Microsoft readies app folders in Start, new gestures, and more for Insiders on Windows 11

Windows 11 Start Hero Surface Book Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

What you demand to know

New features are on the horizon for Insiders in the Dev Aqueduct.
Features include app folders in Kickoff, new gestures, a new snapping UX, and more.
These new features are expected to testify upwardly in the next number of weeks.

Microsoft is gearing upwardly to release a handful of new features for Insiders in the Dev Aqueduct on Windows xi, many of which volition re-introduce functionality that was missing in the original aircraft build of the Bone. It'due south been two weeks since the last Dev Channel build was released, which got me wondering if anything is going on internally to warrant this pause in build releases.

After asking some contacts, I'm told that Microsoft spent the last week or so adding in a agglomeration of new features and changes to the public preview branch of Windows 11 (known as rs_prerelease.) This could explain the lack of Dev Channel builds, only at that place was also a big bound in build numbers (upwardly to 250xx) to mark the beginning of a new evolution semester, which may have besides played into it.

Either way, new features are on the horizon. According to my sources, the big new changes coming to Insiders in the next handful of weeks include the power to create app folders in the Start menu, support for file elevate and drop on the Taskbar, new acrylic/mistiness effects in legacy title bars, a new snapping UX chosen "Snap Bar," and new gestures for opening Start and the Quick Settings panel using bear upon.

App folders in Start is a highly requested feature from Insiders that works just as you lot'd look; dragging an app icon over another will create a folder that you can click into, allowing for better organization of your Starting time bill of fare layout. At that place'due south also the new Snap Bar feature, which I'one thousand told introduces nevertheless another way of snapping multiple app windows to the congenital-in snapping filigree system on Windows eleven.

Correct now, nosotros take ii on-screen ways of doing this, via the drop-down menu that appears when hovering over window controls, or via dragging an app window to the top or sides of your screen. The Snap Bar introduces a third UX for this, with a "bar" console that drops down from the tiptop of the screen whenever you take hold of and motion a window around your display.

Run Box Acrylic Titlebar Source: Microsoft

Elsewhere, new acrylic/blur effects in legacy title bars is a small UI change that will replace the white title bar design you discover in almost Win32 desktop apps today with something that looks more "Windows Aero" esq, albeit with a Fluent-inspired take, just similar the rest of the blurred translucent interfaces on Windows 11. In fact, this was already briefly shown off in a Microsoft livestream, albeit in super low-quality.

A big comeback for tablet users is coming in the form of new gestures that volition provide access to the First menu and Quick Settings panel past swiping up from the bottom of the display. Swiping up from the Organization Tray will open Quick Settings, and swiping upwards anywhere else volition pull up the Start menu, just similar on Windows 10X.

Finally, the Taskbar is getting souped upwardly with returning functionality that was missing in the original Windows xi release. These include support for dragging and dropping files into open apps via their Taskbar icon, a better UI for overflowing app icons, and the automated hiding of the Taskbar when using your device every bit a tablet.

Of grade, there'south likely to be more features that I've not withal heard about, so don't wait this to exist everything. Hither's all the things I'yard told is planned to testify up for Insiders in the Dev Channel over the adjacent handful of weeks once builds resume from the rs_prerelease branch:

App folders in Start
Elevate and drop on Taskbar
Quick Settings / Notification Center improvements
Pinned files in File Explorer
Acrylic title bars
Snap Bar snapping UX
Gestures for Start/Quick Settings using touch
New live captions feature

Many of these new features will be what shapes the adjacent major release of Windows 11, codenamed "Sun Valley 2" and expected to ship in the second one-half of this twelvemonth. I suspect some of these improvements, namely drag and drop support on the Taskbar, volition make their way to the current release version of Windows 11 earlier then all the same.

As always, Microsoft may decide to cancel or postpone any of these new features before they are unveiled, so keep that in mind.

Windows 11 review: The start of a new era

Updated February 2022

Windows eleven review: The start of a new era

Microsoft is dorsum with a roaring passion to create a modernistic version of the Windows user experience that'southward simple to utilise, beautifully designed, and well-connected, all in an effort to make you more than productive in your professional person or creative workflows. Simply, is it whatever expert?

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