The Windows 11 start menu styling guide

Table of contents

• Introduction
  • Missing customizations
  • Contributing
• Themes
• Custom Acrylic background
• Remove the search box
• Move pinned app lists
• Remove the Recommended section
• Remove the user profile button
• Move the power button

Introduction

This is a collection of commonly requested start menu styling customizations for Windows 11. It is intended to be used with the Windows 11 Start Menu Styler Windhawk mod.

If you're not familiar with Windhawk, here are the steps for installing the mod:

• Download Windhawk from windhawk.net and install it.
• Go to "Mods" in the upper right menu.
• Find and install the "Windows 11 Start Menu Styler" mod.

After installing the mod, open its Settings tab and adjust the styles according to your preferences.

Some customizations are best to be adjusted with other Windhawk mods. Links to those mods are provided where applicable.

See also: The Windows 11 taskbar styling guide, The Windows 11 notification center styling guide.

Missing customizations

If you're looking for a customization that is not listed here, please open an issue.

Contributing

If you have a start menu styling customization or theme that you would like to share, please submit a pull request.

Themes

Themes are collections of styles that can be imported into the Windows 11 Start Menu Styler mod. The following themes are available:

Link	Screenshot
NoRecommendedSection
SideBySide
SideBySide2
SideBySideMinimal
Windows10
TranslucentStartMenu
Windows11_Metro10
Fluent2Inspired
RosePine
Windows11_Metro10Minimal

Custom Acrylic background

To use a custom Acrylic background, target Border#AcrylicBorder and override Background with a custom AcrylicBrush object, for example:

Background:=<AcrylicBrush BackgroundSource="Backdrop" TintColor="Pink" TintOpacity="0.25" />

The AcrylicBrush properties can be adjusted as needed.

Remove the search box

You need to target StartDocked.SearchBoxToggleButton with Height=0, Margin=0,0,0,24 styles and then the search box should be gone on your start menu.

Move pinned app lists

You need to target StartMenu.PinnedList with Grid.Row=2 style and then the pinned app lists should go up, and for "Pinned" text, target Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#TopLevelRoot > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid with Grid.Row=1 style. "All apps" button should have Grid.Row=1 style. The target is: Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#TopLevelRoot > Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Border.

Remove the Recommended section

To hide the Recommended section, target Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#ShowMoreSuggestions, Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#SuggestionsParentContainer, Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Grid#TopLevelSuggestionsListHeader and set the style to Visibility=Collapsed. In addition, the pinned items can be adjusted to occupy the whole height by targeting StartMenu.PinnedList and setting Height=504.

Remove the user profile button

Target StartDocked.UserTileView with Visibility=Collapsed.

Move the power button

Target StartDocked.PowerOptionsView with Margin=-580,-1330,0,0.