Latest news with #FileExplorer
Fast Company
27-05-2025
- Fast Company
These 10 Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts will boost your productivity
Keyboard shortcuts are efficiency's greatest secret weapon. Yes, they can take a bit to learn and yes, sometimes you've got to—gasp!—take your hand off your mouse to reach all the keys. But man, oh man, once you've mastered the best ones, you'll wonder how you ever lived without them. If you want to navigate Windows 11 faster, work smarter, and minimize unnecessary clicks, these are the 10 shortcuts worth memorizing. Alt + Tab: Switch Between Open Apps As far as most shortcut experts are concerned, this is the Windows shortcut to rule all shortcuts. This venerable classic lets you cycle through open applications with ease. Hold Alt and tap Tab to jump between the windows you've got open. It's perfect for multitasking without losing momentum. Win + E: Open File Explorer Instantly No more hunting for the File Explorer icon: just press Win + E, and all your files are right there. Whether you're accessing documents, downloads, or external drives, this shortcut is a must-learn. Win + D: Show the Desktop I'm not ashamed to admit that sometimes I have so many projects going at once that I get overwhelmed by my own mess of windows, apps, and settings. Sometimes you just need a clean slate, you know? Press Win + D, and all your open windows will minimize, revealing the desktop instantly. Take a breath, and then tap it again to restore everything right where you left it. Win + V: Access Clipboard History Something of a dark horse in the handy shortcuts competition: Ever copied something only to lose it moments later? Win + V saves the day by opening the Clipboard history, allowing you to retrieve text or images you've copied earlier. Alt + Spacebar: Open Copilot Now for a relative newcomer. For quick assistance, answers, and creative ideas, Alt + Spacebar launches a little Copilot search box, making it easy to get help directly within Windows. Use it to look stuff up on the web, launch programs, or open folders, all with a quick keyboard combo. Win + I: Open Settings Tired of digging through menus just to get to Settings? Why did they bury it so deep?! Press Win + I to open Settings instantly, letting you tweak stuff much more quickly than navigating there by mouse. Win + Shift + S: Take a Screenshot When you need to capture something on your screen, the excellent Snipping Tool is your best friend. Win + Shift + S opens it, letting you select and save any part of your display. Ctrl + Shift + Esc: Open Task Manager Slow? Laggy? Chugging along? Keep tabs on your system performance by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc. This shortcut opens Task Manager immediately, letting you manage RAM-hogging apps and CPU-taxing processes with ease. Win + L: Lock Your Computer This one's especially handy for those of you who've been summoned back to the office. When you step away from your desk, pressing Win + L locks your screen instantly, securing your work and keeping prying eyes out. Win + Period (.) or Win + Semicolon (;): Open Emoji Panel Here's one for the youths out there. Spice up your messages with emojis and GIFs. Press Win + . or Win + ; to open the emoji panel and add some flair to your messages.
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Business Standard
21-05-2025
- Business Standard
Windows 11 dev build brings AI tools for Photos, Docs, and more: Details
Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26200.5603 to the Dev Channel on May 19. The new 'under-testing' update brings a host of artificial intelligence (AI) powered upgrades such as AI actions to File Explorer, Bing visual search, background blur, object eraser for editing pictures, and background removal. It is also introducing some AI-powered features for Office documents. Here are the details of what Microsoft is rolling out. Windows 11 dev build update: AI actions for File Explorer and Office Microsoft is introducing artificial intelligence (AI)-powered shortcuts, called AI actions, into File Explorer in Windows 11. These context menu options will enable quick access to tools like Bing visual search, background blur, object removal (from the Photos app), and background removal (from Paint), directly from the right-click menu. The company is also developing similar AI functions for Office documents, allowing tasks such as summarising content from OneDrive or SharePoint and generating AI-driven lists. These Office-related features will initially be limited to Microsoft 365 commercial users with a Copilot licence, while broader consumer access is said to be 'coming later.' These updates build on the recent inclusion of the 'Ask Copilot' option in File Explorer, though it remains unclear whether the AI options can be turned off manually. Windows 11 dev build update: Widget redesign Beyond File Explorer, Windows 11 is also seeing improvements to the Widgets feature. The redesigned feed is described as 'more organised, personalised, and engaging' and will now include 'Copilot-curated stories' to tailor content delivery. The latest Dev Channel build also introduces a system-level feature called 'User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management.' This update is intended to reduce energy usage on laptops and tablets by automatically applying power-saving measures during periods of inactivity, with performance resuming instantly when activity is detected.
Phone Arena
20-05-2025
- Phone Arena
Windows 11 is about to make right-clicking way more powerful
File Explorer showing the context menu open on a file, with the new AI actions highlighted. | Image credit – Microsoft These features are pretty similar to what you'll find on a Mac, too – assuming your device supports Apple Intelligence can also generate quick summaries of your notes. It is basically the same idea as summarizing Office docs on Windows. So yeah, AI tools like these are quickly becoming standard across all major operating systems. These features are pretty similar to what you'll find on a Mac, too – assuming your device supports Apple Intelligence . For example, the Photos app on Mac lets you remove unwanted objects using the Clean Up tool andcan also generate quick summaries of your notes. It is basically the same idea as summarizing Office docs on Windows. So yeah, AI tools like these are quickly becoming standard across all major operating systems. Receive the latest mobile news Subscribe By subscribing you agree to our terms and conditions and privacy policy You can get a summary of a document in File Explorer. | Image credit – Microsoft Microsoft also plans to expand this to Office files soon. If you are using OneDrive or SharePoint, you might be able to summarize docs or create lists with AI – but only if you have a Microsoft 365 commercial subscription and a Copilot license. Regular users will have to wait a bit longer for those features. It is unclear if you will be able to turn these AI options off in the right-click menu, but they are being added alongside the recently introduced Ask Copilot option that now shows up when you right-click in File Explorer. Elsewhere, Microsoft is experimenting with a new layout for widgets in Windows 11. The goal is to make them more personalized, better organized and just more useful overall. Microsoft also plans to expand this to Office files soon. If you are using OneDrive or SharePoint, you might be able to summarize docs or create lists with AI – but only if you have a Microsoft 365 commercial subscription and a Copilot license. Regular users will have to wait a bit longer for those is unclear if you will be able to turn these AI options off in the right-click menu, but they are being added alongside the recently introduced Ask Copilot option that now shows up when you right-click in File Microsoft is experimenting with a new layout for widgets in Windows 11. The goal is to make them more personalized, better organized and just more useful overall.
The Verge
20-05-2025
- The Verge
Microsoft is putting AI actions into the Windows File Explorer
Microsoft is starting to integrate AI shortcuts, or what it calls AI actions, into the File Explorer in Windows 11. These shortcuts let you right-click on a file and quickly get to Windows AI features like blurring the background of a photo, erasing objects, or even summarizing content from Office files. Four image actions are currently being tested in the latest Dev Channel builds of Windows 11, including Bing visual search to find similar images on the web, the blur background and erase objects features found in the Photos app, and the remove background option in Paint. Image: Microsoft Microsoft is also planning to test similar AI actions for Office files soon, enabling you to summarize documents stored in OneDrive or SharePoint, or quickly create AI-generated lists from files. These Office AI actions will be limited to Microsoft 365 commercial subscribers with a Copilot license, and consumer support is 'coming later.' It's not clear if these AI actions can be disabled in the context menu, but they also join an 'Ask Copilot' option that Microsoft added to the right-click menu of the File Explorer recently. Alongside the AI-powered shortcuts in File Explorer, Microsoft is also testing some visual changes to the widgets feature in Windows 11, 'with a more organized, personalized, and engaging feed,' according to the Windows Insider team. 'In addition, we are introducing Copilot-curated stories into the feed.' This latest Dev Channel build also includes a new 'User Interaction-Aware CPU Power Management' feature, which Microsoft describes as an OS-level change to reduce power consumption on laptops and tablets. 'After a period of inactivity on your PC, Windows now conserves power by automatically applying efficient power management policies,' says the Windows Insider team. 'This happens seamlessly to save energy while you're inactive, with full performance instantly restored the moment you get back to it.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Microsoft Rolls Out May 2025 Windows 11 and 10 Updates With New AI Tools, Security Fixes
Microsoft has released the May 2025 Patch Tuesday updates for all supported versions of Windows 11 and Windows 10. The KB5058411 update for Windows 11 version 24H2 is to have new AI-powered options, including Recall and Click to Do, on Copilot+ PCs. The update also adds a new AI-powered search experience, which is now available on both Intel and AMD-powered Copilot+ models. Microsoft says that Recall and Click to Do will reach users gradually through its controlled feature rollout technology, as reported by Thurrott. For those still using Windows 11 version 23H2, the KB5058405 patch brings new options such as Speech recap for Narrator, a Phone Link sidebar in the Start menu, and curated views in File Explorer Home. These updates are also present in the KB5058411 update for version 24H2. The Phone Link sidebar in the Start menu lets users access phone calls, messages, and photos and share content between devices. Developers now have the option to create widgets for the Widgets board and Lock screen using web-based content, and the Lock screen weather widget is adding new customization options for users in the EU. File Explorer is to have curated views in Home, better support for text scaling, and improved performance with ZIP files. For Windows 10 version 22H2, the KB5058379 patch mainly fixes security issues, with miscellaneous improvements to internal Windows functions, and updates the blocklist of drivers with known security vulnerabilities that have been used in Bring Your Own Vulnerable Driver attacks. This update does not bring new user-facing options, as Windows 10 is nearing the end of its support period—but could Linux be a decent alternative?
