How can I quickly navigate through the Windows 10 Start menu App list?

Question

I have dozens of programs and folders in the Start menu App list:

It takes forever to scroll all the way down to launch a particular program. I'm not willing to remove some of these items. I'd rather like to decrease the height of the programs and folders that are shown in there, potentially to the height of the ones back in Windows 7 (as seen below).

Is this possible, or is there a better way?

Answer 1

There is a much easier way: if you simply click on any letter heading within the App List, it will reveal an index that allows you to move though the list of installed apps relatively quickly:

After selecting a letter, the index will appear:

Select a letter from within that index to navigate rather quickly through the list.

Source: Windows 10 tip: Jump through your list of installed apps

Answer 2

Windows 10 - Emulate a Windows 7 Scrollable Start Menu

To emulate a more Windows 7 like start menu that has scrollable functionality but on Windows 10, then consider simply creating a Toolbar from the Taskbar that opens %programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs to start traversing All Programs that are installed and have start menu shortcuts accessible to every user account on the machine.

Note: If there are programs installed and configured to only create start menu shortcuts for a specific user then use %appdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs.

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What's the Difference Again . . .

1. Programs installed with start menu shortcuts created being for everyone

   • %programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

2. Programs installed with start menu shortcuts created for a specific user only

   • %AppData%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

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Create a Toolbar Already . . .

• 1, 2, & 3. Right-click on the Taskbar, select Toolbars > New toolbar...

  

• 4 & 5. When the New Toolbar - Choose a folder window pops up, paste in the %programdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs value and press Enter and then the lower right Select Folder option

  Note: This is where you use the appropriate option or perhaps both as written about in the What's the Difference Again section.

  

• 6. Now in the Windows Taskbar area, there will be a new scrollable like Toolbar which allows you to traverse the All Programs area of the apps installed onto the PC somewhat similar to the Windows 7 scrollable start menu.

  

Answer 3

Consider pinning the apps you use frequently to your startmenu instead. This way, you see them the moment you click on the start menu as a tile. You can make the start menu as big as the entire screen so you should have sufficient space to add at least 5 apps. But you probably can add 20 more depending on the resolution you use.

Answer 4

One helpful method I have found is to use the tab key - tab to the top of apps then you can easily use home end page up page down to navigate quickly