Earlier, Microsoft suspended the release of the new Windows 11 development version for two consecutive weeks. Now Microsoft has finally released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22557 and this new version brings a lot of new features and improvements, including start menu folders and taskbar file drag and drop. At the same time, Microsoft also emphasizes that the branch version is changed to a nickel branch (Ni_release) and that all new features and improvements will not be bound to a specific branch version. This means that Microsoft may push new features to Windows 11 official version through various small updates in the future, which is what Microsoft promised to do in its blog yesterday.
Create and curate folders in the pinned apps area of Start
Based on user feedback, Microsoft has brought a folder function to the Windows 11 start menu, which can put multiple application icons in the folder category management. At present, the folder function does not support renaming, and Microsoft will add the functions of folder renaming, application sorting, and deleting applications from folders in the future.
Introducing Do Not Disturb and Focus
Focus Mode has been updated to automatically mute app notifications when Focus Mode is turned on, reducing distractions and allowing users to focus more on tasks. The new Focus Mode integrates with the Alarm Clock app to help you focus by setting a focus time via a timer and playing soothing music via the Alarm Clock app.
When Do Not Disturb is turned on, all notifications will be automatically collapsed. Microsoft has improved the notification module to make it easier for users to find content in the notification center if they miss notifications. To quickly turn on the focus mode, click the notification center, then click the alarm clock to turn on do not disturb, adjust the focus time under the calendar and turn on the focus mode. When the focus mode is turned on, all application flashing on the taskbar will be turned off, a timer will automatically appear on the screen, and Do Not Disturb will be turned on automatically.
Live Captions
This feature is Microsoft’s improvement based on accessibility features, allowing users to automatically recognize and display text when playing audio and video content in a window for easy viewing. However, this feature currently only supports the US English version and other language versions are not currently supported. To use this feature, please turn on real-time subtitles from the quick setting auxiliary function. The first time you use this feature, you will be automatically prompted to download the voice model file. Microsoft reads the real-time audio from the system through the voice model file and then converts it into subtitles.
Improving Quick Access in File Explorer
The quick access function now supports pinning files. After the files are pinned, they will not be displayed in the quick access on the left side of the explorer but will be placed in the middle of the screen. Right-click on the recent file to see the option to pin the file. The pinned file list is located above the recent file and below the six subfolders. Files pinned via Microsoft 365 are also automatically synced to Explorer, including any files pinned from Office.com and Office.
Task Manager Redesign & Efficiency Mode
The new version of the task manager has officially arrived, and several improvements have been added to the task manager in the previous development version, including dark mode and mica material visual scheme. At the same time, in the task manager, Microsoft has brought the energy-saving limit function again, and users can manually set restrictions on the use of hardware resources for some high-energy-consuming processes. To use this function, right-click on the process and select the efficiency mode. When the efficiency mode is turned on, the priority of the process will be limited, which may cause the program to run stuttering.
Other changes
The window title of the Win32 application is also changed to Mica mica material. Now the traditional desktop software has also obtained the mica material design and has a transparent effect. For example, the title bar running in the figure below can see a bit of transparency.
File Explorer will now show previews of items within folders. Based on user feedback, Microsoft has brought back the folder preview feature, which will display a preview image of the format when there are certain types of files in the folder. For example, when the folder is a picture, the preview of the picture is displayed, and if the folder is a font, the icon of the font file is displayed and placed in the preview position.
