Windows 8 Tip: Quickly move live tiles across the Start screen
Windows 8 has a great feature called Semantic Zoom which allows you to zoom out from the Start screen* and move or rename groups of live tiles. But what do you do if you want to move a single live tile? New live tiles are automatically placed at the end of the Start screen, which can be quite a long list depending on how much content you have. While it’s certainly possible to drag the live tile all the way to the beginning of the list, this task can be somewhat tedious. Thankfully, there’s a much easier – if somewhat obscure – way.
Tap on any live tile and drag it to the bottom of the screen to activate a special version of Semantic Zoom. The activation zone for this feature is a little on the small side, so you might need to slowly move your finger to the very edge of the screen and hold it there for a second before it kicks in. With a full view of the Start screen, it only takes a second to move the live tile to the front of the list. And unlike the regular version of Semantic Zoom, this one will automatically zoom back in once you release your finger.
It’s unlikely that you would discover this feature on your own, since it requires you to drag a live tile to an unusual part of the screen, but it’s extremely useful.
* Semantic Zoom also works within many apps, allowing you to quickly navigate to various groups.
