I reworked my Home windows 11 Begin Menu into an Android app drawer

When Microsoft debuted the Begin Menu again in 1995, it was a real graphical consumer interface (GUI) revelation. The corporate efficiently crafted a software program setup that was each performant and extremely accessible to the general public, which is not any small feat.

Because the launch of Windows 95, the Begin Menu has advanced in quite a few methods, and but, to this very day, its fundamentals stay unchanged: you’ve got entry to all of your put in applications, a search operate, an influence button, a consumer account shortcut, and a few area to pin ceaselessly accessed apps.

Nonetheless, working methods have advanced significantly for the reason that days of Home windows 95, and the Begin Menu, for all its glory, has turn into one thing of a GUI vestige. Most of us now pin apps on to our PC taskbars, and trying to find apps is easier and extra environment friendly than ever earlier than.

As such, the modern-day Begin Menu on Windows 11 is finest understood as a type of app shelf, analogous to the app drawer on Android and the App Library on iPadOS. When correctly configured, the Begin Menu can function a wonderful one-stop-shop for viewing all of your put in apps from a chook’s eye perspective.

Microsoft just lately pushed out a Start Menu redesign for Windows 11, and it is a strong improve: this new menu is way much less inflexible than its quick predecessor, permitting you to take away superfluous UI parts and to streamline its design. Some customers have complained that the brand new menu is simply too cluttered by default, and there is definitely some validity to that argument.

With this all-new Begin Menu, Microsoft is lastly permitting us to bend the interface to go well with our particular person wants. In my case, I’ve gone forward and reworked the menu into one thing that appears and feels identical to the app drawer discovered on my Pixel 10, and I could not be happier with the tip consequence.

Step 1

Flip off your cellular machine in Begin

To start out with, you may take away the secondary cellular machine pane from showing in your Home windows 11 Begin Menu. This panel gives fast entry to your telephone’s standing, current photograph, name, and message historical past, and different perks. For as helpful as it may be, it does admittedly litter up the Begin Menu expertise a bit when activated.

To take away your cellular machine from the Begin Menu, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Begin > Present cellular machine in Begin and set the toggle to its off place. Alternatively, if you would like to take care of fast entry to the cellular machine panel with out it taking on area when you do not want it to, depart the toggle on after which faucet on the small telephone icon positioned on the high right-hand facet of the Begin Menu (to the proper of the search bar) to break down and broaden the interface as wanted.

Step 2

Disable the Advisable and most used sections

Subsequent, you may take away the Advisable part out of your Begin Menu, which is able to prevent area, cut back litter, and doubtlessly velocity up efficiency. By default, the Advisable part surfaces just lately put in apps, just lately up to date recordsdata, generally visited web sites, suggestions, tips, and extra. Suggestions might be disabled wholesale, as can the listing of most used apps throughout the All part of the menu.

To disable each the Advisable and probably the most used apps sections from showing in your Begin Menu, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Begin > and toggle off the next:

• Present just lately added apps
• Present really helpful recordsdata in Begin, current recordsdata in File Explorer, and gadgets in Bounce Lists
• Present suggestions for suggestions, shortcuts, new apps, and extra
• Present web sites out of your searching historical past
• Present most used apps

Step 3

Change to Grid View

If we’re actually going for the Android app drawer feel and look, you may need to change over from the Class View to the Grid View inside your Home windows 11 Begin Menu. This may kind all apps in alphabetical order, specified by a grid format that resembles what you’d discover in your typical Android smartphone or pill setup.

To change to the Grid View format inside your Begin Menu, launch the Begin Menu, faucet or click on on View, after which choose Grid from the drop-down menu that seems on-screen. Home windows will bear in mind your most well-liked app sorting format throughout reboots, and you’ll at all times change to the Record or Class View choices at any cut-off date.

Step 4

Take away all app pins

You in all probability have already got your go-to apps pinned to your taskbar, and so there’s little level in cluttering up your Begin Menu with but extra pins. Fortunately, for those who take away all pins from the highest of your menu, the complete part will disappear. This maximizes the accessible actual property for displaying all of your at present put in functions as a substitute.

The whole pinned apps part throughout the Begin Menu might be eliminated by unpinning all functions and folders one after the other. Relying on what number of pins you’ve got, this course of could take a couple of minutes. To unpin an app throughout the Begin Menu, merely proper click on or lengthy press on the app, after which faucet or click on on Unpin from Begin.