A Comprehensive Guide for Pinning Different Items on Windows 10’s Start Menu (Part 1)

Windows 10 has been released for almost a month now and in case you’ve been using Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 before you upgraded to this brand new Windows edition dubbed as the “Best one yet”, you might be confused a little bit when using the new-and-improved Start Menu.

Yes! This dearly-loved feature back in previous Windows editions like XP, Vista and Windows 7 has now been restored to its previous glory and this time, it’s got more features in it that perfectly represents both the Desktop and Mobile environments as part of Microsoft’s ongoing effort to combine this two popular computing platforms into one operating system that would run in different devices!

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We’ve already talked about tweaking the new Start Menu in our previous tutorials but there are still even more aspects of it that you need to know and in this tutorial, we will be learning the different ways in pinning varied items into it so if you’re already using Windows 10 but you’re still struggling to move shortcuts or folders to the Start Menu then you are reading the right article!

What’s New with the Start Menu in Windows 10

The screenshot above shows the default appearance of the resurrected Start Menu when you first use your Windows 10 computer and as you can see, it is now loaded with features that equally represent both the traditional Desktop environment and the Mobile world which has been combined to the former since Windows 8.

The new Start Menu now has the traditional shortcuts and “Most used” programs section on its left portion and the modern app tiles on its right but the excitement does not end here since you can actually add even more stuff to either the left or the right portion of the Start Menu and you can even move tiles and group them as we have shown in one of previous tutorials. Now, let’s start learning how to pin different items into the new-and-improved Start Menu!

Pinning Windows Apps to the Start Menu

Now, the very first item that we are going to learn to pin into the Start Menu are those mobile apps that you download from the Windows Store or even those that are built-in with Windows 10 but do not appear on the Start Menu. To do this, you will first need to access the list of apps and programs that are installed on your computer by first clicking on the Start Button and once the Start Menu opens, you will need to click on the “All apps” link that is located on its bottom-left portion as highlighted on the screenshot below.

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After the link is clicked, you will be able to access a list that shows all of the program and apps that are installed on your computer. From this list, all you need to do is look for the modern app shortcut that you want to pin to the Start Menu and once you find it, you will need to right-click on it and a right-click menu will appear as shown below.

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From this right-click menu, all you need to do is click on the option that says “Pin to Start” and after doing so, the tile should be pinned to the right-hand portion of the Start Menu where all the modern app tiles are located. Once the tile gets pinned, you can now launch the app from the Start Menu.

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Pinning Desktop Programs to the Start Menu

As we have mentioned above, the new Start Menu isn’t just a home to the modern app tiles as the Start Screen was back in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 but is also a place where the shortcuts heading to Desktop programs, system locations and tools are found. If you want to pin a Desktop program into the Start Menu, you will again need to click on the “All apps” link as we have done earlier and on the list that would appear, just right click on the Desktop program shortcut that you want to pin in order to summon the right-click menu and this time, it would contain more options.

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From this menu, all you need to do is click on the option that says “Pin to Start” and after doing so, the shortcut will automatically be added to the right section of the Start Menu together with all the tiles for the apps that are built-in with your Windows 10 machine.

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Now, this is not the only method of pinning program shortcuts to the Start Menu. Another method in doing this is available especially if the shortcut which you want to add to the Start Menu is on the Desktop screen. To start, simply access the Desktop on your computer and look for the program shortcut that you want to pin to the Start Menu. Once you find it, just right-click on it and again, a right-click menu will appear where you will simply need to click on the option that is found in it which says “Pin to Start” as highlighted on the screenshot below.

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After clicking the option, the program shortcut should now be added into the right hand portion of the Start Menu and you can now launch the app simply by clicking on its shortcut there.

Pinning Your Favorite Website to the Start Menu

Another awesome thing about the Start Menu and all the other features that are built-in with Windows 10 is that they all work together seamlessly to increase productivity many times over! For instance, you can now pin websites to the Start Menu.

Yes! You heard it right! Websites can now be pinned to the new and improved Start Menu so that you can instantly open it with a single click so you won’t need launch a browser and enter the website URL into it just to access your favorite website. However, this option is only available in Microsoft Edge– the new built-in browser in Windows 10.

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Once Microsoft Edge opens, you will simply need to enter the website URL into its web address box then hit the “Enter” key to launch the website. Once it launches, you will need to click on the “More actions” button which is located at the upper-right portion just below the “Close” button as highlighted on the screenshot below.

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After clicking the “More actions” button, a menu that contains some options will appear and from here, you will simply need to click on the item that says “Pin to Start” in order to pin the website to the new Start Menu.

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NOTE:

You can only find the “Pin to Start” option for websites in the Microsoft Edge browser and also, when you try to launch websites that are already pinned to the Start Menu, it will only open in Microsoft Edge and not in any other browser since this option is only unique to software developed by Microsoft.

More Items to Pin in the Next Tutorial

We’ve already gone through three of the items that can be pinned to the new Start Menu but there are still more that you can actually place on this feature for easier access and we will be learning about all of them in Part 2 so be sure to watch out for it so you can start placing important items in a location that is really easy to launch no matter where you are within the Windows 10 operating system.