How can I pin a program to the Start Screen, but not Apps?

[VeganWithaYoYo]

I'm trying to set up the cleanest interface I possibly can on my Windows 8.1 PC, and I've spent a lot of time cleaning up my Apps folder so that only useful things are displayed, and they're in an order that's helpful to me.

I'm now trying to set up my Start Screen, and there are some things I'd like to pin to it (the My Documents folder, various websites, etc) that I don't think of as applications and don't want to see in the Apps folder. However, anything I pin to Start shows up in Apps as well. Is it possible to pin something to the Start Screen but not have it show up in Apps? I'm okay with using registry tweaks or 3rd party software to do this!

 

[alphanumeric]

Everything installed on the PC shows up on the Apps screen. It used to be called "All Apps". You then pick and chose from that list what's pined to the Start Screen. They aren't moved from one to the other, they are duplicated. If you start removing things from the Apps screen it more than likely will disappear from the Start Screen too. If that happens you'll have no easy way to launch that program. I'm not saying don't do it, just don't be surprised if you break something in the process.

 

[VeganWithaYoYo]

Right, I've definitely found that the Start Screen and Apps folder are linked rather than wholly separate. Has no one figured out a way to supercede the link?

 

[Zaref]

you mean something like this ?

 

[VeganWithaYoYo]

Zaref, that's a good-looking Start Screen, but unfortunately I'm not sure that it shows tiles that don't also show up in "apps." Am I missing something?

Alternate version of the question: is there a way to hide things in Apps but have them still show up as tiles on the Start Screen?

 

[alphanumeric]

I don't know if this will help but here are some locations to look at. I don't know where what is shown on the Apps screen is stored, of if it is?
"C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" <All users
"C:\Users\(your user name)\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" < just you

 

[Zaref]

i got you

you mean pinning website , folders or files like music files ?

 

[VeganWithaYoYo]

AlphaNumeric, those are indeed the folders where the shortcuts in the Apps folder are stored. I've found a few things from organizing my Apps folder over the past few weeks:

1. If a shortcut is hidden, it won't show up in Apps or the Start Screen. If a folder is hidden, none of its contents in Apps or on the Start Screen.

2. If you right-click something and choose "Pin to Start," a shortcut for that something will be placed into one of the folders that AlphaNumeric mentioned. Choosing "Unpin from Start" will delete the shortcut from the folder.

3. Deleting the shortcut mentioned in #2 in File Explorer will make the Start Screen tile disappear. Making a copy of the shortcut, deleting the original, then putting the copy into the folder with other App shortcuts will make a new Start Screen tile appear, though making a shortcut manually and placing it in the folder won't make a Start Screen tile appear. Thus there's some property of a shortcut that makes Windows place a tile on the Start Screen. I have no idea what this property is or how to change it. If anyone knows, that'd be a big help in figuring this out!

I'm assuming there's no separate folder for the Start Screen itself, as certain shortcuts in the folders for the Apps folder have a property that places them on the Start Screen. However, I'm wondering if the property that's recognized by Windows can be used somehow, or if there's a list somewhere of the files Windows found when it searched for Start Screen tiles that can be edited manually so it finds a hidden file that Apps doesn't find?

 

[alphanumeric]

I've manually made shortcuts and placed them in those folders in the past. The tiles didn't always show up right away but they did eventually show up. Stuff in the one I tagged as All Users every user see's. Put it in the other one and only you will see it on your start Screen. Doesn't really matter though if your the only user account. How I found those locations was by right clicking a tile and selecting open file location. It won't work for Metro Apps though, just programs.

 

[VeganWithaYoYo]

Yeah, I've found that when I put shortcuts in manually I often have to restart Windows entirely to get manually-made shortcuts to show up in Apps.

Still Googling around to see if anyone else has figured this out. Worst case scenario I'm just going to put all the things I don't want in "Apps" in one folder, then name it something like ZZZ so it's at the very end of the Apps list and doesn't need to be scrolled past to access other apps. :-/