It’s been a long time coming. The gradual release of tabs in File Explorer is now a Dev Channel feature. That’s right: Build 25179 gives everybody tabbed Explorer. I’ve had it come and go somewhat randomly over the whole summer. But now, it looks like it’s here to stay, as shown in the lead-in graphic above. Good-oh!

When Build 25179 Gives Everybody Tabbed Explorer …

… Then, everybody can make use of the feature. Personally I find it much easier to navigate around a bunch of tabs in a single Explorer window, than to jump across a bunch of disjoint Explorer windows. But that’s just me — others may feel differently.

That does explain, however, why I welcome the general release of this long-awaited Windows feature. For me, Explorer is one of the Windows applications I use most frequently. That means even a slight productivity improvement offers big dividends. And with dozens of daily uses (I almost always have one or more File Explorer windows open on my desktop) that’s a big win.

Two Explorer Windows Still Have Their Uses

When I have to compare or move files between directories, I can still make use of multiple Explorer windows at the same time. It’s a handy way to see what’s going on in two file system locations at once. Be that to move files from one location to another, or to compare files across those locations, it’s still a handy technique.

But when I want to scope out the contents of multiple file system locations, I think I prefer tabs for that purpose. As I said earlier, I’m convinced it’s easier to click tabs in a single window for that purpose. Jumping among multiple windows just isn’t as workable or attractive IMO.

You are, of course, free to form your own opinions and habits where File Explorer is concerned. But it’s always nice to have options, right?

Windows Spotlight is a gorgeous collection of nearly 2K images that MS brings to OS users. It appears by default in the hidden local app data folder associated with your login account (see below for a full path spec). Thus, it’s always available to those who know where to find it. But, starting right now, Dev Channel Build 25169 gains Spotlight background option in Settings → Personalization → Themes. It also shows up at the top of the Personalization pane, as shown in the lead-in graphic above. It’s boxed in red at the upper right corner of the six theme tabs showing there. Its mouseover text reads “Windows Spotlight, rotating background images.”

When Build 25169 Gains Spotlight Background Variety Folllows

The range and coverage of the Spotlight collection includes reams of nature photography, plus all kinds of other arresting images of great visual interest. Thus, the collection is worth exploring just to see and appreciate what’s there.

Find it at the following path specification (broken across multiple lines for readability: if you cut’n’paste to navigate there, you may need to paste it back together first):

C:\Users\<Account-name>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.Windows.ContentDeliveryManager_cw5n1h2txyewy\LocalState\Assets

Please note: you’ll need to replace the place holder in the preceding string shown as <Account-name>. Use the label associated with your current logged-in account. In my case that’s “etitt” (a truncation of “etittel”). YMMV.

I Win at the Gradual Rollout Game, for Once!

Though the 25169 announcement is mum on this topic, 3rd-party reports on the Spotlight background option indicate that it’s another gradual rollout from MS. That means some Dev Channel users will see it on their desktops, while others won’t. To my astonishment and delight it showed up on my Dev Channel test PCs.

For once, I seem to have been included in the first wave of lucky participants. Good-oh!

The latest Dev Channel build includes a new iteration of the venerable Camera app. Indeed, in Build25158 Camera app reworked includes a brand-new, much sparser interface with simplified controls. No settings at all, in fact, as far as I can tell.

If Build 25158 Camera App Reworked, Then What?

Contrast that look and feel from the lead-in image with the Windows 10 version (from higher up in the same baker’s rack in my office). Settings are shown this time at left in the following screencap.

Am I wrong to see the lack of more detailed controls as a loss of capability? [Click image for full-sized view.]

Indeed, most image manipulation is a post-processing task. But I occasionally found it useful to use some of the various controls that the old Camera app made available but which — as far as I can tell — the new Camera app does not. Particularly, the framing grid for image selection and layout help, and the photo quality and aspect ratio controls. To me, this turns the new camera into a more limited, image grab only, kind of function. It’s OK, but it’s not as flexible as the older version.

Running Against the Grain

This is kind of interesting, because most of the new-version or reworked apps showing up in Windows 11 include added functionality and capability, rather than a reduction in same. Favorite example: the sometimes elusive tab feature in File Explorer. Although it has turned into something of a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t phenom in recent Dev and Beta Channel builds, I do like it and think it represents a useful (if not long overdue) extension to what that tool can do.

The camera changed are described in a a July 13 Windows Blog. It does apparently gain improved QR and barcode scanning. The biggest accolade reads “match the beautiful new look and feel of Windows 11.” It says nothing about the banishment of Settings and related controls. Go figure!

Here’s a nice little addition that’s popped up in the Dev Channel version of Task Manager. If you visit its Settings page, you will see a “Default Start Page” pull-down menu there. This makes it easy to change Dev Channel Task Manager default view. My preference is Details, as shown here:

Because it’s my go-to view, I set “Details” as the default in Task Manager.

Why Change Dev Channel Task Manager Default View?

For convenience, mostly. It’s not a huge deal in terms of added functionality. But anything that saves a mouse click is helpful, when it comes to getting down to work, eh? In general, MS seems to be moving to a move open, less cluttered layout for Task Manager in the Dev Channel version. It takes a little getting used to, but I like it.

My eyeballs are still better trained to make sense of the old-fashioned Task Manager that’s still visible in Windows 10 and other Windows 11 versions (for me that mostly means production version, Build 22000.778). The contrasting yellow shades for data cells are still more recognizable to me.

But, as with all things Windows, changes spur us on to learn and appreciate new things. That’s how I’m going to play the evolution of Task Manager. We’ll probably have side-by-side versions for Windows 10 and 11 for some time anyway, what with Windows 10 EOL not until October 2025.

But Wait, There’s More…

Turns out you can change the default tab for older Task Manager versions, too. The menu fiddling is a bit different though, as shown in the next screencap:

A different sequence of menu picks changes the default view in old Task Manager iterations.

As you can see in the preceding screenshot, click Options → Set default tab → and then any of the items shown (Processes, Performance, App history, Startup, Users, Details, Services) to make your selection. Good stuff!

[Note] Here’s a shout-out to Mauro Huculak at Windows Central, whose July 8 story clued me into this new wrinkle on an old favorite Windows tool. Thanks, Mauro!

OK, then. It’s been a gradual roll-out, so I can’t know if everyone running Dev Channel can see this. But once I got it running, Build 25145 gets File Explorer tabs on both of my test PCs. It’s pretty cool, too, as I hope to show in the ensuing discussion.

To get this party started, you can see File Explorer in the lead-in graphic. It’s got the default tab (“Home”) open at left, the UUPdump folder from my D: drive open at right. The latter shows the various files left over after an .ISO file is created (~4GB item, 6th from top).

When 25145 Gets File Explorer Tabs, Then What?

Why, you mess around with them to see what they can do. So far I’ve discovered multiple techniques to open such tabs, including:

1. Click the Plus sign (“+”) to the right of the rightmost open tab, and an open tab set to the default appears. Navigate anywhere you want from there.
2. Right-click a folder inside the main File Explorer pane, and a new option labeled “Open in new tab” appears. I *like* this one! Here’s what it looks like (annotated for easy recognition).

3. I remember reading about a keyboard shortcut to open such a tab, but I can’t find the reference. Winkey+E still opens a new File Explorer window, and WinKey+T doesn’t do anything. I’ll keep poking about on this front, and see what I can learn. So far, the best third-party coverage of the feature I’ve found is at WindowsLatest.

This is a cool and helpful new feature. As I learn (and find out) more about it, I’ll either update this post, or write a new one. Stay tuned!