This article teaches you how to organize the apps in the Windows Start Menu and the macOS Launchpad.
How to Organize Apps on Windows
To arrange icons by name, type, date, or size, right-click a blank area on the desktop, and then click Arrange Icons. Click the command that indicates how you want to arrange the icons (by Name, by Type, and so on). If you want the icons to be automatically arranged, click Auto Arrange. If you want to arrange the icons on your own, click Auto Arrange to remove the check mark.
- Click the button. It’s usually at the bottom-left corner of the screen. You’ll see a list of tiles that can be organized into groups, as well as a list of apps installed on your PC.
- If you don’t see a list of apps to the left of the tiles, click All Apps to display them.
- Add a new tile to the Start menu. You can create tiles for any app on your computer. Here’s how:
- Right-click an app you want to pin.
- Click Pin to Start. A new tile will appear for the app you’ve added.
- Resize a tile. Tiles are large by default, but you can make them larger or smaller if you’d like. Here’s how:
- Right-click the tile.
- Click Resize.
- Select a size.
- Group your apps. You can create groups of apps based on your desired criteria and then add tiles to that group. Here’s how:
- Click and drag a tile up or down until a divider bar appears.
- Release your finger.
- Click the divider bar at the top of the group.
- Type a name for the group (e.g. Productivity, Art).
- Press ↵ Enter.
- Drag additional tiles to the group as needed.
- Rearrange your groups. To move a group to another location, click and hold the title of the group, then drag it to a new location.
- Remove tiles you don’t need. Here’s how:
- Right-click the tile.
- Click Unpin from Start.
TweakUI
NOTE: TweakUI is an unsupported tool. The following information is provided for informational purposes only. Microsoft Product Support Services is unable to answer questions about TweakUI.
If you are a Windows power-user, you can use TweakUI 1.33 to manipulate icons. However, this is an unsupported tool. Read the document that accompanies TweakUI carefully before you download and use the tool. organize the apps
For additional information about finding more help with icons, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
262885 Desktop Icons Displayed Incorrectly When You Change Settings organize the apps
132668 Icons Randomly Change to Different Icons organize the apps
How to Organize Apps on macOS
The desktop takes up most of your screen, and it’s the area where you’ll do most of your work. If you keep files—documents, folders, and aliases—on your desktop, you can organize them to make it easier to find the items you need.
- Open your Mac’s Launchpad. You can do this by pressing the Launchpad key (6 squares in the top row of keys), or clicking the rocket icon in the dock. You’ll see a screen containing icons for many of the apps on your Mac.
- If you don’t see an app you know you’ve installed, you may just need to move that app to the Applications folder
- Move an app to a new location. To rearrange apps in the Launchpad, click and drag the app icon to the desired position.
- Create a group folder. It may be helpful to organize your apps into different folders by category. Here’s how:
- Drag one app icon to another icon. This creates a folder that contains just these two apps.
- Click the folder to open it. organize the apps
- Click the name of the folder (above the app icons).
- Type a new name for the folder (e.g. Office, Photography).
- Press ⏎ Return.
- Click outside the folder to return to the main list of apps.
- To add additional apps to the folder, drag and drop those apps onto the folder icon.
- Delete an app from the Launchpad. This action will remove the app from your computer. Here’s how:
- Open the Launchpad.
- Press and hold ⌥ Option.
- Click the X next to the app icon you want to delete. If you don’t see an X, it’s either a required Mac App or it didn’t come from the App Store.
- Click Delete.
