Widgets in Windows 11 are fantastic, but they need a little help getting onto the desktop. Here’s how to go about it.
In Windows 11, you can access the widgets board by pressing Win + W. You can also do this by hovering your cursor over the Widgets button on the Taskbar’s left side. You can add or remove widgets from the board, as well as customize and rearrange them, but you can’t add them to your desktop.
Fortunately, Widget Launcher, a third-party app for Windows, allows you to pin widgets to the desktop. Here’s how to put it to use.
How to Download Widget Launcher
Widget Launcher is available for download from the Microsoft Store. If you haven’t already, the Microsoft Store is full of award-winning and innovative apps. For now, we’ll use it to download Widget Launcher.
If you have Microsoft Store installed on your PC, you should be able to download the app from the Widget Launcher page in the Microsoft Store. Simply click the Get in Store app button, and Windows will handle the rest.
Alternatively, press Win + S to launch Windows Search and type store into the search box. To launch the app, click on Microsoft Store in the search results under Best match. Look for widget launcher and install the app that comes up.
After downloading Widget Launcher from the Microsoft Store to your Windows 11 PC, click Open to launch the app. You can also access it by pressing Win + S, typing widget launcher into the search box, and then selecting the app from the search results under Best match.
How to Add Widgets to Your Desktop With Widget Launcher
When you open Widget Launcher, you’ll see a list of all available widgets in the middle panel, including Weather, Clock, Calendar, Notes, and CPU Meter. Select the widget you want to add to the desktop by clicking on it.
Click on Launch Widget in the right panel, and the widget will now appear on your desktop. If you decide that these widgets are sufficient for your needs, you can disable the widgets in Windows 11.
When you first launch some widgets, such as Weather, RSS Feed, and Slideshow, they will be blank. This is due to the fact that you must instruct them on where to obtain the data required for display.
Take, for example, the RSS Feed widget. To make it display the feeds you want, hover over the widget and click the gear icon in the small panel on the right to open Settings.
Then, enter the URL to the website where the RSS Feed widget will get its feeds, and then click OK. The widget will no longer be blank.
You’d need to enter a location if this was the Weather widget. And if it was the Slideshow widget, it would need to navigate to a folder to find the images to display.
How to Enable “Widgets Always on Top” Mode
If you want to see the widgets no matter what window you’re in, click Settings in the Widget Launcher app’s bottom left corner. Then, enable the Widgets Always on Top toggle.
Widget Launcher is set to launch widgets during startup by default. You can avoid this by turning off the Launch on Startup toggle.
Enjoy Widgets on Your Windows 11 Desktop
If you want to add widgets to your Windows 11 desktop, Widget Launcher makes it simple. As a result, you can always access your favorite information from your desktop. You can also set the widgets to always be on top if you want to see them all the time.
