Edge Insider feature request - Pin to Start

Iron Contributor

I see that Pin to Task Bar is available in the More Tools, but I do NOT use the Task Bar at all.  I MUCH prefer the Start Menu, and normall have all our devices set to Tablet Mode w/Full Screen Start.  I want to always be able to pin websites to my Start Menu.

46 Replies
And, here's this...

I have hardly used or opened Start menu since in the early 7 days. Have an all Applications window, put very little on desktop and no desktop icons show, have the Desktop toolbar enabled for that. One can access everything in quicker, handier, more direct ways than bothering with a Start menu :smiling_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Cheers,
Drew

Sent from my Windows Phone

@Drew1903 

You do you.  I fell in love with the Start Screen in Windows 8 and I've never looked back.  I INSIST on using the full screen Start Menu.  I refuse to put anything on the Task Bar or the Desktop.  The Start Menu is the ONLY way I want to access my preferred setup.  I will not compromise on this, and there is nothing anyone can say that will influence my opinion.

 


@Drew1903 wrote:
I have hardly used or opened Start menu since in the early 7 days. 

I start frequent programs from Taskbar, and other from Windows Search. Some apps are portable, so I create and access shortcuts via Desktop Toolbar in Portable Apps folder, or quickly find them with Everything Search. Newly installed apps are faster to launch from Start Menu, which would benefit from Quick Search field.

 

I try to keep desktop clean, and place frequent webpage shortcuts on Speed Dial, and very few in Favorites, since browser is the primary app to work on the web. I deal with various pro topics, so its useless to keep many favorites or tab sessions unless accompanied by comments, pics, tables, and related info. 

Easy boy, down boy.

I, certainly, was trying to change anyone's mind or MO.

Cheers,
Drew

Sent from my Windows Phone

@Elliot Kirk

Any news on this?


You have changed the point "more tools" several times but still no "Pin to Start" 

I must still "install" a webpage as App so i can Pin the created link ("C:\Users\XXXXX\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\") to start.

And than i have the page as App-window not a normal URL-Link what opens in Edge


@Drachenboot 

I will grant you Pin to start is part of Edge and it is likely it will appear in Edge C.  But, in the meantime just thought I would toss this at y'all… whether on Start or in the Applications window, any Store App or User installed software (Program) will appear in both places, naturally, by design & intent.  Why do web pages have to be turned into an App to appear on Start? Because, it is for applications not, web pages. Plus, if a page is pinned there it is creating an additional and unnecessary step (in having to open Start, 1st).

Cheers,
Drew
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@Drew1903 I also use Start Menu in full screen mode on my HP X360 2in1 but I am getting the impression that MS is trying to de-emphasize Tablet Mode and make it less convenient to use in many different ways, In this case by removing Pin to Start and make you go trough hoops if you want it anyway. Another example would be Sticky Notes. This app only runs in full screen since 1903 release preview making it absolutely useless for Tablet Mode users. MS has acknowledged the problem many months ago but has been quiet about it since then with no solution despite several Sticky Notes update releases.
Win 10 always had 2 modes, Desktop and Tablet. Some prefer Desktop mode and power to them. But that does not mean that other users that have 2in1's have to be forced into giving up their preference.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.

@Deleted 

And understand, all this is doing is creating & throwing shortcuts all over the place & creating unnecessary steps or actions & unnecessarily complicating things, making them more complex & inefficient.  Some may prefer the look & function of an app window instead, of a normal web page for a certain site(s) ... but, if not, then the exercise is an unnecessary & unhelpful effort.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Jacques Van de Meerssche 

Jacques,

I'm afraid I must disagree about Sticky Notes being full screen only and I will let a photo speak for me...  The size of its window is adjustable, same as any other.  There is no obligation, at all, to run it full screen.

SN.jpg

Cheers,
Drew
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@Jacques Van de Meerssche 

Sure, a User can prefer & use full screen Start.  That's quite irrelevant to a discussion about pinning.  I would suggest pinning whatever wherever and the type of display used for Start are 2 different topics.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Drew1903

 

First picture shows Stick Note as it used to be in both modes. It can be resized and placed unobtrusively  in a corner till needed.  Second pic shows tablet mode in 1903. One can indeed use the slider to widen or narrow the window but no vertical resize at all, On top of that, once the slider is used to widen it to the full screen the slider disappears and no more resize is possible as seen in pic 3. The problem has been reported in Feedback hub by numerous users and has been officially been confirmed by Microsoft Sticky Notes developers in the same several months ago stating that there was no solution for now, No solution since then,@Drew1903 

@Drew1903 

 

Sorry, but the Start Screen and, now, the Start Menu is where Tiles are.  Microsoft gave us the ability--and encouraged this use--to pin our favorite sites as live tiles to the Start Screen and Start Menu.  I MUCH prefer the visual organization, access and aesthetics of the things I use ALL being right there.  As I said, ALL our devices are configured for Tablet Mode and Full Screen.  All folders, etc., are removed from the Start Menu and nothing is pinned to the desktop or Task Bar.  It's all on the Start Menu.  THAT is what is most convenient and efficient for us.

 

So, I don't really care if someone thinks the only things that should exist on Start are apps.  That's not how it was sold, and that's not the exclusive way we use it.  The Start should be a central place that we can organize to immediately go to where we want to go, whether that's an app, a folder (yes, we pin a few folders there, too) or website.  Just like we do on our phones.  Consistency. 

 

But it is just ridiculous that we have to essentially make an app out of a website and THEN pin it to Start.  I KNOW the difference between a website and an app.  I don't need the All Apps area cluttered with things that AREN'T apps.  It confuses the issue...especially for those who haven't grown up with all these systems the way I did.

@Robert Wade 

Robert,

We will likely see Pin to start put in Edge C., soon.  It is in Edge & many Users want that maintained. Everyone has differing ways of using the OS.  It's a nice thing about Win10 that is oft more than one approach.  Some don't have or use tiles, at all.  Some don't bother > Start when there is, always access to the taskbar without > to an additional location or step. Some prefer not to change screens to access things.  Some use the Applications window instead, of Start. We are in early test Builds with Edge C.  There are many items missing, at this stage, but, they, including Pin to start, will appear with time & patience.

 

And, you're right, and it's precisely the point... should not have to turn a site into an app; and you don't with Pin to start.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Jacques Van de Meerssche 

Thanks for the info, Jacques.  I honestly had not noticed or was aware of the scenario you describe with Sticky Notes in Tablet Mode.

Cheers,
Drew
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@Elliot Kirk 

 

Hello,

as it seems that "Pin to Start" is not implemented for the new Edge I have a suggestion to give the user an alternative for "Pin to Start" with the new "install this site as App" function.

 

With "install this site as an app" a start menu list entry is automatically created. Now you can manually pin this entry to the start menu and you have a similar function as before with "pin to start".

It would be great if there was an option in the settings to automatically pin every new "website-app" to the start menu.

This would bring the function very close to the old "pin to start".

 

This may not be the default setting but, I would love to have this as an option inside the settings.

 

Thanks

 

@Robert Wade it looks like this discussion has been going on for more than a year and the Edge team isn't listening.  I believe the Pin To Start feature in the old Edge was big and used more often than they know.  Please stop arguing and add the feature back.

Honestly I would like the ability to pin websites wherever I want. I still use Legacy Edge as my default browser because it still supports syncing with IE Favorites. And of course IE favorites are just shortcuts in a folder which I can add to my taskbar as a fly up menu.

MMooreCadence_0-1589543591977.png

 

Then I can go right to the page I want without having to start the browser first and then find the bookmarks menu. Pinning to the taskbar is useful but it seems to me it would fill up pretty quickly and of course it doesn't show the website name unless you have labels turned on. Google chrome supports creating desktop shortcuts which could probably be then collected in a folder and made in such a menu. But I don't want to be made to use Google Chrome. If we could pin shortcuts anywhere, I could move on and make Edge Chromium my default.

Let's just keep this real simple - Microsoft, please add the feature to "Pin to Start Menu" to the new Edge Chromium.  All other "workarounds" are nice, but no where near as easy as the original Microsoft Edge's "Pin to Start Menu".  Please add this back asap. -- Thank you!

@sambul95 and @Drachenboot , I disagree with the assessment that "you might [have] shown your father the wrong habit." It is 100% correct to use a functionality released by Microsoft. That is precisely why Microsoft releases functionality: to be used. However, nowadays Microsoft reserves the right to "break old practices" whenever they want. The "wrong" is on Microsoft's insane pace of change and lack of continuity for functionality. Not on user for using the software. Cheers!

The main reason I used Edge was the easy function of pinning to Start. With that function gone, I say goodbye to Edge.@Robert Wade