PowerToys is a free and open-source instrument from Microsoft that will help you customise your Home windows PC and prolong its performance past what’s doable by default. It’s one of many go-to Home windows customization instruments for energy customers, and you should undoubtedly set up it in your PC to get essentially the most out of it.
On Microsoft PowerToys, you’ll discover dozens of instruments and utilities unfold throughout a number of classes, starting from Window Administration and File Administration to Superior and System Instruments. Getting began with PowerToys is simple, and you should use it on each Home windows 10 and Home windows 11 PCs.
That stated, should you’re simply getting began with Microsoft PowerToys, you might surprise which instruments to put in first. To that finish, we’ve obtained an inventory of all of the important PowerToys instruments you should set up and begin utilizing in your Home windows PC to streamline on a regular basis duties, increase productiveness, and improve the general expertise.
Fancy Zones: Snap Home windows Into Most popular Layouts
FancyZones is a core PowerToys instrument that simplifies window administration on Home windows PCs. Whereas Home windows’ Snap Help characteristic is sort of helpful and allows you to snap home windows by dragging them to the perimeters or corners of the display screen, it doesn’t assist customized layouts and lacks superior multitasking options.
With FancyZones, although, you may create customized layouts whereby you may outline as many zones as you need in any configuration, per your wants. When you use a multi-monitor setup, you may even arrange completely different layouts for every of them. That means, it’s simpler to handle home windows throughout a number of screens.
What’s additionally good about FancyZones is that it remembers and robotically restores window positions after a decision or structure change. This may increasingly not all the time work as anticipated, although.
FancyZones provides in depth customization choices. As such, you may management issues like the looks and conduct of zones and the looks of home windows in zones, amongst different issues. You can too exclude particular apps to forestall them from snapping into your FancyZone-configured zones.
All the time On High: Make a Home windows All the time Seen
Whilst you can snap app home windows into locations to work on a number of apps directly, there are occasions if you need an app to all the time be seen in your display screen, be it for monitoring an ongoing course of or referencing info. Microsoft PowerToys’ All the time On High is a helpful instrument for such situations.
With All the time On High, you may simply pin a window to the highest. That means, all different app home windows—each current and new—will open behind it. To pin a window, open it and press the Win+Ctrl+T shortcut. Press it once more to unpin.
All the time On High provides a couple of choices to customise its conduct. A notable one is Excluded Apps, which helps you to set particular apps to be excluded from pinning on high. That is helpful if you don’t need undesirable apps pinned to the highest of your display screen.
File Explorer Add-Ons: Preview Extra File Codecs in File Explorer
File Explorer comes with a Preview Pane, which gives inline previews for recordsdata without having to open them, saving you effort and time. Nevertheless, it will possibly preview solely choose file varieties; you don’t get previews for PDF, SVG, supply code, and Markdown recordsdata, amongst others.
The File Explorer Add-Ons utility addresses this. As soon as you put in this PowerToys utility, it provides assist for a bunch of file varieties, enabling you to preview them within the Preview Pane. You may configure which recordsdata the Preview Pane exhibits by flipping the toggle subsequent to file varieties within the utility’s settings. In some circumstances, you might must reboot your PC for the modifications to take impact.
Be sure you’ve obtained the Preview Pane enabled to preview recordsdata. To do that, open File Explorer, click on View within the command bar on the high and choose Preview Pane. Or use the Alt+P shortcut.
Picture Resizer: Shortly Resize Photographs
When you work with a number of photos and must resize them to make them match to be used, PowerToys’ Picture Resizer is a must have utility for you. Because the identify implies, Picture Resizer permits you to rapidly resize photos straight from the File Explorer window, eliminating the necessity to open them in a devoted instrument and resize them manually. The perfect half? It helps batch processing, so you may resize a number of picture recordsdata directly.
What’s additionally good about Picture Resizer is that it’s extremely customizable. This implies you may create presets—predefined configurations of your most well-liked sizes—to rapidly resize photos. For instance, if you could resize photos to 1920 x 1080 pixels, you may create a preset for it, which you should use to reset your picture recordsdata rapidly.
Moreover establishing presets, Picture Resizer additionally permits you to configure the encoder, high quality degree, compression, and filename format, amongst different issues. This provides you extra flexibility and management over the resized picture recordsdata.
PowerRename: Bulk Rename Information Immediately
Much like simplifying picture resizing, PowerToys additionally has a utility that makes bulk renaming recordsdata simpler. It’s referred to as PowerRename, and it packs all of the choices you could rename recordsdata in your Home windows PC.
For instance, it contains primary search and exchange performance, which helps you to goal a particular a part of the file identify and exchange it. Then, there’s assist for normal expressions or RegEx that means that you can establish bits in file names and patterns for superior renaming and sequential numbering so as to add sequential numbers to file names.
As well as, it additionally offers you a real-time preview of the file names. That means, you may see how the file names will change earlier than confirming. You may, nonetheless, in fact, revert modifications after renaming in case of errors or unintended modifications to file names.
Keyboard Supervisor: Customise the Keyboard Habits
Keyboard Supervisor is a PowerToys utility that means that you can redefine the keys in your keyboard. In different phrases, it permits you to management how the keys behave if you press them. This may turn out to be useful in varied situations.
Let’s say you’ve obtained a damaged key in your keyboard. With Keyboard Supervisor, you may reassign the damaged key to a lesser-known key in your keyboard. Equally, should you use sure keyboard shortcuts frequently—however discover them inconvenient—you may modify them to one thing you discover extra comfy.
One other fascinating use case for Keyboard Supervisor is to arrange a key to insert a particular string of textual content. So, should you don’t use, say, the Caps Lock in your keyboard, you may set it as much as enter your most-used textual content, like your contact textual content or a boilerplate code, with a easy press.
Remapping a key or remapping a shortcut could sound intimidating. However Keyboard Supervisor’s graphical strategy makes it fairly simple. You may select to use the remappings globally or solely in particular apps.
Peek: Preview File Contents With out Opening Them
One other macOS characteristic I miss on my Home windows PC is Fast Look, which helps you to rapidly preview the contents of a file with out opening it. Fortunately, PowerToys has the Peek instrument, which provides me an identical expertise on my Home windows PC, and it’s one of many first PowerToys instruments I set up proper after putting in the app.
With Peek put in, all you could do is choose the file you need to preview and press the Ctrl+Spacebar shortcut. It will open a floating window in your display screen, permitting you to rapidly look on the file.
You may then select to open the file within the default program for such file varieties. Or you might pin the window to maintain it on high of different app home windows. Peek permits you to customise among the preview conduct from its settings.
PowerToys Run: Launch Apps/Information and Carry out Different Operations Shortly
You’ve in all probability heard of the Highlight characteristic on macOS. It’s a handy strategy to look issues up and carry out different trivial operations in your Mac. Sadly, Microsoft doesn’t supply an identical characteristic on Home windows. However you may mimic it utilizing the PowerToys Run utility.
PowerToys Run is actually a fast launcher for Home windows. You may invoke it by urgent the Alt+Spacebar keyboard shortcut. As soon as completed, you should use it to go looking and launch apps, discover recordsdata and folders in your PC, carry out calculations, and convert items, amongst different issues. You may even perform net searches straight from the Run window.
If you would like extra performance, you may set up plugins. Run has loads of plugins to select from on its GitHub. For example, you should use the SSH plugin to straight hook up with SSH shoppers from Run. Equally, there’s the Spotify plugin to straight search Spotify, Climate for real-time climate info, and ChatGPT to ask inquiries to ChatGPT.
PowerToys Run is extremely customizable, and you’ll configure its look and conduct per your choice by heading to its settings in PowerToys.
Shortcut Information: View a Cheat Sheet of Home windows Keyboard Shortcuts
When you’ve lately switched from Linux or macOS to Home windows, it could take you some time to study the assorted Home windows keyboard shortcuts earlier than you can begin utilizing your PC effortlessly. Nevertheless, PowerToys’ Shortcut Information instrument ensures you are feeling proper at house.
Shortcut Information basically offers you an overlay in your display screen with an inventory of all of the widespread Home windows keyboard shortcuts. To entry it, press and maintain the Home windows key (usually for 900 ms). It will carry up the overlay, displaying all of the keyboard shortcuts and what they do. You may then press the corresponding key in your keyboard to carry out the motion or let go of the Home windows key to exit.
Textual content Extractor: Copy Textual content from Anyplace on the Display
As somebody who makes use of macOS alongside Home windows, I miss macOS’ Reside Textual content characteristic once I’m utilizing my Home windows PC. For these unaware, Reside Textual content lets you choose and duplicate textual content straight from photos in supported apps.
Fortunately, PowerToys has a instrument referred to as Textual content Extractor, which helps you to copy textual content from anyplace in your display screen, be it photos or movies. All you could do is invoke it utilizing the Win+Shift+T shortcut and choose the textual content. The instrument will then copy it to your clipboard robotically. You may then paste the textual content wherever you need, identical to you paste some other textual content.
PowerToys Has A lot Extra Instruments
These are all of the important PowerToys instruments you could get began. However the record doesn’t finish right here. There are lots of extra helpful PowerToys instruments, corresponding to Workspaces, Superior Paste, Registry Preview, Command Not Discovered, and extra, which you could discover as soon as you put in the app in your PC.
Moreover, PowerToys has an lively open-source group, so new instruments get added to the library frequently. Likewise, underlying points with current instruments are additionally fastened promptly.
