Start panel icon size

FenceFurniture · 13 May 2016

There are various sizes available for buttons on the Start panel. I've created a bunch of icons for some of my folders. When I resize them to small on the Start panel they are only about ¼" square, but I note that many of the supplied app icons take up the whole ½" square available in the small size.

Is there a way to get my custom icons to show up bigger in Start? They are all 256x256 pixels, so they are plenty big enough (they show as a 1" square on the actual folder when I use "Large Icons" in view). FOr some of them I'd like to be able to fill the 1" square size on Start for "medium size".

Cheers
FF

FenceFurniture · 13 May 2016

Nobody?

Cliff S · 13 May 2016

For tiles you should use 256x256 pixel .png and an XML .VisualElementsManifest file.
See this tutorial from @Hopachi at Eight Forums(he's also very active here in Ten Forums too!): Solved Custom Tiles (for Desktop Apps)

Information

Here is an example from one of mine:
the png I chose to use saved as Skype,png:

***You can use this XML file as a template and just change the names in bold***

Code:

<Application xmlns:xsi='http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance'>  <VisualElements
      ShowNameOnSquare150x150Logo='on'
      Square150x150Logo='Skype.png'
      Square70x70Logo='Skype.png'
      ForegroundText='light'
      BackgroundColor='#343434'/>
</Application>

In NotePad, save as Skype.VisualElementsManifest

Both must have & use the EXACT same name as the application executable and have to be placed in the same folder as the executable:

Lastly my tile(with some others I have created.

FenceFurniture · 14 May 2016

Thanks for that Cliff. So does that mean that the icons I have for folders have to remain is the ¼" squares when they are "small", because they are not executables (just ordinary old folders)?

FenceFurniture · 14 May 2016

HEY! WAIT! It works for folders. I had to add .xml after .VisualElementsManifest. Just have to add the png and xml into the folder that the target folder is in (which in this particular case was straight to C drive).

That's great - thanks very much Cliff!

Cliff S · 14 May 2016

FenceFurniture said:

HEY! WAIT! It works for folders. I had to add .xml after .VisualElementsManifest. Just have to add the png and xml into the folder that the target folder is in (which in this particular case was straight to C drive).

That's great - thanks very much Cliff!

You're welcome. Yep I even have created tile packs for .bat files such as:
Dism.exe /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup&sfc/scannow&Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth&sfc/scannow&pause

Cliff S · 14 May 2016

One thing I left out(sorry) is to delete the old tile shortcut in C:\Users\YourUserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs first right click the executable(or file) and select pin to start. If it doesn't pin after 2-3 tries, reboot(this clears the system cache) and try it again.

FenceFurniture · 14 May 2016

Hmmmmm. This is particularly bizarre. I had one folder working nicely. Then I unpinned it to show my partner how this is done, and NO MATTER WHAT it will not allow itself to be re-pinned (this is a folder). The only way I could find around this was to rename the folder (changing the png and xml data as well). But wait for it......all I did was change the name to lower case........

Perhaps a reboot might clear the cache out for that as well, so I'll try that (because for this folder it creates problems on another level if the name changes - Visual Basic Macros......).

EDIT: Yes, a reboot fixed that problem. I also had an allied problem when I had hidden the png and xml files before I had pinned the folder to Start - big mistake. Results in once more not being able to pin it without a reboot. However, once everything is set up it's no problem to hide the files.

FenceFurniture · 14 May 2016

Cliff, do you know if there is a way to pin files to Start? Right click doesn't bring up that option, but given that they are just shortcuts being handed to Start you'd think there was a way of pinning them there. Same goes for pinning to the taskbar - there's one Excel file in particular that I'd like to pin there.

BTW, this all comes about because of the PITA desktop icons jumping around like they've got St Vitus dance. (yeah I know - Desklock - 'cept it ain't foolproof by a helluva long way and it also makes it a pain to drag stuff onto emails or anywhere else....).

Once I've got this sorted out I only have to find out how to make Win 10 remember my folder sizes and positions on-screen.......despite several questions on several forums I still can't find an answer to that.

Cliff S · 14 May 2016

For a file, right click and select Send to desktop, which creates a shortcut.
Then right click the shortcut, and select Cut.
Then paste it in C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs
It then shows up in the All apps portion of the Start Menu.
Find your file right click, select Pin to start.
Done.

Took me a couple of minutes to find a work around, but I have messed around in the Start Menu\Programs folder enough:)