Hi. Back in 7, my start menu had stuff pinned to it. I could click, say, Visual Studio and a submenu would slide out with recently opened projects on it so I could not only open it, but open a specific project.
I pinned VS to my Start Menu, but it doesn't have that functionality. I thought OK, well, maybe if it's on the left side of the start menu where the recently used stuff was. I can't figure out though how to get a shortcut over there (I believe that area is called "quick links"). I don't even have "recently used" anymore. I saw one can add folders from a list, but I don't need that. Right clicking the pinned VS in the "tiles" area doesn't give me that program specific context so that's not really useful.
Is it just not possible anymore?
Hello Strahan,
Recent items are handled in Quick access in File Explorer now instead of on Start.
Quick access - Pin or Unpin Locations in Windows 10
If you like, you can add shortcuts to All apps on your Start menu instead.
All apps in Start menu - Add or Remove Items in Windows 10
Thanks. Hmm. I went to File Explorer, right clicked the Downloads folder and chose "Pin to Quick Access". It did not appear there though, and when I right clicked Downloads again it still said "Pin" not "Unpin" for quick access. I tried several folders, all behave the same. Do I have to enable it or something? I tried running the add pin to context reg file from your first link and it had no effect (pretty much what I expected since I already had that context option, just wanted to be thorough). ?
You should be able to pin locations to quick access.
Quick access - Pin or Unpin Locations in Windows 10
Reading that link, I think I am talking about the wrong area then. In this screenshot, the red arrow is pointing to the area I am talking about.
On the topic of quick access though, I see now that section titled "quick access" in Explorer where I have some folders pinned. I pinned a music share from my file server and I see that some subfolders from that share (indicated in blue) are showing up pinned.. is it normal for that to happen? Seems a bit weird. I never pinned "playlists".
In your Quick access screenshot, it doesn't show your "Playlists" folder as pinned. If it was pinned it would have a small gray push pin icon to the right of it. Currently, it's showing as just a frequent folder.
Did you blank anything out on the left side of your Start menu, or is that how it actually looks now?
Ah, OK. So that list is dynamic aside from the pinned items? Cool. As to the start menu, just removed the username/userphoto at the top as I didn't want my last name floating around the net, that's it.
Correct, it'll also show your frequent folders.
You could do these for Start though.
- Start Menu Most Used Apps - Add or Remove in Windows 10
- Start Menu Recently Added Apps - Add or Remove in Windows 10
- Start List - Add or Remove Folders in Windows 10
- All apps in Start menu - Add or Remove Items in Windows 10
