[Tip] Organize Windows 8 Start Screen Tiles in Groups and Name These Groups

Everyone knows that Microsoft has replaced Start Menu with Windows Phone style Start Screen in new Windows 8 OS. This new Start Screen shows live tiles of installed and built-in programs in a full screen view. You can click on the tiles to launch the programs.

You can add or remove tiles, you can move tiles and you can resize the tiles according to your requirements. We have posted a detailed guide for using new Start Screen in past which can be found at following link:

[Windows 8 Start Screen] How to Pin, Uninstall, Resize, Move, Close or Search Tiles

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One thing which many Windows 8 users don’t know is that you can organize these tiles in new groups and also you can name these groups. It helps in finding programs easily and quickly in Start Screen.

Today in this tutorial, we are going to tell you how to create new app groups in Windows 8 Start Screen and how to name these groups. So without wasting time lets start the tutorial:

1. Go to Start Screen by pressing WIN key and click-n-drag a tile which you want to put in a new group. Drop it in a blank space of Start Screen and Windows will create a new group for it. Now you can drag-n-drop other tiles near it to put them in the same group.

2. Now its turn of naming groups. To name groups, click on the small dash or minus (-) icon present at the bottom-right corner of Start Screen as shown in following screenshot:

Organize_Tile_Groups_Windows_8_Start_Screen.png

3. It’ll show Start Screen in overview mode where the tiles are shown as small icons. Here you can also change position of the groups. Just drag-n-drop the entire group at your desired position.

To set group names, right-click on desired group and a new panel will appear at bottom. Click on “Name group” option present in the panel as shown in following screenshot:

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Name_Tile_Groups_Windows_8_Start_Screen.png

4. Type your desired name in the given text box and click on “Name” button. It’ll immediately set the name to group. Repeat the same process for other desired groups.

Set_Group_Names_Windows_8_Start_Screen.png

5. Once you finish the process, click anywhere in the blank space and it’ll return to normal Start Screen. Now you’ll see the names of the groups as shown in following screenshot:

Tile_Groups_Windows_8_Start_Screen.png

6. If you want to remove group names in future, repeat the same process which you followed for setting group names and when Windows asks you to set a name for group, click on the cross (x) icon present in the text box and then click on “Name” button. It’ll remove the group name.

Remove_Group_Names_Windows_8_Start_Screen.png

That’s it. Creating groups and setting group names helps in organizing tiles on Start Screen. You can find this feature similar to creating folders or categories of program shortcuts in good old Start Menu present in previous Windows versions…

You can also check out following exclusive video showing how to use Windows 8 Start Screen like a pro:

Also check:

How to Change Icons and Text Labels of Start Screen Tiles in Windows 8 and 8.1?

Published in: Windows 8

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. psh ive already known this trick for a long time. other websites has been teaching this cool Win8 trick since its (win8) beta testing.

  2. Instead of pressing the small minus button on the bottom right hand corner, if you use a touch device such as a touchscreen or a trackpad, you can just “pinch in” your two fingers on the touch device (zoom out function). It has the same effect 🙂

  3. ^^ Thanks for your input. It’ll be useful for tablet users. 🙂

    @Kyle and Sikira
    If we know something that doesnt mean that everyone else knows the same. There are many people who have started using Windows 8 after its public release and they dont know about these cool features. That was the main reason behind posting this tutorial. I’m glad to see that you already knew this.

    We learn something new everyday…

  4. I did not know the naming group trick so it was new to me. I knew how to create groups though. Thanks for your tutorials Vishal. 🙂

  5. I agree with VG. Not all computer users are geek and not all tutorials are for all.

    Thanks VG for regularly providing useful articles on your site.

  6. Nice one. I was using vistart in Windows 8 but then I decided to use Start Screen. Since I never used Start Screen, I was finding it difficult to use but your tutorial specially the video is very useful at least for me. Thanks. 🙂

  7. @sikira kyle.how about donating something positive.VG just trying to help people,more people like vg the world would be a better place.you don’t have to be dumb not to know something but clever people take the time to read information that is in front of them.give VG a break.

  8. Thanks everyone for your comments. I always respect everyone comment and opinion. Actually there are different types of readers here and I always try to help all so sometimes you might find some of the tutorials basic or already known but at the same time those basic tutorials might be new and interesting for other people. 🙂

  9. VG, win 8 use square theme (metro style or whatever it name) and it lose transparency like on win7. Can you make this square to be transparent?? I think it will be beautifull 😀 thanks VG. Cmiiw

  10. on this video – in the reorder groups at the time of 2.03 you have the tiles made small- how did you do that?

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