Microsoft provides PowerToys with Crop and Lock feature for cropping windows

Microsoft provides its PowerToys application with a new Crop and Lock function. It allows users to crop a window so that only part of the content is displayed. The feature is in version 0.73 of the tool.

The Crop and Lock function for PowerToys is now available for Windows 10 and 11. The feature has two modes: a thumbnail version, where a cropped window is pinned to a specific area. There will also be a Reparent mode. With the latter, the cropped window remains interactive, so that users can scroll through it, for example. However, Microsoft warns of compatibility problems with certain apps.

PowerToys users can enable the feature with a keyboard shortcut. The thumbnail version can be enabled with the key combination Win + Ctrl + Shift + T. The Reparent version works with Win + Ctrl + Shift + R. Users can then select part of an open window with the mouse. That window is then reduced to the selected area.

PowerToys is a collection of tools that gives Windows users advanced functionality. The open source application is developed and developed by Microsoft is available via GitHub. The feature was already available between Windows 95 and Windows XP, but was then dropped. In 2019, the tool was reintroduced by Microsoft.

The Crop and Lock feature for PowerToys. Click for a gif. Source: Microsoft