Microsoft has released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25163 to the Dev Channel. This fresh build brings a new Taskbar overflow experience, an updated file sharing experience and tweaks to sharing local files to OneDrive. Also included is a new Microsoft Store update. Here’s what you need to know.
First up is the biggest change, the Taskbar overflow menu. This experience helps make switching and launching apps easier when space on your screen might be limited. It adds a ( . . . ) for summoning at the end of your taskbar for seeing other open apps when too much is going on. Here’s Microsoft’s description, and keep in mind that you can pin apps, and enjoy jumplists, and an extended UI right from this overflow menu. (Spoiler alert, it’s just like the one on Windows 10 with a new Windows 11 look.)
This taskbar experience has been thoughtfully crafted to offer you a more productive switching and launching experience when space is constrained. Your taskbar will automatically transition into this new overflow state when it has hit its maximum capacity. In this state, taskbar will offer an entry point to an overflow menu that allows you to view all your overflowed apps in one space.
Now, for the improved nearby sharing and tweaks to sharing local files with OneDrive. This is similar to what was tested in the Windows Insider Beta channel. Nearby sharing has been enhanced by using UDP (Network needs to be set to private) along with Bluetooth to discover nearby devices. You will now be able to discover and share to more devices including desktop PCs. Here’s more on the other feature, sharing local files to OneDrive.
When sharing a local file from the desktop, File Explorer, Photos, Snipping Tool, Xbox, and other apps that use the built-in Windows share window, you can choose OneDrive as a target to directly upload the file to OneDrive and share it further along with access control options. All this can be done right from sharing local files in File Explorer without any context switches or opening the OneDrive app.
As for the Microsoft Store Update, version 22206.1401.2.0 should help you better Browse and search with updated price designs. Microsoft made it easier to understand the price changes, so you can have all the info you need when searching for a new app, game, or movie. There’s also a new dropdown menu in the store so you can find different editions of a game.
Here are the fixes in this build. Fair warning, there are quite a lot, covering many core areas of the operating system.
- Fixed an explorer.exe crash when dragging tabs around.
- Did some work to fix a memory leak when using tabs with File Explorer.
- Fixed an issue where the preview thumbnail for File Explorer in the taskbar, ALT + Tab, and Task View might show the title of an adjacent tab and not the currently selected one.
- If “Show all folders” is enabled, the dividers in File Explorer’s navigation pane should no longer show. With this change, it should also address the issues where dividers were unexpectedly showing in some other folder pickers.
- Fixed an issue where Narrator wasn’t reading out the titles of tabs as focus moved through them.
- Fixed an issue where a closed tab might appear again in File Explorer after you dragged File Explorer across your monitors.
- Fixed an issue where the tab row might unexpectedly expand vertically, covering the command bar contents.
Removable drives should no longer unexpectedly be displayed in a section by themselves in the navigation pane, which was breaking up the section with This PC and Network.- Fixed an issue where the add new tab button wasn’t clearly visible when using Aquatic or Desert contrast themes.
- The add new tab button shouldn’t overlap with the minimize button in the title bar when using text scaling with a lot of tabs open anymore.
- Fixed a rare explorer.exe crash that could happen while on a Microsoft Teams call, related to sharing windows from the taskbar.
- Made a change to help fix an issue where using Windows Spotlight on the desktop might revert to a solid color background.
- Improved the padding around the uninstall button when using Apps > Installed Apps in grid view.
- Fixed a couple issues that could lead to Quick Settings crashing on launch.
- Fixed an issue which was leading to certain apps freezing after a copy action if Suggested Actions was enabled.
Alas, we’ve reached the end with known issues. There’s a couple where SQL Server Management Studio is failing to launch for some Insiders. Also, games that use Easy Anti-Cheat might cause your PC to crash. The Up arrow in File Explorer being misaligned, light mode showing up in dark mode in the body of File Explorer, notification badges being misaligned, and the ongoing issue with Live captions captions out the list.
Phew! That’s a doozy! Happy downloading, Windows Insiders!
