How to Find All Your Apps and Programs in Windows 11 and 10

To find all your apps and programs in Windows 11, press the Windows key, click All at the top of the Start menu, and scroll the alphabetical list — or just start typing the app's name the moment Start opens. But here is the part almost nobody tells you: in recent Windows 11 updates, the default view for All apps switched from the familiar alphabetical list to a Category view, so millions of people open Start, see grouped tiles instead of the A-to-Z list they grew up with, and assume their apps are missing. They are not. One click switches it back.

That Category-to-List switch is the single biggest reason this search exists in 2026. The Windows 11 Start menu now offers three views for your installed apps — Category (the new default), Grid, and List — and unless you know where the View button hides, the alphabetical list you are looking for is one click away but invisible. Start remembers your last choice, so once you switch, it stays switched.

The second thing worth knowing: "apps" and "programs" are different things in Windows, and they live in different places. Apps are the modern, sandboxed things from the Microsoft Store — Calculator, Photos, the Weather app. Programs are the traditional, install-anything software you download from the web — Chrome, Photoshop, Steam. The Start menu shows both mixed together, but Settings and the command-line tools treat them differently, and one method in this guide shows programs but not apps while another shows apps but not programs. Knowing which you need saves ten minutes of clicking through the wrong list.

Apps vs. Programs: Why the Distinction Matters

Before the how-to, you need to know what you are actually looking for, because Windows treats these two categories differently and some methods show one but not the other.

The practical difference that trips people up: when you want to uninstall something, apps and programs go through different flows. Apps uninstall from Settings in one click. Programs may launch an uninstaller, ask for confirmation, or need Control Panel instead. And when you want to list everything installed, one command shows programs but not apps (registry-based methods), while another shows apps but not programs (Get-AppxPackage). The methods that show both are the ones marked "Both" above.

Method 1: The Windows 11 Start Menu (All Apps)

This is the method most people need, and the one that changed the most in recent updates. The Windows 11 Start menu is organized into sections: Search at the top, Pinned apps in the middle, Recommendations below that, and All — the section where every installed app lives.

Step 1: Open the Start menu

Press the Windows key on your keyboard, or click the Windows logo in the center of the taskbar.

Step 2: Click "All" at the top

At the top of the Start menu, next to "Pinned," you will see the word All. Click it. This opens the full list of installed apps — and it is the button that moved from earlier versions of Windows 11, which had "All apps" in the top-right corner of the pinned area instead. Same function, new position.

Step 3: Choose your view (Category, Grid, or List)

Once you are in the All section, look for a View button. The three options:

• Category (the current default) — apps grouped by type (Productivity, Social, Games), with your most-used apps bubbling to the top of each group
• Grid — apps in an alphabetical grid layout, good for visual scanning
• List — the traditional alphabetical list, one app per line, like the classic Start menu

Want the old alphabetical list back? Switch to List view. Start remembers whichever you last used, so the choice sticks between sessions.

The letter-jump trick (works in all views)

Tap any letter in the list — "A," "B," "C" — and a full alphabet grid appears. Click any letter to jump straight to that section. Looking for Teams? Tap any letter, click T, and you are there. On a machine with 100+ installed apps, this saves a lot of scrolling.

The fastest method: just start typing

You do not need to navigate to All apps at all if you know the app's name. Press the Windows key and start typing — or click the Search box on the taskbar. Results appear as you type, ranked by relevance, covering apps, programs, settings, and files. This is the fastest way to find a specific app when you know what you are looking for.

Pinned vs. All vs. Recommended: what each section actually is

Three different sections of Start get conflated, and knowing which is which prevents confusion:

• Pinned — apps you (or the PC's setup) deliberately placed on the front page. This is a curated subset, never the full list. Right-click any app and choose "Pin to Start" to add it; "Unpin from Start" removes it. Drag one pin onto another to create a named folder.
• All — every installed app, the complete inventory. This is what the rest of this section covers.
• Recommended — recently added apps and recently opened files, not a category you control directly. It fills itself based on your activity, and you can unpin individual items if you do not want them suggested.

If an app is in Pinned or Recommended, it is installed — but the reverse is not true: an app can be installed and appear in none of the curated sections, which is why All is the authoritative list.

Method 2: The Windows 10 Start Menu

Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. It still runs, and the Start menu still works the way it always has, but the operating system no longer receives free security updates — worth considering when the topic is finding software you trust on the machine.

The Windows 10 Start menu is structurally different from Windows 11's and, for finding apps, simpler: the left sidebar shows recently added apps on top, then the full alphabetical list of everything installed, by default.

Standard Start menu layout

1. Press the Windows key or click the Start button.
2. Look at the left sidebar — the alphabetical list of all installed apps is there by default, with recently added apps at the top.
3. Scroll the list, or click any letter to open the alphabet jump grid.

If the Start menu is set to full-screen mode — some users prefer this on tablets — hover over the side icon and click All apps at the top, then scroll.

Hiding and showing the app list

Windows 10 lets you hide the app list entirely for a cleaner Start menu — which, if you or someone else accidentally enabled it, makes it look like all your apps vanished. The setting lives at Settings → Personalization → Start → toggle Show app list in Start menu.

If the alphabetical list is missing on a Windows 10 machine, this is the first thing to check. Toggle it on and the list returns immediately.

The Windows 10 search method

Same as Windows 11: click the Search box on the taskbar or press the Windows key and start typing. Windows 10's taskbar search sits in its own visible box rather than being integrated into the Start button, but the behavior is identical — type the name, results appear.

Method 3: Settings → Apps → Installed Apps

Where the Start menu is for finding and launching apps, Settings is for managing them — seeing sizes, install dates, sorting, modifying, and uninstalling. This is the most complete visual inventory of what is on the PC, because it includes both apps and programs in one list.

Step-by-step

1. Press Win + I to open Settings.
2. Click Apps in the left sidebar.
3. The default landing page is Installed apps — the complete list of everything on the PC.

What you can do from this list

• Sort — by Name, Size, or Date installed using the Sort by dropdown
• Filter — by drive (C:, D:, and so on) to see what is installed where
• Uninstall — click the three dots next to any app, select Uninstall
• Advanced options — for apps that support it, repair, reset, and per-app permissions

The Windows 10 equivalent

On Windows 10, the same page exists at Settings → Apps → Apps & features — the label differs slightly from Windows 11's "Installed apps," but the content is the same. Sortable by Name, Size, and Install date, filterable by drive, and every entry has an uninstall option.

Method 4: Control Panel → Programs and Features

Control Panel is the pre-Windows-10 interface, and while its pages have been migrating to the Settings app for years, this one still works and still catches programs that Settings misses — particularly older software installed via MSI installers, enterprise tools, and development components.

1. Press Win + R, type control, and press Enter — or search "Control Panel" in the taskbar.
2. Click Programs (or, if viewing by icons: Programs and Features).
3. You get a table of installed programs: Name, Publisher, Installed On date, Size, and Version — sortable by clicking any column header.

When Control Panel shows things Settings does not

Some programs cannot be uninstalled from the Settings app — a limitation Microsoft itself acknowledges in its own uninstall guidance, which directs users to Control Panel for those cases. If an app appears in the Start menu but will not uninstall from there, Control Panel is the next stop: right-click the program, select Uninstall or Uninstall/Change, and follow the prompts.

The column-header trick

Control Panel's Programs and Features view lets you right-click any column header (Name, Publisher, and so on) and add more columns — including Location, which shows the install path of each program. This is the fastest way to answer "where is this program actually installed on disk?" without hunting through Program Files manually.

Method 5: shell:AppsFolder — The Hidden Command That Shows Everything

This is the trick most people have never seen, and it is the best answer to "show me everything at once." Windows has a special shell folder — the AppsFolder — that lists every installed app and program in a single File Explorer window: Store apps and desktop programs together, with no Start menu layout, no Category view, and no scrolling through curated sections.

How to open it

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog.
2. Type: shell:AppsFolder (no spaces, capital A and F as shown).
3. Press Enter.

A File Explorer window opens labeled "Applications," showing every installed app as an icon — the union of your regular programs from Program Files and your Microsoft Store apps, in one grid.

What you can do from there

• Launch any app — double-click the icon, same as from the Start menu.
• Create shortcuts — right-click any app and choose "Create shortcut" to place it on the desktop (Windows offers to place it on the desktop since the folder itself cannot be modified).
• Open file location — right-click and choose "Open file location" to jump to where the app lives on disk.
• Pin to Start or taskbar — right-click options include pinning, so this window doubles as a pinning workbench for apps that are not currently pinned anywhere.

Method 6: PowerShell and winget for the Technical Inventory

For a complete, scriptable, filterable list of everything installed — apps and programs, with metadata — the command line beats every visual method. Both tools here are built into Windows; nothing to download.

Command 1: winget list (everything on the PC)

The Windows Package Manager's list command shows every application installed on the computer — apps installed through the Windows Package Manager itself, plus everything installed by any other means, in one table with name, ID, version, and source.

1. Right-click the Start button and select Terminal (Windows 11) or Windows PowerShell (Windows 10).
2. Type: winget list
3. Press Enter.

Useful variations:

• winget list --upgrade-available — shows only apps with updates available
• winget list -q chrome — filters to a specific app by name
• winget list --details — detailed output for each matched package

This is the most complete single command for inventorying a Windows PC — Store apps and traditional programs in one output.

Command 2: Get-AppxPackage (Store apps specifically)

When you need the exact package identity of a Store app — for scripting an uninstall or auditing — Get-AppxPackage lists every .appx and .msix package in a user profile.

To list Store apps for the current user:

Get-AppxPackage

To list Store apps for every user account on the machine (requires an elevated PowerShell window):

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers

To find a specific app by name:

Get-AppxPackage -Name "Microsoft.ScreenSketch"

IT Admin: Auditing Apps Across Multiple Machines

For administrators managing fleets, the single-PC methods are too slow. These are the approaches that scale.

winget export for a machine's complete inventory

winget export -o installed_apps.json

This exports the complete list of installed applications to a JSON file that can be reviewed, diffed against a baseline, or used with winget import to recreate the same set of apps on a new machine. Useful for provisioning, auditing, and building golden images.

Remote PowerShell for fleet inventory

Invoke-Command -ComputerName TARGET-PC -ScriptBlock { winget list }

This runs winget list on the remote machine and returns the output to your console, letting you audit installed software without walking to each desk.

Registry-based inventory (for legacy programs)

Traditional Win32 programs register their uninstall information in the Windows Registry. A PowerShell query against these keys produces a complete list of installed programs (not Store apps) that works on every Windows version, even where winget is unavailable:

Get-ItemProperty HKLM:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\* |
  Select-Object DisplayName, DisplayVersion, Publisher, InstallDate |
  Sort-Object DisplayName

This is the method most inventory and asset-management tools use under the hood.

Method Comparison: Which One Should You Use?

The honest recommendation: use the Start menu for finding and launching, Settings for managing, shell:AppsFolder when you want everything in one window, and winget list when you need the complete technical picture. Control Panel remains the fallback for stubborn legacy programs that misbehave in Settings.

Troubleshooting: When Apps Are Missing or Won't Show

Problem 1: Apps missing from the Start menu after a Windows update

Symptom: After installing a Windows update, the alphabetical app list is gone from Start, replaced by grouped tiles or an empty pinned area.

Cause: The All section switched to Category view (the new default), or the update reset your view preference.

Fix: Open Start, click All, click the View button, and select List (alphabetical) or Grid. Your preference persists between sessions.

Problem 2: Windows 10 app list is hidden

Symptom: The alphabetical list on the left side of the Windows 10 Start menu is completely gone.

Cause: The "Show app list in Start menu" setting was toggled off — by accident, or by someone who preferred a tile-only view.

Fix: Settings → Personalization → Start → toggle Show app list in Start menu to On.

Problem 3: An app appears in Settings but not in the Start menu

Symptom: Settings → Installed apps shows the program, but the Start menu's All list does not include it.

Cause: The app's Start menu shortcut was deleted, or the app installed without creating one. Common with portable applications, zip-distributed software, and some developer tools.

Fix: Search for the app by name (Windows key + type). If it appears, it is installed — launch it from search. If search cannot find it either, the app has no Start menu integration at all: launch it from its install folder, or create a shortcut manually (right-click the executable → Send to → Desktop, or open shell:AppsFolder, where it will still appear, and create the shortcut from there).

Problem 4: An app appears in the Start menu but not in Settings

Symptom: The app launches from Start but does not appear in Settings → Apps → Installed apps, so you cannot uninstall it from there.

Cause: The app did not register properly with Windows — a broken installer, a portable app that created a Start menu shortcut manually, or a permissions issue during installation.

Fix: Try Control Panel → Programs and Features first — some legacy programs appear there but not in Settings. If it is missing from both, you have a portable or broken installation: delete its folder manually (check Program Files, Program Files (x86), and %LocalAppData%\Programs) and remove the Start menu shortcut separately.

Problem 5: Search cannot find an installed app

Symptom: Typing the app's name in Start search returns nothing, even though the app is installed and works when launched from its shortcut.

Cause: The Windows Search index is out of date or corrupted, or the app's shortcut is in a non-indexed location.

Fix: Rebuild the search index: Settings → Privacy & security → Searching Windows → Advanced indexing options → Rebuild. This takes time but fixes the majority of "search can't find installed apps" cases.

Problem 6: The app list shows entries for software you already uninstalled

Symptom: Ghost entries — programs in the list that error out when you try to launch or uninstall them.

Cause: The uninstaller removed the files but left its registration behind in the Windows Registry.

Fix: Control Panel's uninstaller will usually error out gracefully; the entry can be removed from the registry at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall — find the key matching the program name and delete it. Standard registry caution applies: export a backup first. For most users, ignoring a ghost entry is perfectly fine; it costs a few bytes and no functionality.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I see all apps in Windows 11?

Press the Windows key to open the Start menu, then click All at the top. This opens the full list of installed apps. Use the View button to switch between Category (default), Grid, and List — List gives you the traditional alphabetical layout, and Start remembers your choice.

How do I see all apps in Windows 10?

Press the Windows key and look at the left sidebar of the Start menu — the alphabetical list of all installed apps is there by default, with recently added apps at the top. If using full-screen Start mode, hover over the side icon and click All apps.

Why can't I find my apps in the Windows 11 Start menu?

In recent Windows 11 updates, the default view for the All section changed from an alphabetical list to Category view, which groups apps into tiles by type. Your apps are still there — click All, then use the View button to switch to List or Grid view for the alphabetical layout.

How do I get a list of all installed programs on Windows?

Four main methods: the Start menu (All view), Settings → Apps → Installed apps, Control Panel → Programs and Features, or winget list in PowerShell for the complete command-line inventory. The shell:AppsFolder command also shows everything in one File Explorer window.

What is the difference between apps and programs in Windows?

Apps are modern, sandboxed software installed from the Microsoft Store or preinstalled with Windows — Calculator, Photos, Weather. Programs are traditional desktop software with installers that you download from the web — Chrome, Photoshop, Steam. The Start menu shows both together, but Settings and the command-line tools treat them differently.

How do I find where a program is installed?

Search for the program, right-click the result, and select Open file location — this opens File Explorer at the folder containing the program. Alternatively, Control Panel → Programs and Features → add the Location column to see install paths for all listed programs.

What is shell:AppsFolder?

It is a hidden Windows shell folder that displays every installed app and program in one File Explorer window — Store apps and desktop programs together. Open it by pressing Win+R and typing shell:AppsFolder. From there you can launch apps, create desktop shortcuts, and pin apps to Start or the taskbar.

Can I export a list of installed programs?

Yes, with winget: run winget export -o filename.json to save the complete list as a JSON file. In PowerShell, you can pipe Get-AppxPackage or registry queries to Export-Csv for a spreadsheet-friendly format.

How do I search for a specific app in Windows?

Press the Windows key and start typing the app's name. Results appear instantly and include apps, programs, settings, and files. This is the fastest method when you know what you are looking for. The taskbar Search box works identically.

Why is an app missing from my Start menu?

Common causes: the view switched to Category and the app is in a group you did not notice, the app's shortcut was deleted, the app is portable software that never created a Start menu entry, or it was installed for a different user account. Search for it by name first — if search finds it, it is installed.

How do I list apps using PowerShell?

Run Get-AppxPackage to list Microsoft Store apps for the current user, or Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers (elevated) for every user account. For a complete inventory of apps and programs together, run winget list instead.

How do I uninstall an app I found in the list?

From Settings → Apps → Installed apps, click the three dots next to the app and select Uninstall. From the Start menu, right-click the app in the All list and select Uninstall. Some programs require Control Panel → Programs and Features instead.

What is the fastest way to open a specific app?

Press the Windows key and start typing the app's name — results appear as you type, and pressing Enter launches the top result. This beats navigating the Start menu or any list view when you know what you want.

Can I hide the app list in Windows 10?

Yes. Settings → Personalization → Start → toggle Show app list in Start menu to Off. This gives a cleaner, tile-only Start menu. Toggle it back On to restore the alphabetical list.

How do I sort installed apps by size?

In Settings → Apps → Installed apps, use the Sort by dropdown to select Size. This shows the largest apps first, useful for freeing disk space. Control Panel → Programs and Features also has a Size column you can sort by clicking the column header.

What is winget list and how do I use it?

winget list is a command in the Windows Package Manager that displays every application installed on your computer — apps installed through the Windows Package Manager and apps installed by any other means, in one table. Open PowerShell or Terminal, type winget list, and press Enter. Add --upgrade-available to see only apps with updates.

How do I find apps installed for other users?

In an elevated PowerShell window, run Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers to list Store apps for every user account on the machine. For traditional programs, Control Panel → Programs and Features shows machine-wide installations (available to all users) but not per-user installations from other accounts.

Wrapping Up: The Method That Fits the Moment

If you came here because your apps disappeared from the Start menu after an update, the fix is the three-second one: Start → All → View → List. Done. Your apps were never gone — Windows just reorganized the shelf without asking.

If you came here because you want the complete picture of what is on a machine — for cleaning, auditing, or curiosity — Settings → Installed apps is the everyday tool, shell:AppsFolder is the everything-at-once view, Control Panel is the legacy fallback, and winget list is the technical inventory that misses nothing.

Jake ended up teaching the Start → All → View → List fix to three customers in one week after the latest Windows 11 update rolled out. Ethan's verdict: "The best Windows tip is the one that stops a customer from thinking their PC ate their software. That one click has probably saved more support calls than any registry fix ever written."

Revision note. Updated September 2026. If you opened this page in a small panic because an update rearranged your Start menu, you were far from alone, and the fact that you looked up the fix instead of assuming the worst already puts you ahead of the curve.