How to download and use PowerToys on Windows 10

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Updated onOctober 4, 2023

updated onOctober 4, 2023

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Microsoftannouncedthe release of the first preview and code for PowerToys.

If you didn’t know already about the PowerToys project from Windows 95, the service is a set of utilities for power users to help them improve the Windows experience and to get more out of theWindows 10shell.

PowerToys comes with two new utilities

This first preview contains two utilities. The package from GitHub also contains info andtoolsto better understand PowerToys and create your own utilities.

The first two utilities are:

The Windows key shortcut guide is a full screen overlay utility that provides a dynamic set of Windows key shortcuts that are applicable for the given desktop and currently active window. When the Windows key is held down for one second, (this time can be tuned in settings,) an overlay appears on the desktop showing all available Windows key shortcuts and what action those shortcuts will take given the current state of the desktop and active window. If the Windows key continues to be held down after a shortcut is issued, the overlay will remain up and show the new state of the active window.

FancyZones

FancyZones is a window manager that is designed to make it easy to arrange and snap windows into efficient layouts for your workflow, and also to restore these layouts quickly. FancyZones allows theuserto define a set of window locations for a desktop that are drag targets for windows. When theuserdrags a window into a zone, the window is resized and repositioned to fill that zone.

To get started with FancyZones, you need to enable the utility in PowerToys settings and then open it by pressing the Windows key + ~. After that, in the new window that appears, you’ll have to choose a layout.

It’s worth mentioning that you can also create custom layouts under the Custom tab in the editor. You have two options to create custom zones layouts: window layouts and table layouts.

The firststarts with a blank layout and supports adding zones that can be dragged and resized. The table layout allows zones to be created by splitting and merging zones and then resizing the gutter between zones.

Download Microsoft PowerToys

Microsoft’s backlog of utilities is on GitHub, and the tech giant is encouragingusersto contribute and provide feedback for the new utilities.

If you want to get started with PowerToys, check out thecontribution guidelines for the project.

How to download and use PowerToys on Windows 10#

PowerToys comes with two new utilities#

Download Microsoft PowerToys#

How to download and use PowerToys on Windows 10

PowerToys comes with two new utilities

Download Microsoft PowerToys