How to Force Desktop Apps to Show up on the Start Screen in Windows 8

How to Force Desktop Apps to Show up on the Start Screen in Windows 8



Sometimes when you install a Desktop app it doesn’t show up on the
Start screen. Here’s a way to make sure it appears.

When you install a Desktop app, its tile is supposed to show up on the Start screen,
so you can run the app even from the Start screen by clicking it. I say “supposed to,”
because I’ve noticed that’s not always the case. In fact, on one of my Windows 8 machines,
when I installed Microsoft Office 2010, none of those apps showed up on the
Start screen.


Tip: When you install a new Desktop App, its tile typically shows up all the way on
the right of the Start screen, so you’ll have to do some scrolling to find it.

There’s a simple way to make the tiles appear, though. When you’re on the Start
screen, type the name of the app (Figure 1).


Figure 1.
The first step in adding a Desktop app to the Start screen

The app will appear on the left side of the screen. Right-click it or, on a touchscreen,
slide it down a quarter of an inch. A checkmark appears next to it (Figure 2). At the
bottom of the screen, you’ll find a series of actions you can take. Click “Pin to Start,”
and the app’s tile will be pinned to the Start screen.


Figure 2.
The first step in adding a Desktop app to the Start screen

You can now run the app from the Start screen by clicking its tile. To unpin it, rightclick
the tile and select “Unpin from Start.” (On a touchscreen, you can slide the tile
down a quarter of an inch until the checkmark appears, and then select “Unpin from
Start” from the App Bar.)






See Also
• “How to Create Quick Launch Application Folder on the Start Screen and Desktop in Windows 8”
• “How to Put a Tile to Computer on the Start Screen in Windows 8”
• “Add Folders and Other Objects to the Start Screen”