Windows 10 Startup Menu Customization

How to pin items to the Windows 10 Start menu and group icons together. Along with some tips on resizing the menu and the icons.

Overview

This article will show you how to personalize the new Windows 10 start menu. This article will use the Microsoft Office suite as a working example.

Instructions

 

Step 1. 

To pin an application to the start menu, start by finding the application you want to pin. If you don't know where it is, use the search function in the start menu and start typing the name of the application you are searching for.

Step 2.

In this case we're searched for "word" to find the Microsoft Word application. Once the result shows up, right-click it and click on "Pin to start".

Step 3.

Once you click on "Pin to start", you will be able to see it in your start menu if you click on the start menu icon again. If you already have folders in place, the newly placed application will show up below those folders.

Note: If you'd like to unpin the icon, simply right-click it from the start menu and choose "Unpin from Start" to remove it.

Step 4.

Now you can drag the icon wherever you want it. You can drag it into already existing folders, or wherever is most comfortable for you. If you want to make a new folder, you have to first find another application to group with the one you just pinned. So in this example we will make the "Microsoft Office Suite" folder. To do that we will pin another Office application to the start menu following steps 1 - 3. This application will be Excel. Notice now that both Word and Excel are "Grouped" into an unnamed folder. If you hover your mouse above the two icons you will see the option to "Name group".

Step 5.

Once you click on "Name group" you can begin typing a name for the group. In this example we will name the group "Microsoft Office Suite".

Step 6.

Once you have your desired name in just hit Enter and it will save the name to the group. If you'd like to add more applications to this group you can follow steps 1 - 3 again to pin a new application which will show up outside of all the groups in your start menu. Simply click and drag the new application into your desired group to assign it.

Now the application should be grouped.

That is it for the basics of pinning an item to the start menu and personalizing groups. Read on for some more tips & tricks.

 

Resizing The Icons.

If you find that your start menu is getting a bit clunky or bland, you can make the icons smaller and fit them into smaller groups. Simply right-click on the icon you want to transform, hover over resize, and then select the small option.

Your icon will then become 1/4th the size of how it was previously.

You can then make more icons smaller and group them however you'd like.

 

Resizing The Start Menu.

If you start to add a lot of pinned applications into your start menu and would like to see them all at once, you can resize the start menu by hovering your mouse near the edge of the entire start menu until you get a double-arrow cursor, then simply click and drag.

You can resize it vertically and horizontally to match your needs.