Anyone discovered a key combo or shortcut to directly open All Apps?

Wisewiz · Oct 1, 2021

It would be truly great if we could access the Start menu's All Apps list without going through the 18-icon page first (with its really annoying Recommended section) when we wish. I like using the Start page sometimes, and I like using the apps list sometimes, and I would like to have the choice between alternatives.

I never use the page (with tiles) in W10, and I keep no tiles on it, so my Start button just directly opens the Apps list. Even if we had to hold down a key when we clicked Start, in order to bypass the page and see the list, that would work.

Has anybody seen a tweak or hack that will set any such option up?

22000.194

davehc · Oct 1, 2021

Wisewiz said:
It would be truly great if we could access the Start menu's All Apps list without going through the 18-icon page first (with its really annoying Recommended section) when we wish. I like using the Start page sometimes, and I like using the apps list sometimes, and I would like to have the choice between alternatives.

I never use the page (with tiles) in W10, and I keep no tiles on it, so my Start button just directly opens the Apps list. Even if we had to hold down a key when we clicked Start, in order to bypass the page and see the list, that would work.

Has anybody seen a tweak or hack that will set any such option up?

22000.194

Not an answer to your query, but I moved all of the icons back on to the listed menu. It then, for me, opened each time to the list.
You could then make a desktop folder and put all you essential shortcut icons into it.

Wisewiz · Oct 1, 2021

Hey, Dave,

How exactly did you "move all of the icons back onto the listed menu?"

(Thanks! Your idea looks interesting.)

davehc · Oct 2, 2021

Wisewiz said:
Hey, Dave,

How exactly did you "move all of the icons back onto the listed menu?"

(Thanks! Your idea looks interesting.)

I don't have the beta running at the moment, but, as far as I can remember, I just left clicked and dumped them back into the menu. Only problem is , unlike windows 10, you are still left with that large black square. It cannot, at this time, be pulled in.

Wisewiz · Oct 2, 2021

Yeah, that's a problem. Thanks, friend.

Lex24 · Oct 4, 2021

Ctrl+Esc (or WinKey) - Tab - Tab - Enter

davehc · Oct 4, 2021

Lex24 said:
Ctrl+Esc (or WinKey) - Tab - Tab - Enter

I would not consider that a shortcut. Much easier to merely click all apps showing in the panel.
What Wizwiz and myself are seeking, is a way to have the list as the default. But, maybe it will be a customisable feature with the final release tomorrow

das10 · Oct 4, 2021

To get the Windows 10 type Start menu, this seems to work on my test VM, if that's what you mean ?

How to Get Windows 10 Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 11 - TechWiser

Don't like the new Windows 11 Start Menu and Taskbar? Here's how to get old Windows 10 Start Menu and Taskbar icons on Windows 11.

techwiser.com

Wisewiz · Oct 4, 2021

Thanks, @das10,

That's an interesting approach to re-making 11's GUI into 10's GUI, and I might try it out sometime. I like it a lot better than the third-party Start-changing utilities. But I kinda like the new GUI of 11; I just want a few more options than are currently available.

I want the choice of opening Start to the All apps screen directly, but just the choice. I don't need (or want) to do away with the Start screen and its 18 available icon slots, even though the Recommended section (which I keep empty) annoys me a little every time I see it. I have all of my most-used apps and folders on that screen, or in the File Explorer QA menu, or right on the Taskbar, and I'm getting used to that way of doing things.

So thanks again, but for now I just want a switch, not a major renovation.

davehc · Oct 5, 2021

Loaded the windows 11 official release. Still no settings option to make the listed start menu the default.

I compromised and made a desktop shortcut to the start menu in ProgramData

Wisewiz · Oct 5, 2021

@davehc

That strikes me as a very clever idea. I hadn't even considered it.

But then what do you do about all the stuff that's in your username folder's Start Menu\Programs? I wouldn't want to have two shortcuts to get to two different sets of Start contents.

(Since I always spend a lot of time editing the Start Menu with a new version of Windows, I always set up shortcuts to those two folders right away, But I only use them to add items to or delete items from Start, not to access the Start Menu.)

davehc · Oct 5, 2021

No username folder involved. It only has a complete rendering of the start menu

A shortcut from here
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu

Wisewiz · Oct 5, 2021

Hold on. Don't you have anything in "C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"??

Wisewiz · Oct 5, 2021

Here's the thing: you can move all of the shortcuts in users...Programs to ProgData...Programs, so that all that's left in users...Programs is empty folders, and empty folders don't show up in the Start, All apps list ,,, BUT you'd still be looking at your Start list in a File Explorer window, not a Start Menu list. I don't much like the esthetics of that, but if it works for you, great!

davehc · Oct 5, 2021

What don't you like about the shortcut I used?? That is the exact one the Windows Start menu is using. I didn't move it, I made a shortcut.
I agree, he shortcut is through the Windows explorer. Why is that a problem.

Wisewiz · Oct 5, 2021

It's not that I don't like your shortcut, it's that your shortcut ignores the content of "C:\Users\,username>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs"
and that leaves out anything that running for your username alone, instead of for All Users (which is where your shortcut points). The Windows Start Menu uses BOTH.

It's all good. No problem. I just like the look of the Start All Apps menu in Windows 10 AND the Start All Apps menu in Windows 11, and the File Explorer interface is, well, bare bones by comparison.

It's just personal preference. I'm just picky about some things.

davehc · Oct 5, 2021

I guess I am out of this thread. It seems to have lost its way from the original post

Wisewiz · Oct 5, 2021

Sorry if something I did or said offended. I really appreciate your input on ways to get around having to open the Start menu at the "tiles" page, instead of the All Apps list.

Dan