I previously wrote about creating a script to put my computer to sleep. Putting the shortcut to the script on the desktop was easy enough but getting it on the Start Screen was a different matter. With Windows 7, putting the shortcut on the Start Menu also would have been a breeze. Windows 8 works a little differently.
In Windows 8.1, you might be able to search for the file after it has been indexed. When you right-click on the file, your only option is ‘Open file location’.
When you search for an application and right-click on it, you get different choices like ‘Pin to Start’ or ‘Pin to Taskbar’.
To get these options for a shortcut to a file, copy the shortcut to this folder:
C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindowsStart MenuPrograms
You will now be able to find the shortcut under the All Apps listing on the Start Screen. To get to the All Apps listing, move your mouse near the bottom of the screen and click the downward-pointing arrow that appears. It will be listed under the Desktop category or you may now search for it by name and see the icon.
In my case, I customized the shortcut using a system icon before I pinned it. Below is what the icon looks like on the Desktop and above is what it looks like on the Start Screen.
Once you find the shortcut on the All Apps Start Screen, you can right-click on it and choose Pin to Start.
That non-intuitive process is how you can create a shortcut for anything on the Windows 8.1 Start Screen.