How to Open an Application

In this article, we'll learn some basic and advanced ways to open an application in Windows.

From the Start Menu

Using the Search Box

The simplest way to open an application is to open the start menu and type the name of the application you want to open in the search box. The system will search for what you typed, and the first result will probably be the application you want to open. You can then click on the result to open it.

• How to Open the Start Menu?

For example, if you want to open the File Explorer, you type "File Explorer" in the search box, then click the "File Explorer" result. If you want to open Microsoft Paint, you type "Paint." If you want to open Krita, you type "Krita," etc.

One trick: you can press the Enter key while the search box has keyboard focus to open the first result. You can also use the Windows key (between Ctrl and Alt) to open the Start menu without using the mouse.

One problem with this method is that you need to know the name of the application in order to search for it in the search box.

Although this tutorial is mainly about Windows, this method also works on Linux, as various desktop environments have a Start menu or something that works just like a Start menu with a search box, called an app launcher.

For reference, the names of some applications installed by default on Windows:

• File Explorer (the file manager).
• Paint (a simple image editor).
• Photos (default image viewer).
• Settings (system settings).
• Control Panel (also system settings).
• Notepad (plain text editor).
• Sniping Tool (used to take screenshots).
• Terminal, PowerShell, or Command Prompt (command line terminal).

Using All Apps List

In the the Start menu, you can find a button on the top-right corner below the search box that reads "All apps." Clicking on it shows a list of all apps you have installed in alphabetical order.

From the File Manager

Some applications can be downloaded from the Internet from your web browser into your downloads folder. As these applications aren't registered with the operating system, they may not show up in searches in the Start menu. In this case, we have to navigate to the downloads folder from the file manager (the File Explorer in Windows' case) in order to open them.

• How to Open the File Explorer

After navigating to the downloads folder, we simply open the downloaded application as if it were a normal file, double clicking on it or selecting it and pressing Enter.

There are actually two different scenarios where this is necessary.

First, if we download an installer that installs an application. An installer isn't normally called an "application," but instead a "program." Applications, installers, or programs are all just executable files on Windows, and they have the file extension .exe (although there are others, like .msi). Opening any such executable file from the file manager executes the file, i.e. runs the program, opens the application, etc. After installing the application, it would be registered in the system, and we would be able to open it normally, from the Start menu.

The second scenario where we double click a program from the file manager occurs when we download the portable version of an application. This portable version is merely the application packaged in such way that it doesn't need to be installed in the system. You just run it from any folder, and you could save it in an USB stick if you want.

From a Desktop Shortcut

When you install an application, it often creates a desktop shortcut that can be used to open it. In this case, all we need to do is double click the application's icon in the desktop to open it.

From a Pinned Icon on the Taskbar

It's possible to pin your favorite applications to the taskbar so that their icons remain on the taskbar even when they are not running. If you do this, you'll be able to open the application by clicking on this pinned icon.

To pin an application that's already running to the taskbar, simply right click on its icon on the taskbar to open its context menu and select the option "Pin to taskbar."

You can also pin an application without running it. To do this, search for its name on the Start menu, right click the result you want to pin to open its context menu, then select the option "Pin to taskbar."

From the Terminal

To run an application from the command prompt, first open the application called "Command Prompt," type its full filepath, then press Enter to execute the command. For example:

C:\Windows\explorer.exe

Typing the code above in the command prompt and pressing Enter will open the File Explorer.

Note that filepaths that contain spaces must be surrounded by double quotes ("), because the command prompt uses spaces to separate arguments.

• See How Computers Parse Text Codes for technical details.

For example, if you type:

C:\Program Files\Inkscape\bin\inkscape.exe

The command prompt will think this is two arguments:

1. C:\Program
2. Files\Inkscape\bin\inkscape.exe

And because C:\Program isn't an executable file, it will give an error saying that: "'C:\Program' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file."

To fix this, you need to surround it with double quotes:

"C:\Program Files\Inkscape\bin\inkscape.exe"

For programs that can open files, it's often possible to tell the program to open a file by passing the filepath of a file to open as the second argument in the command prompt. For example:

"C:\Program Files\Inkscape\bin\inkscape.exe" "D:\my drawings\house.svg"

Above, we're telling the command prompt to run Inkscape, passing it the filepath of a SVG file. When Inkscape starts, it will check which arguments were passed to it, and if there's a filepath, it will automatically open the file.

This is the same process used by a file manager to open a file. For example, if double-clicking a SVG file in File Explorer opens Inkscape with that file, it's because a command such as the above was executed automatically by the File Explorer.

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