Now let's pin a document to the start menu!

[ChrisGreaves]

What do you call a Luddite trying to use a computer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-yY8nRu3RA

Luddite? Me? I had embraced 80-column punched-card technology eight years before this film was released. Indeed, I was programming computers a full year before the last steam-drawn passenger train ran in Great Britain. I bet they don't have even a half-decent passenger train that gets to Texas at a reasonable time of day; let alone night. From memory trains land in Yuma AZ around midnight. Makes sense, I suppose: Middle of the night, Middle of Nowhere, just enough time to order a burger in Temple Tx but not enough time to put tomato sauce on it ... ("I ordered a burger and then had to run ...")

We dressed properly in those days; white shirts and ties in Windsor or half-Windsor knots.
And trains were an integral part of computing projects then. When was the last time you got to shunt 4-wheeled goods-wagons as part of your daily experience.
Note too the data recording media that would not rip your shirt pocket out of its seams!

4m24s “He puts in his request directly, via the keyboard, and the computer does the rest”, and Please Note – this guy uses only one finger at a time!

5m15s Unit Record data storage, for “type, sighs[sic], wait[sic] …”

5m54s Random Access Storage

7m07s Special status display when On Line

10m40s Note that if he clerk was using a mouse, filing of data could not take place!

11m26 By reproducing sets of cards, backup systems are obviated.

14m57s Multi-tasking!


More on the topic of mice as a useless pointing device https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GazPXTkbhA

(signed) "Luddite? NEVER!" of Bonavista

[ChrisGreaves]

Here is a registry tweak that I tested on my Windows 10 system. You may need the right-click mouse to pin almost any file type.

Thank you Jolas; I have saved your message and will try it out after the electricians have gone (4 new heaters, 32 new outlets, carpentry, dust, noise...)
Cheers
Chris

[Argus]

Here is a registry tweak that I tested on my Windows 10 system. You may need the right-click mouse to pin almost any file type.

Thank you Jolas; I have saved your message and will try it out after the electricians have gone (4 new heaters, 32 new outlets, carpentry, dust, noise...)

I believe it's close to or similar to the one I mentioned above.

[jolas]

The registry tweak is not consistent. I have successfully placed files like MS Office files, PDFs, URL and Folders on the Start but for others a shortcut needs to be created. Even the location of the Pin to Start from the context menu changes from the top tier to the middle tier depending on the file type you intend to pin.

Yes Argus suggestion is similar posted on the earlier stream.

The Classic Shell is probably is still an attractive option to get back to the familiar ways inside the more advance Windows 10 OS knowing you can have access to both graphical UI when ever you need it.

[ChrisGreaves]

... You can copy file shortcuts to the start menu's program folder in your profile [C:\Users\<User name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs], and then pin them to the start menu. ...

Hi Argus, I am delayed by recoevery from house-electrical work, but working backwards through Outstanding Issues.

Untitled.png

This technique appealed to me and I now have the shortcut to my diary in the Start menu. This establishes "<WinKey><down><down><down><right><right><Enter>, a mere seven keystrokes to be hard-wired into my brain. I can live with that.

Now, being a creature-who-is-never-satisfied would like to know two more things from you and/or readers of this thread:-

(1) Is there a way to represent the array (2x3) of tiles in a linear fashion so that the combination of <down> and <right> can be reduced to a simple number (in this case, I suppose "5")

(2) What governs the spatial distribution? In File Explorer I explored the characteristics of Name, Date Modified, and Size by sorting the columns, but in no case do those trials bump "Finance" to the head of a list, so I suspect that Finance appears as the first tile in the 2x3 array because of some characteristic other than Name, Date Modified, or Size. (later) I added Date Created to the File Explorer columns and Finance and 2020 now sort at opposite ends, which corresponds to their arrangement in the 2x3 array.
I ask this because I suppose that if I delete a shortcut from the array, I will have to reprogram my brain, and we all know how long that takes
I can fudge the sort order by carefully re-creating every shortcut anew (assuming Date Creation sequence.

(later still) This page says I can drag the top or side to reduce to one column, but I can't get that to work.

Untitle2.png

(later later still still) I have found a way to make the list columnar, but this seems to give me "all apps that ever existed", and further comp,icates things.
I will have to leave this as it is for now, because life is too short to work it all out. I can return to this in a few weeks time and meanwhile just memorize various combinations of "><down><down><down><right><right". Bit like learning to fox trot in High School. And just as boring.

Cheers


Cheers and Thanks
Chris

[HansV]

You can drag the tiles around to your preferred order.

[ChrisGreaves]

The Classic Shell is probably is still an attractive option to get back to the familiar ways inside the more advance Windows 10 OS knowing you can have access to both graphical UI when ever you need it.

Jolas, thanks for this reference. I have saved the entire FAQ for late-night reading.
I suspect that this might be the answer, but right now I am strapped for time.
I note that "Note: As of December 2017, Classic Shell is no longer in active development. More details here Development has been picked up by volunteers on GitHub under the name Open Shell", so this new version suggests that I set aside time for a serious look.
Thanks Again
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

You can drag the tiles around to your preferred order.

Untitled3.png

Hello Hans, and yes, I can drag tiles, but then I seem to lose two of them instantly.

I think I have messed something up, and should rightly go away and spend a half-hour or so sorting this out.
That I can't resize the 2x3 array as various web pages say I can, and can't drag tiles (as I think I should be able to) suggests that I have corrupted something at my end (tries to slap own wrist ...)
I will report back.
Chris

[Argus]

Good evening, Chris.

... You can copy file shortcuts to the start menu's program folder in your profile [C:\Users\<User name>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs], and then pin them to the start menu. ...

Hi Argus, I am delayed by recoevery [sic] from house-electrical work, but working backwards through Outstanding Issues.

You are not running on battery?

This technique appealed to me and I now have the shortcut to my diary in the Start menu. This establishes "<WinKey><down><down><down><right><right><Enter>, a mere seven keystrokes to be hard-wired into my brain. I can live with that.

Windows 10 is what it is, and with that what can be done. I wouldn't bother learning "left-down-down-down-down-right-Enter" or similar via the Start menu for something I would be using every day. Maybe for some lesser used thing that can't be quickly found with a search. But it's good alternative to pin something via the user's Start menu (in the roaming part of the profile).

Now, being a creature-who-is-never-satisfied would like to know two more things from you and/or readers of this thread:-
[...]
(later) I added Date Created to the File Explorer columns and Finance and 2020 now sort at opposite ends, which corresponds to their arrangement in the 2x3 array.
I ask this because I suppose that if I delete a shortcut from the array, I will have to reprogram my brain, and we all know how long that takes

I think you lost me somewhere along the way; I'll catch up when you've fixed what you talk about in the last post.

By the way, with Winkey+T (mentioned above) (shift focus to pinned objects on the Taskbar) there's no need to use arrow keys if one doesn't want to; repeated Ts (i.e. Winkey+TT etc.) will cycle through/thru whatever is there; and yes, if you add a Shift, if possible, it will go the other way.