Is it possible to compact the start menu to just see the list of files

Hello everyone,

I'm upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and there are some new things that are somewhat unpalatable to me. I wasn't sure if this could go in this section or if it needed to go into the customization section. My apologies if this is in the wrong section.

The start menu is one of them. There seems to be a colossal waste of real estate separating each entry with the corresponding letter.

Is there a way to compact the start menu list, such that the entries are not separated by the corresponding letter? I'd really just like a flat list of those entries in alphabetical order.

reaktorblue said:

Hello everyone,

I'm upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and there are some new things that are somewhat unpalatable to me. I wasn't sure if this could go in this section or if it needed to go into the customization section. My apologies if this is in the wrong section.

The start menu is one of them. There seems to be a colossal waste of real estate separating each entry with the corresponding letter.

Is there a way to compact the start menu list, such that the entries are not separated by the corresponding letter? I'd really just like a flat list of those entries in alphabetical order.

Oh this looks perfect, I'm going to give that a shot. Thanks Edwin!!

Liking Windows 10 so far but man, between some oddball aesthetics and all of the bloat, it feels like its taking me hours just to clean it up. Thanks again!

reaktorblue said:

Oh this looks perfect, I'm going to give that a shot. Thanks Edwin!!

Liking Windows 10 so far but man, between some oddball aesthetics and all of the bloat, it feels like its taking me hours just to clean it up. Thanks again!

You're welcome, and welcome to TenForums!

Not sure if I mentioned it in the video, but, you can create a certain hierarchy using Alt-Codes prefixes, bullets, diamond, hearts, etc..., everything after that is alpha numerical...

Special Note:

As you can see in previous screen shot, there are three • Edge links; the reason all three show and are identical is that one is in the AppData folder, the second is in the ProgramData folder and the third I've named as you see it but with Alt0160 at the end. (Alt0160 is a blank character)
They remain in that order because their original names are Microsoft Edge Canary, Beta and Dev.

The start-menu extravaganza began with Windows 8, and it continues with Windows 10.
So get Classic Shell. It's free. It makes everything work just like it did in Windows 7 ... and XP ... and 2000.
Nice.
And did I mention? It's free.

That classic shell looks like it's not been in active development since December of 2017. Out of curiosity, how's it been working for you?

Are you on a recent build? I'm currently on Windows 10 Enterprise 1903. I'm wondering if classic shell would work correctly being as many things have changed since 2017.

reaktorblue said:

That classic shell looks like it's not been in active development since December of 2017. Out of curiosity, how's it been working for you?

Are you on a recent build? I'm currently on Windows 10 Enterprise 1903. I'm wondering if classic shell would work correctly being as many things have changed since 2017.

Open-Shell (Formerly Classic-Start) 4.4.135

It seems that Classic Shell is out of "production". But it still works perfectly, even after Windows 1709, 1803, and 1809. So I haven't found reason to search for a replacement. I haven't been offered 1903 yet.

reaktorblue said:

That classic shell looks like it's not been in active development since December of 2017. Out of curiosity, how's it been working for you?