Many of the recent changes to the Windows 11 Start menu that we’ve tested from Microsoft have drawn mixed reactions. However, that hasn’t stopped the software giant from continuing to experiment with the menu, and it’s currently testing a new “category” layout that we learned about last month.
This layout is an alternative to the default appearance of the All Apps section in the Start menu, alongside a new grid-based layout that Microsoft has also been testing. We have already seen a reference to this new category viewand this preview showed solid-colored squares arranged in blocks of four (reflecting the fact that it was an early working version of the layout).
However, since a new build became available in the Windows 11 Beta channel, the category layout is now working, or at least somewhat functional, as Windows Latest reports. (Note, however, that the layout is still hidden in Windows 11—testers will have to search for a long time to find it).
Create order and organize with apps
This more finished-looking version of the category layout now shows some app icons instead of just colored blocks like it did before. Each themed category – like Entertainment, Music, or News & Weather – shows up to four icons of installed applications in a 2 x 2 grid. However, this grid can show more than just four apps by bundling up to four of them as mini-icons – as you can see in the screenshot above in the “Other” category – so a total of 16 apps can be listed in each category (theoretically, from what it looks like in testing).
However, none of this is fully functional in the beta version. The mini-icons should probably expand when you click on them, but they don’t yet. Microsoft may change things (or even abandon the idea) as testing continues.
Both the category and grid layouts would be better options than Windows 11’s previous default layout for the Start menu, which shows a long list of apps that are a pain to scroll through. The grid view groups apps alphabetically in a grid, which means less scrolling, and the category layout refines things even further with thematic groups to make browsing your apps easier.
Just reading about these Start menu updates made me nostalgic for older Start menu designs where you could instantly see all your apps in curated categories.
Windows Latest expects the new category layout to be functional soon and perhaps even implemented in the next major Windows 11 update, version 24H2. However, given the early testing stage of this feature, I’m not sure how realistic that expectation is.
