How to add folders, shortcuts and widgets to Android. Android - how to remove a shortcut from the desktop - even more space for what you really need

Article from Anna Sebova, engaged in embroidery and programming. She combines both in her blog, simultaneously telling us about various interesting features.

I have a blog “Madame Storozhenko” about needlework. It is very young, and I often access it from my mobile, thinking about what to write about, how to improve it. At the same time, storing it in open browser tabs on a mobile phone is not very convenient; bookmarks in a mobile browser are not suitable for me either. Therefore, I decided to pin a link icon (shortcut) to the blog on the desktop of my mobile phone.

Making a website icon is simple: in the mobile settings you need to select “ Add to Home Screen“. But the created icon did not remind me of my site at all, but caused bewilderment. Only by clicking on the label or reading the signature did I understand what it was all about. You understand, this is inconvenient.

Then I found an easy way to make the icon (or shortcut, whichever you prefer) more recognizable. It's very simple, you just need to do a couple of steps.

Act one

Take the original site logo image (or favicon) and crop it to standard sizes for different devices. In my case, the logo and favicon are the same image.
I chose the following sizes convenient for mobile and tablets:

- For iOS two files: apple-touch-icon.png And apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png– size 57 by 57 pixels:

- For Windows Phone file windows-icon-70-70.png:

– Android picks up one of the pictures and does not require additional images or links.

Act two

Display a link to the site on the desktop of your mobile phone. To do this, open the desired site in your browser:

Then open the browser menu (click on the three vertical dots in the upper right corner of the browser) and select the item highlighted in the screenshot:

The following window will appear:

Select “ Add“.

Then minimize the browser window and... voila! A website with a beautiful and recognizable icon is located on the desktop, and is also accessible with one touch.

It couldn't be more convenient.

P.S. An article from Anna Sebova about how to cure.

Do you visit a certain website ten times a day? The long procedure of launching the browser and digging through bookmarks is already starting to get boring - we have a wonderful solution! Let's take your favorite site and put a shortcut on your Android desktop. After this, you will be able to open the desired web resource with one click on its icon (just like with applications).

So, first, we need the Google Chrome browser installed. Launch Chrome and go to the desired site. In the upper right corner, click on the three vertical dots - a drop-down menu list will open. Find the “Add to Home Screen” item and click on it. A small window will pop up before your eyes with the site name, description and the “Add” button at the bottom. Click on the button, voila - the site icon is now on our main desktop! Move it to the desired screen or position just like other icons.

Another little tip: before adding a tab to your desktop, you can rename it or, for example, remove an unnecessary description. To do this, simply click on the text and a keyboard for editing will appear. Enjoy! Also, we will be glad to hear from you in the comments.

Often, when downloading applications on Android, shortcuts to the downloaded programs are automatically saved on the desktop. Subsequently, deleting this or that program as unnecessary, some, out of ignorance, or maybe simply because “they don’t get around to it,” leave icons, cluttering the desktop so that sometimes it becomes difficult to find the desired application.

Today we will tell you, speaking about devices with Android OS, how to remove a shortcut from the desktop. It must be said that this procedure is not particularly difficult, therefore, anyone, even a not very experienced user, can cope with it. However, for some models of gadgets you will need special utilities, however, first things first.

We will now look at all the ways to solve the problem for different device models. But, you need to understand that by deleting a shortcut, we will not delete the application itself.

Using system tools

On most models of Androbd devices, the procedure is extremely simple, and it is as follows: On the desktop, press your finger on the icon that you want to delete and hold it until “Delete” appears at the top of the display. Without releasing your finger, just drag it there:

On other devices, after clicking on the shortcut, a trash can will appear at the bottom of the screen, into which, without releasing your finger, drag the unnecessary application icon:

The situation is somewhat different with Lenovo smartphones. And if on models of later versions, for example Lenovo s660, the procedure is similar to those described above, i.e. click on the icon, on the display at the top we see the trash can and the inscription “Delete” and, without releasing your finger, drag the shortcut:

But on some devices of earlier versions - up to 4.0.x (Ice Cream Sandwich), for example, the same Lenovo A319, everything is not so simple. Here you will need to install third-party software. Read more about this method.

Using special software

There are actually more than enough applications that solve this problem. We want to offer the simplest and most convenient option - download the Apex Launcher program (or an extended version).

The fast, convenient and multifunctional Apex launcher, in addition to a fairly wide list of features that can be read about at the links provided, does an excellent job of editing shortcuts.

So, after the launcher is installed, open the desktop, select the application icon that we will delete, click on it and hold until the context menu appears. Select “Delete” and after this manipulation the unwanted shortcut will no longer be an eyesore:

How to remove autosave shortcut

We have already said that when installing programs, icons, as a rule, are automatically saved on the desktop. Is it possible to make sure that application shortcuts are not saved, but simply add the necessary icons yourself when necessary?

Yes, you can. What do I need to do:

Go to the Play Store on your smartphone and open Settings. Find the item “Add icons” and uncheck the box:

Moving an icon to the home screen (as well as deleting it) may vary slightly across devices. Sometimes, it is enough to open the main application menu, where all the icons are located. Select the one you need, press it with your finger, and hold it for one to two seconds, after which the icon will appear on the main screen:

Now you can press your finger on the icon, wait for it to highlight and, without releasing your finger, move it to the desired location (if necessary).

On some devices our actions will look slightly different. For example, on the same Lenovo s660, opening the main application menu, long pressing on the desired icon will open the main screen. Continuing to hold the icon, drag it to the desired location, now you can release your finger, and we will see the shortcut of the selected application at the specified location:

How to create a folder with shortcuts on the desktop

To optimize space on the main desktop, it is advisable to create folders in which you can enclose several icons. This is especially true if you often use different applications that are convenient to keep at hand.

Actions we must perform:

Move the desired application icons to the main screen as described above. Then, by clicking on one icon, we move it directly to the one with which we want to combine it. We will immediately be able to see the appearance of a folder with two labels. In the same way, you can add any number of icons to this folder. Now, by clicking on the created folder, hold your finger until the keyboard appears. Enter the name of the folder (for example, “Games”, “Mail”, etc.):

Well, for dessert, for aesthetes who want to create their own labels and inscriptions for them, we suggest watching the video. I say goodbye until the next meeting on the pages of our “Knowledge Base” section. Good luck!

Today we will tell and show how to easily and simply create a shortcut on the Android desktop, and below we will write how to delete it.
The desktop in Android is the place where we go after unlocking the screen. Usually it consists of several screens, which are switched by “swiping” - swiping your finger left or right. This is where we have applications, programs and games for quick access and launch. You can find other installed programs by pressing the “menu” button on your device.

Nowadays, every child has their own gadget and they have been familiar with it for a long time immediately after purchasing the device. However, for others this information will be useful. So, in order to place any shortcut of a game or program on the desktop, we will do the following.

The steps are similar for Android devices with an operating system up to version 6.

• Click the “All applications” button - its icon is a circle with three dots.
• Select the desired application, game or program and hold your finger on it.
• The screen will minimize and our desktop will appear. Select the location of the icon and release your finger.
• To select the desired desktop screen, if there are several of them, drag your finger with the shortcut to the left or right corner of the screen, they will begin to scroll through.
• If you have accumulated a lot of icons, you can combine them into folders or delete unused ones.

The shortcut on Android has disappeared, how to restore it?

The icon may disappear in several cases: you deleted it accidentally, for example, when you took your smartphone out of your pocket. The icon could be “spread” by dragging it to another screen. Or you simply deleted the application itself - thus the launch shortcut from the desktop also disappeared. To restore the icon on your desktop, follow the steps described above.

How to remove shortcuts on Android

If you don't have enough space for shortcuts, there are several options: create a new screen, group several icons into folders (for example, create folders with games, social networks and programs separately) or delete an unnecessary application.

• Open the desktop, scroll to the desired screen with the icon.
• We hold our finger on an unnecessary application. The icon will hang “in the air” or begin to tremble (visual effects are different on smartphones).
• The words “Delete”, “Remove” or the trash icon will appear at the top of the screen, drag our icon there and the job is done.

By deleting the application icon, it remains in the device memory. To remove the program itself, go to the “All applications” menu and follow the steps described above.

Conclusion

I hope you figured out how to create a shortcut on the Android desktop or remove unnecessary icons from the desktop. Write in the comments if you have difficulties managing devices running Android OS or if unexpected errors appear. If you are using Android version 7 or higher, we will definitely update our instructions.

Like Windows users, Android device owners often deal with shortcuts. They look a little different here. The “desktop” of smartphones and tablets is also different. However, everyone, and especially inexperienced users, should know how to remove a shortcut from the Android desktop or add it.

An example of displaying shortcuts on the Android desktop

Removal

Removing icons is one of the simplest basic processes in Android. All users of this operating system encounter it. There is, of course, nothing complicated here. However, it is worth distinguishing between cleaning the system from an application and deleting a program shortcut. All applications are accessible through a special menu, and if we try to “throw out” something from there, we will get rid of it completely. If we delete the icon on the desktop, then the program itself will remain as it was.

Removing unnecessary icons from home screens is sometimes simply necessary. Otherwise, too much garbage accumulates. This is done with one finger movement. Almost. We simply hold the icon and then either move it to the highlighted trash can or click on the cross that appears. No one has yet had any problems with how to remove a shortcut on Android using the usual method. However, problems can arise in a number of cases, which are discussed below.

Special cases and autosaving

On some older devices, it will not be possible to remove shortcuts in this way, since such a function is not provided on these smartphones and tablets. For them, you can download special utilities that can easily cope with this task, as well as others, which will be written about at the end. One such program is Apex Launcher. After installing it, we simply hold down the icon, after which a context menu appears where we can select removal. In addition to this utility, there is CCleaner, which can also help with removing unnecessary icons.

Working with shortcuts using Alex Launcher

Not every user likes the fact that each installed application creates its own icon on one of the screens. This feature is easy to disable.

1. Go to Google Play.
2. Pull out the menu from the right side of the screen.
3. Select “Settings” there.
4. Disable the “Add icons” option. It is located in the “General” section.

Creation

Making a shortcut on your desktop is as easy as removing it.

1. Open the application menu.
2. We hold what we need and drag it to the desktop.

The application icon will now be on the home screen. After that, you can drag it to any convenient place.

Android provides for the addition of some special shortcuts. For example, if you often correspond with one person on the VKontakte social network, then you can easily make a button on the screen through the official application that will open a dialogue with him. To do this, you just need to hold your finger on the dialog and then click on the corresponding button. Some other instant messengers and other programs offer similar functions. As you can see, in Android you can add more than just a simple shortcut.

Icons can not only be created, but also combined into folders and renamed. To create a folder, just “drag” one shortcut onto another. After which the system will offer to place them in a folder.

View the contents of a folder on Android desktop

The aforementioned Apex Launcher will help with the renaming. In general, any launcher has this function. After installing it, we simply hold the icon until the context menu appears. There we select “Rename” or “Edit” and come up with a new name for any shortcut.

Now you know that working with shortcuts is quite simple. And working with them is not limited to creation or deletion. You can change their name and also move them into folders.