Is it possible to put Tiles on the windows 8 desktop?

Question

I like the new tiles in the Windows 8 modern UI. Is there any way to put the live updating tiles on the start screen onto the desktop?

score 9 · Accepted Answer · edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

9

No, the use of live tiles on the desktop is not allowed (a new policy), but you can Snap Windows 8-style apps. Maybe this can help if you're looking into multitasking.

edited Mar 20 '17 at 10:17

Community

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answered Nov 08 '12 at 13:45

eiennohito

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You can snap apps launched by tiles, but not the tiles themselves... – Izkata Nov 08 '12 at 17:43
I meant apps launched by tiles, sorry for confusion. – eiennohito Nov 08 '12 at 18:06

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 14 '12 at 21:16

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No you can't do it. Live Tiles are a part of the Modern UI, which makes the difference between desktop and Modern UI.

Maybe there's a third party tool that can do it, but I'm not aware of it yet.

edited Nov 14 '12 at 21:16

slhck

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answered Nov 08 '12 at 13:14

avirk

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Yeah, 'cos if it was possible to do this without 3rd party utils, why would anyone even bother with the Start Screen? – Karan Nov 08 '12 at 15:30
@Karan so you have any tool for that? – avirk Nov 08 '12 at 15:34
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Nope, not aware of anything yet. Might be possible if someone figures out how to access the notification queues of Modern UI apps from within a desktop app. – Karan Nov 08 '12 at 15:38
@Karan that would be great to know, at the moment I don't think that snaping is the right option for this purpose or it is? – avirk Nov 08 '12 at 15:39
Snapping is for apps, not tiles. – Karan Nov 08 '12 at 15:48
@Karan the highest voted answer is suggesting the snapping for the tiles :P – avirk Nov 08 '12 at 15:50
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I guess you've been here long enough to know how voting works, and how random it can be sometimes. :) – Karan Nov 08 '12 at 16:43
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@Karan +1 for random: lol...... – avirk Nov 08 '12 at 16:51

score 3 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 08 '12 at 16:32

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You can create shortcuts to Modern UI apps. But it is not possible to place Live Tiles on the desktop.

edited Nov 08 '12 at 16:32

Christian Ivicevic

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answered Nov 08 '12 at 13:52

Robert

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You can create shortcuts to Modern UI Apps on the Desktop? – pratnala Nov 09 '12 at 07:27

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Nov 07 '13 at 13:27

Old question I know, but someone may find an updated answer useful.

Apps that give you Metro live tiles in a sidebar or overlay on New UI or Desktop in Windows 8 or 8.1:

1) MetroSidebar 
2) Omnimo

Additionally although not asked, for live tile style information that isn't available via Live Tiles (eg OS data that's got no API access from the New UI) you can also get back Gadget functionality itself (as opposed to live tiles):

3) 8GadgetPack
4) GadgetsRevived

(The last two seem to do the same thing, allow the old DLLs to be installed so Windows re-acquires full Gadget functions and integration, Gadget control panel, etc)

Is it possible to put Tiles on the windows 8 desktop?

4 Answers4

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