Microsoft PowerToys are arguably one of the most useful tools to have on a PC. This collection of tools designed for "power users" allows you to add additional, sometimes advanced, functions to Microsoft's operating system. But as practical as it is, this toolkit lacks in one aspect: its interface.
Because with no fewer than 27 tools, the PowerToys interface has become rather cluttered over time, especially in the dashboard. Microsoft's teams did reorganize the tools by category a few months ago, but they seem to want to go even further.
A new dashboard for a new life
For many users, while PowerToys are undeniably useful, their main flaw lies in their interface, which is not very optimized for easily finding a tool. It was in fact in response to a user complaining about the interface on Github that Niels Laute, a software engineer at Microsoft in charge of WinUI and PowerToys, announced upcoming changes. Aware that the PowerToys dashboard interface was no longer adequate due to the large number of modules, Microsoft teams took user requests into account.
With a screenshot to support his point, he presented what the next PowerToys dashboard could look like. To improve it, the engineers didn't have to look very far. They were inspired by the interface used for Windows 11 Settings. And the result is quite convincing since it allows you to identify the tools at a glance.
With this new dashboard, the complete list of available tools is immediately visible. Each of them has a switch to enable or disable them. In the center, a box summarizing all the shortcuts has been created. Above these, quick launch buttons have also been integrated for modules that can be launched directly.
While the project is quite promising, it may still evolve, depending on the ideas that will be brought by other contributors, PowerToys being an open source project. For the moment, Microsoft has not specified a deployment date for this new interface.
Source: Neowin
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