I remodeled 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.

For the reason that launch of Windows 95, the Begin Menu has developed in numerous methods, and but, to this very day, its fundamentals stay unchanged: you will have entry to all of your put in packages, a search perform, an influence button, a consumer account shortcut, and a few area to pin incessantly accessed apps.

Nevertheless, working techniques have developed significantly for the reason that days of Home windows 95, and the Begin Menu, for all its glory, has develop 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 superb one-stop-shop for viewing all of your put in apps from a chicken’s eye perspective.

Microsoft not too long ago 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 fast predecessor, permitting you to take away superfluous UI components 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 swimsuit our particular person wants. In my case, I’ve gone forward and remodeled 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 top end result.

Step 1

Flip off your cell machine in Begin

To begin with, you may take away the secondary cell machine pane from showing in your Home windows 11 Begin Menu. This panel supplies 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 cell machine from the Begin Menu, navigate to Settings > Personalization > Begin > Present cell machine in Begin and set the toggle to its off place. Alternatively, if you would like to take care of fast entry to the cell machine panel with out it taking on area when you do not want it to, go away the toggle on after which faucet on the small telephone icon positioned on the high right-hand aspect of the Begin Menu (to the proper of the search bar) to break down and increase the interface as wanted.

Step 2

Disable the Really useful and most used sections

Subsequent, you may take away the Really useful part out of your Begin Menu, which is able to prevent area, cut back litter, and doubtlessly pace up efficiency. By default, the Really useful part surfaces not too long ago put in apps, not too long ago up to date recordsdata, generally visited web sites, ideas, tips, and extra. Suggestions may be disabled wholesale, as can the listing of most used apps inside the All part of the menu.

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

• Present not too long ago added apps
• Present advisable recordsdata in Begin, current recordsdata in File Explorer, and objects in Soar Lists
• Present suggestions for ideas, shortcuts, new apps, and extra
• Present web sites out of your searching historical past
• Present most used apps

Step 3

Swap to Grid View

If we’re really going for the Android app drawer feel and look, you will wish 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 popular app sorting format throughout reboots, and you’ll at all times change to the Record or Class View choices at any time limit.

Step 4

Take away all app pins

You most likely 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, in case you take away all pins from the highest of your menu, the whole part will disappear. This maximizes the accessible actual property for displaying all of your at present put in purposes as an alternative.

All the pinned apps part inside the Begin Menu may be eliminated by unpinning all purposes and folders one after the other. Relying on what number of pins you will have, this course of could take a couple of minutes. To unpin an app inside the Begin Menu, merely proper click on or lengthy press on the app, after which faucet or click on on Unpin from Begin.