As we reported this week, a shiny fresh look is perhaps not enough to drive the adoption of Windows 11. With upgrades stalling, Microsoft may need to entice customers with interesting features. Turning to other platforms for inspiration is one way to do it. So, Microsoft appears to be taking cues from Apple's macOS with a new PowerToys feature.
We have already seen how Microsoft is borrowing the idea of a tabbed File Explorer from Apple, now the company is looking at the ability to use the Spacebar to preview files. This is already available on macOS but could make its way to Microsoft's PowerToys.
Over on Reddit, u/MSFT-SAM published an image showing the new PowerToys component known as Peek. This new tool allows a “a lightning-fast file preview feature for Windows.” In other words, you can see any file within File Explorer by pressing a specific key.
Importantly, the leak comes from an official Microsoft staffer. Yes, u/MSFT-SAM is a Microsoft employee on the company's Photos team.
New Tool
Microsoft already allows users to preview files in File Explorer and third-party apps already exist to support the ability to preview with one key (instead of a mouse click). Of course, it would be easier if the feature was simply baked into File Explorer. That's where Peek in PowerToys comes in.
Although the tool is currently in prototype, so we likely won't see it for some time.
Back in May 2019, Microsoft rebooted its PowerToys, a modern version of the suite of tools that appeared on Windows 95. The core difference was that the suite is now open source.
Tip of the day: Windows Update downloads can often be frustrating because they are several gigabytes in size and can slow down your internet connection. That means your device may work with reduced performance while the update is downloading. In our guide we show you how to limit bandwidth for Windows Update downloads, so they won't bother you again.
