Windows 11 Start Menu Redesign: Section Toggles, Sizing, and Taskbar Controls Explained

Microsoft has pushed a Windows 11 Start menu redesign to Insider testers, adding section-level visibility controls, explicit sizing options, a consolidated settings page, and taskbar repositioning. The updates are live only in the Experimental Channel, tied to Insider Preview Build 26300.8553, with no stable release date announced.

The Windows Insider Blog described the rollout last month as expanded personalization for "two of the most used and most personal surfaces in Windows." The day before that post, XDA published a piece documenting how a $7-per-year third-party tool called Start11 had already delivered Recommended removal, Start menu resizing, and taskbar repositioning to users who wanted them.

What's changing in the Windows 11 Start menu redesign

The most functionally significant addition is section-level toggles. Users can now independently show or hide three areas of Start: Pinned apps, the Recommended section (being renamed to Recent, addressed below), and All Apps. Before this update, reaching that level of control meant registry edits, Group Policy workarounds, or paid third-party software, according to the Windows Insider Blog.

The XDA author described trying those native workarounds before turning to Start11, calling them "a patchwork, not an actual solution." The new section toggles make the same controls available without leaving Settings.

Sizing gets a proper treatment as well. The Start menu now supports an explicit small or large setting alongside the existing automatic default, per the build announcement. Small is useful on compact displays or any setup where screen real estate is tight; large gives more room to work with pinned apps without scrolling.

A redesigned Start menu settings page consolidates all of these controls in one place, per the Microsoft Learn release notes. There's also a new option to hide your name and profile picture from Start, useful for anyone presenting or working from a shared machine.

"Recommended" becomes "Recent"

Microsoft is renaming the "Recommended" section to "Recent" across both Start and the Settings page, the Windows Insider Blog confirmed last month. The company says the updated section will surface content with "better file relevancy," meaning it should more accurately reflect what a user is currently working on.

"Recommended" implies active curation; "Recent" describes behavior. Microsoft's stated rationale is improved relevance, not a design correction. What that change means in practice remains to be seen in testing.

For users who want the section gone regardless of what it's called, the new per-section toggle covers that. XDA noted last month that the original section's habit of "taking up valuable space" was one of the first things Start11 addressed. That option is now native.

One gap worth flagging: Microsoft has not clarified what happens to the Start layout when a section is hidden. Whether hiding Recent leaves blank space, shifts the pinned apps grid, or collapses cleanly isn't addressed in the current release notes.

Taskbar repositioning joins the update

The taskbar changes follow the same direction. Users can now move the taskbar to any edge of the screen, with icon alignment adjusting automatically based on position. App labels are also available across taskbar positions to make open windows easier to distinguish, according to the Windows Insider Blog. A smaller taskbar option is available for recovering screen space.

XDA's piece gives some texture to why that matters. The author described using Start11 to place the taskbar on the left edge, with the notification center and control area following suit. Previous workarounds couldn't fully replicate that because system UI elements stayed anchored to the bottom regardless of taskbar position. That's one person's account of one product, so read specific workflow claims accordingly, but the feature gap it describes is what Microsoft is now closing natively.

Windows 11 Insider Start menu update: what's still unknown

Every feature described above is in Experimental Channel testing only. Microsoft's own phrasing, "have started to roll out," signals phased distribution even within that tier, per the Windows Insider Blog. Experimental Channel features don't automatically advance to Beta or Release Preview. No timeline for stable availability has been announced.

Several things remain undocumented. Microsoft hasn't published layout comparisons showing what Start looks like with specific sections hidden, hasn't addressed enterprise or accessibility implications of the new settings, and hasn't provided detail on how "better file relevancy" for the renamed Recent section is determined or measured. The build announcement notes these improvements were "first outlined" in a separate Insider blog on personalizing taskbar and Start, suggesting the changes were planned in stages rather than dropped without warning. But staged planning and stable shipping are different things.

For most Windows 11 users, the practical situation is this: these features aren't available today and may not ship in their current form. Promotion to the Beta or Release Preview channels would be the meaningful signal that stable availability is approaching. Until then, users who need these controls are still looking at third-party tools or workarounds to get them.