Many of the recent changes to Windows 11’s Start menu that we’ve seen tested by Microsoft have been getting hot and cold reactions, but this hasn’t deterred the software giant from continuing to experiment with the menu, and it’s currently trialing a new ‘Category’ layout that we learned about last month. 

This layout is an alternative to the standard presentation of the ‘All apps’ section of the Start menu, alongside a new grid-based layout that Microsoft has also been testing. We’ve already seen a hint of this new Category view, and that sneak peek featured 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 arrived in the Windows 11 Beta channel, the Category layout now works, or it’s at least somewhat functional, as Windows Latest reports. (Although note that the layout still remains hidden in Windows 11 - testers will need to dig to find it).

Windows 11 All Apps Start menu

(Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft)

Getting neater and more organized with apps

This more finished-looking version of the Category layout now shows some app icons instead of just colored blocks as was the case before. Each themed category - such as entertainment, music, or news and 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 together as mini-icons - as you can see in the above screenshot, in the ‘other’ category - giving a total of 16 apps that can be listed in any category (in theory, as it stands in testing).

That said, none of this is fully functional in the beta build yet - those mini-icons should expand when clicked on, presumably, but don’t yet - and Microsoft could change things (or even scrap this idea) as testing progresses.

Both the Category and Grid layouts would be better options than the default Windows 11 layout for the Start menu to the present one, which shows a long list of apps you have to scroll through in a painful manner. The Grid view bundles up apps alphabetically in a grid, meaning less scrolling, and the Category layout refines things even further with themed groups to make sifting through your apps easier.

Just reading about these updates to the Start menu has made me nostalgic for older Start menu designs where you could instantly see all your apps in curated categories.

Windows Latest believes that the new Category layout will be functional soon enough, and maybe even implemented in the next major Windows 11 update, version 24H2 - although given how early the feature seems to be in testing right now, I’m not sure how realistic that expectation is.

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