps into or out of the group.
The 18-icon limit can be expanded: Settings → Personalisation → Start → “More pins” layout allocates more rows to pinned apps, compressing the Recommended section. “More recommendations” does the opposite — fewer pinned rows, more recent items. “Default” is the balanced middle option.
Controlling the Recommended section
Settings → Personalisation → Start:
- “Show recently added apps”: Off hides newly-installed apps from the Recommended section
- “Show most used apps”: Off hides frequently-launched apps
- “Show recently opened items in Start, Jump Lists, and File Explorer”: Off removes recent files from Start entirely
- “Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more”: Off removes Microsoft’s suggestions from the Recommended section
Turning all four off eliminates the Recommended section entirely, leaving only the pinned apps grid and the power/account area. This makes Start behave more like a traditional app launcher — consistent and predictable, not populated with recently-used items that change constantly.
Moving Start to the left
Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar → Taskbar behaviours → Taskbar alignment → Left. This moves both the Start button and all taskbar icons to the left side — the traditional Windows position that many users prefer by muscle memory. The Start menu itself also opens from the left corner rather than the centre when left-aligned.
Folders next to the power button
Settings → Personalisation → Start → “Folders” → a list of folders you can enable to appear as icons next to the power button at the bottom of Start: Settings, File Explorer, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures, Videos, Network, Personal folder.
Enabling these provides one-click access to these locations directly from the Start menu — useful shortcuts that don’t require a pinned app or taskbar button. File Explorer and Settings are particularly useful here for users who access them frequently but prefer not to take up taskbar or Start grid space with them.
Our guide on Windows 11 taskbar configuration covers the taskbar settings that work alongside the Start menu, and our guide on Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts covers the keyboard-based alternatives to Start menu navigation. For the Start menu’s PowerShell and deployment configuration options (enterprise), Microsoft’s Start layout documentation covers the XML-based layout customisation available for managed deployments.
App groups and organisation strategies
With 18+ pinned apps, the Start grid can become difficult to navigate. Groups help: dragging related apps onto each other and naming the group (Productivity, Creative, Utilities, etc.) creates visual organisation. Clicking a group name opens the group to show its contents; clicking outside collapses it.
A practical organisation approach for the Start grid:
- Row 1: daily-use apps (browser, email, calendar, Slack/Teams)
- Row 2: creative or productivity tools (Office apps, design software, code editor)
- Row 3: utilities grouped together (Task Manager, Settings, File Explorer, Terminal)
Apps you use less frequently: find them through the All Apps list (scrollable A-Z list of all installed applications) or type in Start to search. The Start grid is for frequent-use apps; the All Apps list covers everything else without needing to pin everything.
Third-party Start menu alternatives
If the Windows 11 Start menu doesn’t meet your needs: Start11, StartAllBack, and Open-Shell are the most-used alternatives that replace the Windows 11 Start menu with more configurable options. StartAllBack and Start11 can restore a Windows 10-style Start menu including categorised app lists and optional live tiles. Open-Shell is free and provides a classic Windows 7/10 style Start menu.
These tools modify system files and need to be updated when Windows 11 updates occasionally change the shell. They’re stable and widely-used, but they introduce maintenance overhead that the built-in Start menu doesn’t have. For users who find the missing live tiles or limited customisation genuinely impactful to their workflow: these tools restore the lost functionality. For users adapting to the new design: the built-in customisation options are sufficient for most needs.
Start menu search — the fastest launcher
The Start menu’s built-in search (just press Win and type) finds: installed applications, Settings panels, files, web results. It’s faster than navigating the All Apps list and covers apps whether they’re pinned or not.
Tips for efficient Start search:
- Type partial app names — “wor” finds Word before you finish typing
- Type Settings panel names — “refresh rate” or “display” takes you directly to the relevant Settings page
- Type file names — recent and indexed files appear in results
- Use arrow keys to select a result → Enter to open; avoid reaching for the mouse
| Start menu goal | How to achieve it |
| Launch an app quickly | Win → type name → Enter (fastest) |
| Add app to pinned grid | All Apps → right-click app → Pin to Start |
| Remove clutter from Recommended | Settings → Personalisation → Start → toggle off |
| More pinned app space | Settings → Personalisation → Start → More pins layout |
| Move Start to bottom-left corner | Settings → Personalisation → Taskbar → Alignment → Left |
| Add quick access folders to Start | Settings → Personalisation → Start → Folders |
| Restore Windows 10-style Start | Third-party: StartAllBack or Start11 |
The Windows 11 Start menu is more capable than its simplified appearance suggests, once you configure the pinned grid intentionally and turn off the Recommended features you don’t use. The search launcher is genuinely excellent — typing to find things is faster than clicking through app lists regardless of how Start is configured. Using Win+search as the primary launch method, with the pinned grid for the 6-8 daily-use apps you want one-click access to, makes the Start menu efficient without requiring significant customisation.
Right-click options in the Start menu
Right-clicking pinned apps in the Start grid reveals a jump list for that application (similar to right-clicking the taskbar icon): recent documents, common actions, and options specific to that app. Right-clicking also shows “Unpin from Start,” “Pin to taskbar,” “App settings,” and “Uninstall.” This makes the Start grid a convenient management interface — you can uninstall or configure apps directly without opening Settings → Apps.
Right-clicking the Start button itself (or Win+X) opens the Power User menu — a more useful context menu than most people know. Device Manager, Terminal (Admin), Event Viewer, Disk Management, Task Manager, Settings, File Explorer, and more — accessible with Win+X → the relevant letter or number key. This is often faster than navigating to these tools through other means.
Start menu in Windows 11 on different form factors
On tablets and touchscreen devices: Start menu behaviour adapts slightly. Swiping up from the bottom opens Start. The grid tiles are sized for touch input. If using a keyboard dock or external keyboard: the keyboard shortcuts and navigation work identically to desktop use.
On devices with very small screens (8-10 inch tablets): the Start menu overlaps most of the screen due to its fixed minimum size. Some users find this disproportionate; the third-party alternatives mentioned above (StartAllBack, Open-Shell) can provide a more compact menu on small screens.
The All Apps list — beyond what’s pinned
“All apps” button at the top-right of Start → shows every installed application alphabetically. This is the comprehensive launcher for apps that aren’t pinned. The list includes apps installed from the Microsoft Store, traditional desktop applications, and Windows’ built-in utilities. Scrollable; not searchable within the list (use Win+type instead).
In the All Apps list: right-click any app → additional options including “Pin to Start” (to add to the pinned grid), “Pin to taskbar,” “Open file location” (shows the app’s executable in File Explorer — useful for finding shortcuts or the exact path), and “Uninstall.” The list provides a complete inventory of what’s installed, which is sometimes useful in itself — finding apps you forgot were installed or identifying bloatware from the manufacturer.
Start menu performance
The Windows 11 Start menu occasionally becomes slow to respond or laggy, particularly after updates. If Start opens slowly or not at all: the fastest fix is restarting Windows Explorer (Task Manager → Processes → Windows Explorer → Restart). This reloads the shell without restarting the entire machine and usually resolves transient Start menu responsiveness issues.
If Start is frequently slow: check whether the Start menu experience host process is consuming unusual resources. Task Manager → Processes → look for “Start” or “StartMenuExperienceHost.exe” → high CPU or memory from this process indicates Start is working harder than it should. This is sometimes caused by the Recommended section processing large amounts of recent file data — disabling the Recommended section in Settings often resolves the performance issue alongside removing the clutter.
The Windows 11 Start menu divides users more than any other interface element in the OS. The technical capabilities — search, app grouping, folder shortcuts, Recommended items — are good. The missing features from Windows 10 (live tiles, categorised app list structure, more flexible sizing) are real losses for users who relied on them. Working within the constraints of the current design, the combination of Win+search as primary launcher and a well-organised pinned grid provides an effective and fast launch workflow. The gap between “acceptable” and “great” for the Start menu is a 10-minute configuration session that few users take the time to do.
Resetting the Start menu
If the Start menu becomes corrupted — pinned apps disappear, groups don’t work correctly, layout gets scrambled — there’s no direct “Reset Start menu” button. The closest equivalent: resetting the Start menu configuration by clearing the user’s Start layout database.
Close Start menu → Task Manager → End “StartMenuExperienceHost.exe” → File Explorer → navigate to %localappdata%PackagesMicrosoft.Windows.StartMenuExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewyLocalState → delete or rename the “start.bin” file → restart Windows. The Start menu rebuilds from default. All custom pinned layouts are lost and need to be reconfigured, but the bugs and corruption clear with them.
This is a last resort for specific corruption scenarios where Start isn’t functioning correctly despite restarts. For general layout dissatisfaction: the Settings approach (re-pinning, re-organising) is the right path rather than wiping the configuration. You might also run into Windows 11 Group Policy Editor.
One practical observation from working with Windows 11 daily: the Start menu matters less now than it did in earlier Windows versions, simply because Win+search handles most launch tasks faster than clicking through a menu grid. Users who develop the Win+type-to-launch habit find the Start menu’s configuration becomes less critical — it’s the backup path rather than the primary one. Configuring it well is still worthwhile for the apps you click rather than type, but the search shortcut path is worth developing regardless of how the grid is organised. Related: Windows 11 Copilot.
