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

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?

Lincoln Bergeson

Posted 2012-11-08T13:01:08.877

Reputation: 924

Answers

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.

eiennohito

Posted 2012-11-08T13:01:08.877

Reputation: 547

1You can snap apps launched by tiles, but not the tiles themselves... – Izkata – 2012-11-08T17:43:02.297

I meant apps launched by tiles, sorry for confusion. – eiennohito – 2012-11-08T18:06:02.707

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.

avirk

Posted 2012-11-08T13:01:08.877

Reputation: 15 151

Yeah, 'cos if it was possible to do this without 3rd party utils, why would anyone even bother with the Start Screen? – Karan – 2012-11-08T15:30:14.090

@Karan so you have any tool for that? – avirk – 2012-11-08T15:34:09.840

1Nope, 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 – 2012-11-08T15:38:52.870

@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 – 2012-11-08T15:39:59.160

Snapping is for apps, not tiles. – Karan – 2012-11-08T15:48:38.993

@Karan the highest voted answer is suggesting the snapping for the tiles :P – avirk – 2012-11-08T15:50:01.067

4I guess you've been here long enough to know how voting works, and how random it can be sometimes. :) – Karan – 2012-11-08T16:43:55.043

1@Karan +1 for random: lol...... – avirk – 2012-11-08T16:51:22.833

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

Robert

Posted 2012-11-08T13:01:08.877

Reputation: 191

2You can create shortcuts to Modern UI Apps on the Desktop? – pratnala – 2012-11-09T07:27:12.633

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)

Stilez

Posted 2012-11-08T13:01:08.877

Reputation: 1 183