Software update: PowerToys 0.35.0

Microsoft has released a new version of PowerToys. The PowerToys are a collection of small programs for power users. There were PowerToys for Windows 95 and Windows XP and since mid-2019 Microsoft has also been developing a version for Windows 10. At the moment there are only a small number of programs left in the collection, including FancyZones, Windows key shortcut guide, PowerRename, PowerToys Run and Keyboard Manager. The following changes and improvements have been made in this release:

General

• PowerToys will start requiring Windows 10 v1903 or greater after 0.35.x release. The v1 settings, which supports older Windows versions, will be removed in 0.37.
  • Note: We may be able to bring back support when we migrate to WinUI3 but as of now, we will be increasing the minimum version of Windows to 1903 or greater.
• Localization corrections
• Improved GitHub report bug template.
• Increased .NET Core to 3.1.13
• Fixed installer ‘run as user’ regression

Color Picker

• UX adjustments to editor.
• Esc can now be used to exit the editor.

FancyZones

• Added hotkeys and quick swap functionality for custom layouts! Users can now assign a hotkey in the editor and use it to quickly set a desktop’s zones with Ctrl + Win + Alt + NUMBER key binding, or by pressing the hotkey while dragging a window.
• UX updates.
• Fixed zone placement algorithm for when the Taskbar is vertical
• Bug fixes

PowerToys Run

• Users can specify where to show the launcher window.
• New plugin added to support opening previously used Visual Studio Code workspaces, remote machines (SSH or Codespaces), and containers! When enabled, use { to query for available workspaces. Please note, this plugin is off by default.
• Shell history now saves the raw command instead of the resolved command. A command like %appdata% would now save in the Shell history as is instead of C:UsersYourUserNameAppDataRoaming.
• Better logging to try to track down some bugs
• Bug fixes

Video Conference Mute (Experimental)

• Tracking work remaining at issue #7944
• Goal is to have 0.36 experimental release week of April 5th (Yes, we’ve stated this before, we know)

Contributor workflow

• Main project now has a vsconfig which will prompt you to install needed items versus having to use a script. This will aid in keeping you up-to-date when something changes.
• Updated spell checker.