Install Applications from the Microsoft Store

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Download and install 3rd party applications from the Microsoft Store.

Quick reference

Install Applications from the Microsoft Store

Download and install applications from the Microsoft Store. 

When to use

We install applications from the Microsoft Store whenever we want to extend the functionality of Windows 11. 

Instructions

There are a few ways we can install applications in Windows 11 but we are going to start with one of the most popular, the Microsoft Store. The Microsoft Store is an app that comes with Windows 11. It gives us access to download additional applications (some free, some paid for) from a trusted source. 

The Microsoft Store is constantly changing with new applications being added all the time so be sure to check back from time to time to see if there is anything new of interest. 

There are many free apps in the Microsoft Store available for download but some cost money. We need to have a Microsoft 365 account to be able to make purchases from the Microsoft Store. 

Open the Microsoft Store

  • Click on the Start button or press the Win key. 
  • Scroll down to 'M' or type Microsoft Store in the search bar. 

If we are already signed into our Microsoft 365 account, the store will open. If not, we will be required to enter our sign-in details and password. 

Payment Options

If we plan to purchase apps that cost money, we need to make sure we have added a valid payment method to our account. 

  • Click on your account photo in the top right-hand corner. 
  • Click Payment methods. 
  • Click Add new payment method. 
  • Add your credit/debit card details. 

If we have a gift card for the Microsoft Store we can redeem it here. 

  • Click on your account photo in the top right-hand corner. 
  • Click Redeem code or gift cards. 
  • Type in the 25-character gift card number. 

Browse Apps in the Microsoft Store

On the left-hand side, we have a vertical menu with four icons: Home, Apps, Gaming, and Movies & TV.

To view all apps available for download click Apps. 

We can browse through some app suggestions such as the Top free apps or we can search for an app using the search bar at the top. 

  • Click See all next to Top free apps. 

All apps in the store are categorized. This helps us find what we are looking for. 

  • Click the Filters button in the top right-hand corner. 

Here we can filter the apps by type, product, and category. 

Download a Free App

  • Type Netflix into the search bar at the top.
  • Press Enter. 

We can see some information about the app and its average rating with users. 

  • Click Get to download. 

Once the download is complete, the app will be added to our Library. 

  • Click on Library in the vertical menu. 
  • The most recently downloaded app will show at the top. 
  • Click Open to launch the app. 

Download a Paid App

Many apps available for download cost money. For example, if we want to download a movie, we need to pay. 

  • Type Jurassic World into the search bar. 
  • Press Enter. 

This is an app we need to pay for. Notice we have a choice of renting or buying the movie. We need to ensure we have a valid payment method linked to our account for this to work. Once we purchase something from the Microsoft Store, we can install it on up to 10 computers. 

Store Updates

The developers at Microsoft are constantly making changes to the store and adding new apps. We need to make sure we keep on top of this by regularly updating our copy of the Microsoft Store. 

  • Click on Library. 
  • Click Get updates. 

If an update is available it will automatically start downloading.

Login to download
  • 00:03 There's probably going to come a point when I'm using Windows 11, that I want to
  • 00:08 extend its capabilities by downloading and installing different applications.
  • 00:12 And when I say that, I mean applications that I don't currently have on my system.
  • 00:18 And there's many different places and sites that we can go to,
  • 00:22 to download applications of interest to us.
  • 00:25 For example, maybe I like to watch a lot of documentaries and movies on my PC, and
  • 00:30 my viewing experience is going to be so much better if I download the Netflix app.
  • 00:35 Or maybe I take a lot of photos and I'm really into my photo editing.
  • 00:39 Maybe I want to download a version of Photoshop, or
  • 00:43 maybe Adobe Lightroom onto my PC so I can edit my photos more effectively.
  • 00:47 None of these apps are available by default in the standard Windows 11
  • 00:52 installation.
  • 00:53 So we need to download those and install them.
  • 00:56 And fortunately these days, most of the apps that we're going to want to download
  • 01:01 are available through the Microsoft Store, which makes it really nice and simple.
  • 01:07 And it's worth noting that the Microsoft Store is one of
  • 01:10 those applications that is constantly changing.
  • 01:13 It's being updated all the time by the developers, and new apps are being added.
  • 01:17 So if you can't find the application that you want in the Store, right now,
  • 01:21 my advice to you is to check back regularly because you might find that it
  • 01:25 suddenly appears.
  • 01:26 Now most of the apps available in the Microsoft Store are free apps, so
  • 01:30 you can simply download them to your PC.
  • 01:32 Whereas there are some in there, as well, which cost money.
  • 01:36 So we're going to take a look at an example of both.
  • 01:38 Now it's worth noting that in order to be able to use the Microsoft Store,
  • 01:43 you need to have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
  • 01:47 So let's open up the Microsoft Store and take a quick look.
  • 01:51 Now, once again, I'm going to press the Windows logo key on my keyboard, and
  • 01:55 I have the Microsoft Store pinned in the middle here.
  • 01:58 Let's click once to open it up.
  • 02:01 So this is what the Store looks like when you first go into it.
  • 02:04 If you take a look over on the left-hand side,
  • 02:07 we have a few different buttons here.
  • 02:08 And these are really just ways to filter through the applications depending on what
  • 02:13 you're interested in.
  • 02:14 So if I click on Apps, this is going to basically allow me to see all apps that we
  • 02:19 have in the Store, divided down into different categories.
  • 02:23 So things like Essential apps, Top free apps, things like that.
  • 02:28 If I'm specifically interested in gaming,
  • 02:30 I can choose the Gaming button just to see everything related to that category.
  • 02:34 And we also have a Films & TV category where we can download movies.
  • 02:38 And it's worth noting that, for most of these movies,
  • 02:42 you're going to need to pay a fee in order to rent them or buy those movies.
  • 02:48 Now if we go back to Home, this is going to show us our homepage.
  • 02:52 And from here, we can use the search bar at the top to search for
  • 02:56 specific apps to download and install on our PC.
  • 02:58 Now as I mentioned at the beginning, you do need a Microsoft 365 account.
  • 03:03 And if you plan on making purchases from the Store,
  • 03:05 you need to make sure you have a valid payment method set up within the Store.
  • 03:10 So let's take a look at that first of all.
  • 03:12 Now over on the right-hand side,
  • 03:14 you can see that I have my little profile picture just here.
  • 03:18 So when you're signed in, you're going to see your account at the top.
  • 03:22 We can click on this, and we want to select Payment methods.
  • 03:27 So this is going to open up a webpage and
  • 03:29 it's going to take you into the Manage payments screen.
  • 03:32 This is going to show you a log of anything that you've purchased or
  • 03:35 any transactions that you've made.
  • 03:37 And it's going to allow you to link a card to your subscription.
  • 03:41 So you can see that I have one credit card linked just here, and
  • 03:45 I have options to remove this card which is what I do when the card expires.
  • 03:49 Or I can view the card details and make any changes.
  • 03:53 So I would recommend coming into here, clicking the Add new payment method
  • 03:57 button, and then walking through this process.
  • 04:00 Now it's also worth noting, if you have some kind of gift card for
  • 04:04 the Microsoft Store, you can redeem it by clicking on your profile picture and
  • 04:08 going to Redeem code or gift cards.
  • 04:10 From here, all you need to do is enter the 25-character code
  • 04:14 that will appear on the card and walk through this wizard in order to redeem it.
  • 04:19 So once again, very simple and straightforward.
  • 04:22 Now I'm going to click on the Apps section in the left-hand menu, and
  • 04:25 we're going to take a look through some of these apps.
  • 04:29 Now notice here, I was talking about Netflix in the example at the beginning,
  • 04:33 and I've already installed Netflix onto my PC.
  • 04:37 So I can see here where we have the Netflix hub it says, Installed,
  • 04:41 next to it.
  • 04:42 Now some of these others, you'll see they have the word, Free.
  • 04:46 So that means that it's a free app that you can just download and
  • 04:49 install very quickly onto your PC.
  • 04:52 Whereas some others will have a price in here.
  • 04:56 So those are obviously paid for
  • 04:58 apps that you're going to need to purchase in order to download and install them.
  • 05:01 And as I mentioned previously, if we go to Films & TV,
  • 05:04 most of these you're going to have to pay for.
  • 05:07 So you can see underneath here, the cost of each of these movies.
  • 05:11 So just be aware of that.
  • 05:13 Now I'm going to go back to Apps.
  • 05:15 And let's just take a look at how we can download and install a free app.
  • 05:20 So I'm going to look through some of these and I'm about to get into TikTok.
  • 05:25 So I think I'm going to download the TikTok app to my desktop.
  • 05:31 I can see that it's a free app.
  • 05:33 So all I need to do is click on the app, it's going to open up TikTok,
  • 05:36 I get some information about the app, and I can choose, Get.
  • 05:39 You can see that the download has started and I can track the progress just here.
  • 05:44 Once the app has been installed you're going to get the option to open it
  • 05:48 directly from here.
  • 05:50 But it's also worth noting that if we press the Windows logo key and
  • 05:54 scroll all the way down to the bottom, you can see there we have TikTok in there.
  • 06:00 I'm also going to be able to find that underneath the All apps menu.
  • 06:04 So if I now want to open TikTok, I can simply click on it and
  • 06:07 it's going to open that application.
  • 06:10 Now I'm going to use the search bar at the top here, and
  • 06:12 I'm going to search for a different application.
  • 06:14 So let's type in, let's go for Photoshop.
  • 06:18 I can see here Photoshop Elements 2022 is available to download.
  • 06:23 So if I click on this, it's going to open it up.
  • 06:27 And you can see here the difference with a paid-for app.
  • 06:30 Obviously Adobe Photoshop is a very sophisticated application for
  • 06:34 photo editing.
  • 06:35 So that is never going to be something that's available for free.
  • 06:39 But if I wanted to, I could choose to select Free trial to see if I liked it, or
  • 06:43 I can purchase it by clicking on the price, just here.
  • 06:47 Now the final thing to note about the Windows Store, is that if we cast our eyes
  • 06:51 back across to the left-hand menu, right at the bottom we have Library.
  • 06:55 And this is where we can keep track of everything that we've downloaded and
  • 07:00 purchased.
  • 07:01 So you can see here I've got All selected, these are just filters at the top,
  • 07:06 and it's going to show me everything that I've installed onto my PC.
  • 07:10 I can use these as filters just to show the Apps or the Games that I've
  • 07:15 downloaded, Movies & TVs, and also ones that are Included with the device.
  • 07:20 Note if we go back to All, we also have a Sort button here, so we can sort this
  • 07:25 list by date, name, when it was installed, or if it wasn't installed.
  • 07:31 And I always recommend coming into here and clicking the Get updates button to
  • 07:36 check if any of these apps have updates waiting to be installed.
  • 07:40 It's always a good idea to keep on top of your updates to make sure that you're
  • 07:44 using the most up-to-date copy.
  • 07:46 And you can see here that one of my apps, Phone Link, requires an update, and
  • 07:51 that is now automatically downloading.

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