Edit "Favorites" in Win 8.1 "Metro" Explorer

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jamesrt

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Topic # 135097 13-Nov-2013 22:27

Hi,

I've been using Windows since Windows 1.0 for DOS; far too many years than I care to remember. However, I completely fail to understand Windows 8/8.1 and the "Metro" interface (and yes, I know that isn't the formal name!), and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It completely baffles me anytime I try to do anything with it - blowed if I can understand what the collective brains at Microsoft were thinking when they "designed" < for lack of a better term! :-) > that interface.

Tonight's mission was to edit and/or view a "Favorite" (aka Bookmark) my Wife had setup on her Win8.1 laptop. Turns out it doesn't seem possible, and I simply can't believe that MS has removed such a simple function.

If I add a "Favorite" in Metro IE, and then show the Favorites Bar (Win+C), I can right-click and select "Edit"; but that doesn't seem to show the URL or let me edit it. What am I missing?

What's worse is if the Favorite has been "Pinned to Start" - I can open the favorites bar, and (eventually, once I've figured out how) get to the "Pinned to Start" section, I can't even get the "Edit" option on the right-click context menu.

These "Pinned to Start" favorites do appear on the start screen, but I can't figure out how to edit them there either.

And I can't find those "favorites" ANYWHERE on the PC's hard drive, so I can't even edit/view them using a text editor either.

Full-screen IE, of course, just works as I expect; but that doesn't help as it doesn't seem to link to the Metro favorites either.

And I can't find any relevant help via Google either.

Surely I can't be the only one who's trying to do this??

Does anyone know how to do this?

Ta in advance!

MackinNZ

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Reply # 933602 13-Nov-2013 23:22

Watch this video: http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheMissingWindows8InstructionalVideo.aspx

thelimoman

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Reply # 933610 14-Nov-2013 00:31

I just made a favourite in Metro IE. I couldn't edit anything but the label in Metro, but if you open desktop IE the favourites should be there as well and you can right click>properties to edit the URL. This changed the favourites in the Metro browser.

Within Metro I don't think you're missing anything. You can only edit the name of a favourite, not the URL. If you want a favourite with a different URL you need to make a new favourite or go onto the desktop.

The pinned favourites are separate and because they are live tiles you can't edit them after they're created. You need to make a new tile with the label you want. It's the same with any live tile, I believe.

Maybe your wife is better off using the desktop IE if she needs more advanced control? Unless she's using touch as her main input it's probably more suitable anyway!

jamesrt

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Reply # 933651 14-Nov-2013 08:21

thelimoman: I just made a favourite in Metro IE. I couldn't edit anything but the label in Metro

Well, at least I'm not the only one!

thelimoman: but if you open desktop IE the favourites should be there as well [...] The pinned favourites are separate and because they are live tiles you can't edit them after they're created. You need to make a new tile with the label you want.

This is unbelievably stupid design, in my opinion. Did the Microsoft UI Designers seriously think that no-one would ever need to edit anything ever again?

thelimoman: Maybe your wife is better off using the desktop IE if she needs more advanced control?

Unfortunately, it's not her than needs "more advanced control", it's her live-in technical support specialist that does.

thelimoman: Unless she's using touch as her main input it's probably more suitable anyway!

It's a touch screen device, so that's part of the issue, I'm afraid.

The actual problem is that we're both using multiple gmail logins, and very occasionally Google's backend seems to get it's knickers in a twist and decide that all your saved logins are invalid; and if you don't log back into the multiple accounts in the same order as the original, then all your named shortcuts screw up, as they don't encode a username and/or token, just a login order (i.e. "blah/u/0" for the first login, "/blah/u/1" for the 2nd, etc). I was trying to find out the "u/X" number for each of her saved shortcuts so I could tell her which order to log back in again.... That shouldn't be rocket science, but unfortunately the "improved" UI seems to make that impossible.

sidefx

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Reply # 933679 14-Nov-2013 09:23

They're just a name and url right? Can't say this seems like a huge issue to me; Remove then add new seems like pretty much the same amount of work so i can't see much need for edit. Tbh while i love gmail, the design of the gmail urls, if what you say is true, sounds like the issue here...

thelimoman

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Reply # 933734 14-Nov-2013 10:50

I've got to agree and say that perhaps Google is the bigger problem here. Can you add multiple Gmail/Google apps accounts to the Mail app? If that's possible it would be better integrated with notifications as well.

TwoSeven

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Reply # 933770 14-Nov-2013 11:40

What I would like to do is make a list of "business process" or "user tasks" that people perform on earlier operating systems that cannot now be done either at all, or as easily on windows 8.1 (it doesn't matter if it is a defect that prevents it, or the feature has been downgraded or removed). Then send it to Microsoft so they can see what impact their current thinking is having on us users.

I think 8.1 start menu is excellent if one is using a tablet such as the surface or surface 2, but for anything that involves proper desktop functionality (PC, Surface Pro etc.) then Win32 is still the way to go for me anyway.

I don't have a problem with the actual 8.1 user interface at all, it took a while to learn but that's the same with any different OS. My problem is mainly that the APPS that come with the OS are not very good compared to the desktop versions (and win 7 versions). I get the impression that MS have just done the basics in order to demonstrate capability and are hoping that some other developer will come along and write a better app.

Software Engineer

jamesrt

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Reply # 933789 14-Nov-2013 12:11

thelimoman: I've got to agree and say that perhaps Google is the bigger problem here. Can you add multiple Gmail/Google apps accounts to the Mail app? If that's possible it would be better integrated with notifications as well.

What is it about technical forums that make people try to solve the wrong problem? My question was "how do I edit favorites", and your answer is basically "You're not using GMail correctly."

As it happens, she has a perfectly adequate app with notifications - it's on her Android phone. But that's not the point; nor the issue I was asking for help with.

Thanks anyway.

(I'm not trying to get at you, and it's not just Geekzone - I see this sort of thing everywhere. People on XDA-Developers are particularly bad at doing this! Why can't we as technical people trying to give advice focus on the problem than was expressed? I'm just as bad at doing this myself....)

sidefx

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Reply # 933806 14-Nov-2013 12:32

jamesrt:
thelimoman: I've got to agree and say that perhaps Google is the bigger problem here. Can you add multiple Gmail/Google apps accounts to the Mail app? If that's possible it would be better integrated with notifications as well.

What is it about technical forums that make people try to solve the wrong problem? My question was "how do I edit favorites", and your answer is basically "You're not using GMail correctly."

As it happens, she has a perfectly adequate app with notifications - it's on her Android phone. But that's not the point; nor the issue I was asking for help with.

But I think you've already got answers to your original question; perhaps they were answers you don't like, but given we don't work for microsoft probably not anything we can change.

Seems to me thelimoman was just trying to help further by suggesting another option\workaround... Nothing wrong with that.