The new Start screen in Windows 8 lets you pin folders, webpages, programs and drives as tiles but it doesn’t allow you create your own custom tile to launch programs or files. Not too long ago, we showed you how to add custom tiles to the Start screen with the help of a free tool called Custom Tiles Maker app.
As we had mentioned in the review of Custom Tiles Maker, the only downside of the Custom Tiles Maker is that it doesn’t let you launch apps by clicking on them.
This time around, we have a wonderful utility to share that not only lets you pin custom images as tiles to the Start screen but also lets you assign programs to those tiles so you can launch your favorite file or program just tapping or clicking the tile.
OblyTile is the free tool we are talking about. With the help of OblyTile one can easily create tiles for any program or a file with a few mouse clicks. Another cool thing about the program is that you can select your favorite image as the tile background.
Creating a new Start screen tile with OblyTile is extremely easy. Download, launch the program (doesn’t require installation), enter a name for your new tile, enter the program file path or browse to the file that you want to associate with the tile, select a large (120 x 120) and small image (30 x 30) and finally click Create Tile button. Current version of OblyTile lets you create only square tile.
Overall, OblyTile is the only program available for Windows 8 to create Start screen tiles for programs. It’s a must have a program especially for those who love and know how to use the new Start screen.
OblyTile works great on both x86 and x64 versions of Windows 8. Head over to the download page to download the program file. Please note that you may see “Windows SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk” message while launching the program. Simply ignore the message, click More info and then click Run anyway button to launch the program.
How to customize Start screen and how to open Start screen within desktop guide may also interest you.
Samantha says
Is this able to change the tile for store apps too?
admin says
Yes, one can refer to the above download link as well. Thanks.
Paula says
I was unable to download from above so:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1899865