In the beginning, I too thought that Start Screen was a waste for desktop and laptop users but when I started working on it, I realized that it actually is very helpful. Start Screen is the first thing that opens up when Windows 8 boots up and if you have pinned your favorite, regularly used items onto it, you will actually start loving the ease of access it provides. So today I will show you how you can pin new items to Start Screen to make it more helpful. Let’s begin then!
Pin a Folder to Windows 8 Start Screen
Pinning a folder is a straight forward job. Simply right-click on the folder you want to pin on the Start Screen and select the option Pin to Start. The folder will be pinned at the end of Start Screen instantly.
Pin Apps to Windows 8 Start Screen
To pin an application that is not showing up on your Start Screen by default, Launch Start Screen and right-click anywhere in it to select All Apps. After you click on All Apps, you will see all the applications that are installed on your computer. Simply right-click on the app and select Pin to Start. You can also search for the app in the Start Screen and select the option to pin the app. Similarly, if an app is already pinned, you can unpin it in the same way.
Pin a Website to Windows 8 Start Screen
You can also pin a Website on the Start Screen that you visit often enough (like Guiding Tech 🙂 ). To pin a website, launch Internet Explorer 10 and open the website you want to pin. After the website loads up, click on the Settings button on the top-right corner of the screen and select the option Add site to Start Screen. That’s all, the website will be added to the Start Screen instantly. Repeat the steps for all the websites you want to add. You can also pin a website using the modern Internet Explorer but for the time being there’s no way you can do the same using Chrome and Firefox.
Pinning File and Special Items
In Windows 8, there is no way to directly pin files and other special items like Drives and Control Panel items but you can do it using a simple tool called Start Screen Pinner. Using Start Screen Pinner you can pin anything and everything on the Windows 8 Start Screen in a matter of seconds and these things include all the items we have discussed above. Here’s a video that will show you how to use the tool to pin any item on the Start Screen.
Conclusion
So that was how you can pin almost anything on your Windows 8 Start Screen. Moreover, don’t forget to check out how to group similar Start Screen items together for better accessibility.
