PowerToys gets improved FancyZones UI and more in latest update

Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central

Microsoft’s PowerToys is a handy utility that adds several features to your Windows PC. The features it adds are generally for power users, such as renaming several images at once within a set of rules or using File Explorer add-ons. PowerToys recently received an update to version 0.31.1 that includes several new features and improvements.

With the latest build comes a streamlined user interface for FancyZones, a tool that lets you arrange and snap windows into different layouts.

Here’s a list of highlighted changes, as found on the PowerToys release page on GitHub:

General

• Bug report tool and improved logging now added to our system tray.
• Added in CodeQL and other CI improvements.
• OOBE Spec should be finalized

ARM64 Progress

• .NET Core upgrade for code bases the PowerToys team controls is complete. We still have two external dependencies that are .NET Framework that need to be updated.

Color Picker

FancyZones

• Streamlined, simplified user interface (Massive thanks to @niels9001)
• Dark mode for the editor
• Certain settings (e.g. number of zones, spacing settings) can now be set on individual layouts.
• Bug fixes

File explorer

• Fixed OneDrive SVG Bug
• SVG are scaled appropriately when viewbox is provided
• SVG thumbnail quality improved

PowerToys Run

• Service management plugin (restart, stop, …)
• Registry key plugin
• System action plugin (Reboot, lock, …)
• Hyperbolic functions added to calculator
• Icon fixes when running in certain themes
• Unneeded dependencies removed
• Bug fixes

Installer

• Default to .NET Core 3.1.11

This version of PowerToys does not include the Video Conference Utility. Microsoft plans to roll out a DirectShow based version this month. The company hopes to merge it with the main PowerToys repository this month or next month.