Release v0.62.0

In the v0.62 release cycle, we focused on releasing three new PowerToys.

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

7EDE5C5BE5F4AC03721EF0A73A4D3794BDBC3C2CAE93D60C85DCE7F6B1AFF5BD

ARM64 Installer Hash

4665372967BD0EFE597C7E2149AF5D68953535E38686BD21020C72453EB5FB50

Highlights

• New utility: Screen Ruler is a quick and easy way to measure pixels on your screen.
• New utility: Quick Accent is an easy way to write letters with accents. Thanks @damienleroy!
• New utility: Text Extractor works like Snipping Tool, but copies the text out of the selected region using OCR and puts it on the clipboard. Thanks @TheJoeFin!
• PowerToy Run ships with a new Plugin letting you search in past query results. Thanks @jefflord!

Known issues

• The Text Extractor utility fails to recognize text in some cases on ARM64 devices running Windows 10.
• After installing PowerToys, the new Windows 11 context menu entries for PowerRename and Image Resizer might not appear before a system restart.
• There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications (RTSS RivaTuner Statistics Server and MSI AfterBurner are known examples of this). If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

General

• Added a new utility: Screen Ruler.
• Added a new utility: Quick Accent. Thanks @damienleroy!
• Added a new utility: Text Extractor. Thanks @TheJoeFin!
• Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.4.

Always on Top

• Fixed a bug causing the border to linger when closing an Outlook popup window.

Color Picker

• Fixed the HSB color format to correctly track HSV instead of HSL.
• Fixed an issue where the zoom factor wasn't reset when reopening the zoom window. Thanks @FWest98!

FancyZones

• Removed the button to open Settings from the FancyZones Editor, as it was opening behind the overlay.
• Changed the Highlight distance control to a slider in the FancyZones Editor, to address accessibility issues with screen readers.
• Fixed an issue where the FancyZones Editor would duplicate or edit the wrong layout.
• Fixed an issue that caused canvas layout width/height to be changed without even opening the layout in FancyZones Editor.

File explorer add-ons

• Quality of life improvements to Developer Files preview, including a progress bar while loading, performance improvements, an improved dark mode, and logs. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Fixed possible WebView related vulnerabilities in the SVG and Markdown handlers.
• Fixed some race conditions in Developer Files preview causing the loading bar to hang.
• Added localization support to the Developer Files preview messages.
• It's now possible to configure default color for Stl Thumbnails. Thanks @pedrolamas!
• Added an option to format JSON and XML files before rendering. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

PowerRename

• Fixed an issue that was generating a silent crash when the context menu was triggered when not selecting any file or folder. (This was a hotfix for 0.61)
• Improved performance when loading a big number of files.
• Fixed a specific case in which PowerRename tried to rename a file to an empty string.
• The UI now shows when a file can't be renamed due to its name being too long or containing invalid characters.

PowerToys Run

• Added a fix to the VSCodeWorkspaces plugin to better support portable installations. Thanks @bkmeneguello!
• The Folder plugin now expands %HOMEPATH% correctly.
• Fixed a case where a previous result was being activated when searching for new results. Added a setting to better control input throttling. Thanks @jefflord!
• Added support for port numbers in the URI plugin. Thanks @KohGeek!
• Fixed query errors when the search delay option was turned off.
• New History plugin to search for old search results. Thanks @jefflord!
• Changed the default TimeDate activation keyword to ), as queries starting by ( are expected as Calculator global queries, and added information in Settings so users know that some activation keywords may conflict with normal usage of some plugins when trying to do a global query. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Unit Converter plugin updated its UnitsNet dependency and now supports plural units. Thanks @FWest98!
• Improved the validation logic in the Calculator plugin. Thanks @htcfreek!

Runner

• Improved: Clean up old install folders and logs at startup. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Settings

• Image and phrasing adjustments.
• Icon and image updates for the new utilities. Thanks @niels9001!

Shortcut Guide

• Fixed the Narrator shortcut to include the newly added Control key.

Installer

• Fixed a regression that was causing the PowerToys shortcut to be deleted on update. (This was a hotfix for 0.61)
• Updated the .NET dependency to 6.0.8.

Documentation

• Fixed wrong links to installers in README. Thanks @unuing!

Development

• Removed FXCop leftovers. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!
• Added version number to missing binaries and added a CI script to verify that all binaries have their version numbers set correctly.
• Updated a dependency to fix building on Visual Studio 17.3 C++ tools.
• Fixed and reactivated the CI unit tests for FancyZones.
• Cleaned up and removed dead code from PowerRename code base.
• Added a script for verifying the solution targets match the expected CPU architectures. Thanks @snickler!
• Obsolete package Castle.Core was removed. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Language typos were corrected across the PowerToys assets. Thanks @pea-sys, @eltociear and @obairka!

Release v0.61.1

This is a patch release to fix issues in v0.61.0 to fix two bugs we deemed important for stability based on incoming rates. See v0.61.0 for full release notes.

• #19708 - Fixed an issue causing the PowerToys start menu shortcut to not be installed when updating PowerToys. This only happens on upgrade path.
• #19722 - Fixed an issue which created a crash report in the Event Viewer when trying to show PowerRename's Windows 11 context menu entry.

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

9334014E9AA026F2F66B407F3BE5D2076920FC3047AEC1CF6185B0655749D6FF

ARM64 Installer Hash

D08967C4402654462644214597CC12C2FD3C67556A2A3E5EC580A5FEC5042E01

Release v0.61.0

The v0.61 release cycle we focused on stability and improvements.

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

F76D3106FE743DF54963DB297397CF557D3854C47CC53E0B59CC56C316AC65E0

ARM64 Installer Hash

52A931F4FCB4DF1E0F9B73BFC163D845F8B72D2210E6A5D847EBE8942F19E933

This is a lighter release, with a shorter development cycle and focused on stability and improvements.

Highlights

• Quality of life improvements for Always on Top, FancyZones and PowerToys Run.

Known issues

• After installing PowerToys, the new Windows 11 context menu entries for PowerRename and Image Resizer might not appear before a system restart.
• There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications (RTSS RivaTuner Statistics Server and MSI AfterBurner are known examples of this). If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

General

• Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.2.
• The new Windows 11 context menu entries are now correctly added to Windows 11 dev channel insider builds. (This was a hotfix for 0.60)
• The old context menu entries are shown alongside the new Windows 11 context menu entries to be compatible with software that overrides the Windows 11 context menu behavior. (This was a hotfix for 0.60)
• Consolidated C# language version across the solution. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Removed deprecated Segoe icon glyph codes and replaced them with the correct ones. Thanks @niels9001 and @Jay-o-Way!
• Fixed an issue that caused a random accent key to be pressed on certain keyboard layouts when enabling some modules.

Always on Top

• Fixed border flickering when activating. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed a bug causing Always on Top to activate and hang when exiting PowerToys. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed black edges appearing on rounded corners.
• Fixed a bug that was causing 100% CPU consumption.

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug that caused layouts to not be applied correctly when many monitors reported having the same serial number. (This was a hotfix for 0.60)
• Fixed a bug that caused layouts to not be applied correctly on some virtual monitor setups (This was a hotfix for 0.60)
• A "Rows" default layout is now applied to vertical monitors, instead of a "Columns" layout. Thanks @augustkarlstedt!

Image Resizer

• Screen reader now announces the size name instead of the class name.

File explorer add-ons

• Fixed an issue when creating thumbnails for SVG files created using Inkscape.

Keyboard Manager

• Adjusted wording on the editor when keys are orphaned.

Mouse utility

• Fixed a bug that caused the current Find My Mouse spotlight to hang when activated in the top left corner of the screen. (This was a hotfix for 0.60)

PowerRename

• The PowerRename window reacts to current dpi when created.

PowerToys Run

• Fixed a typo in the WindowWalker plugin UI. Thanks @rohanrdy!
• Improved performance by saving the search history files only on exit. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• PowerToys Run no longer shows results for some plugins when querying for empty spaces in a global query. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added support for showing localized names for some win32 programs in the programs plugin. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The program plugin will now consider settings changed directly in ProgramPluginSettings.json. Thanks @bezgumption!

Settings

• PowerToys Run settings page properly greys out the score adjustment setting when a plugin is not global. Thanks @jefflord!
• PowerToys Run plugins score adjustment field accepts only numeric characters. Thanks @jefflord!
• Will not run if started directly from its executable, as it was before the WinUI 3 upgrade.
• Fixed a typo in a PowerToys Run settings page description. Thanks @eltociear!

Installer

• Removed the dead code to make a msix installer.
• Updated the .NET dependency to 6.0.7.
• Won't create a new PowerToys shortcut on update if it's been removed manually by the user.

Development

• Updated the Windows Store Package submission script to show less UI while installing PowerToys. (This was a hotfix for 0.60)
• Added more functionality to the Monitor Report Tool.
• The release CI now includes the version number in the symbols artifacts.
• GitHub should now show .vsconfig as a JSON file. Thanks @osfanbuff63!
• Centralized the configurations for NetAnalyzers and StyleCop. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Check-spelling has been upgraded to version 0.0.20. Thanks @jsoref!

Release v0.60.1

This is a patch release to fix issues in v0.60.0 to fix a few bugs we deemed important for stability based on incoming rates. See v0.60.0 for full release notes.

• #19253 - Updated the Microsoft Store submission of PowerToys to not show UI while installing.
• #19203 - Fixed a bug causing FancyZones to not apply templates correctly when more than one monitor shared the same serial number.
• #19233 - Fixed the incompatibility not allowing the PowerRename and ImageResizer Windows 11 tier 1 context menus being shown on development insider builds.
• #19219 - The old context menus are now shown on Windows 11 as well, to account for configurations where other third party software might be overriding the Windows 11 context menus.
• #19263 - Fixed a bug making the Find My Mouse overlay hang when activated in the top left corner of the screen.
• #19223 - The FancyZones Editor should no longer crash on configurations where monitors are not detected connected to display devices.

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

F72AE40FF6DAA9263F4A7C33F7210027E527EAC9E95BB91A89F245ABC81B19AA

ARM64 Installer Hash

4215B12366E7AE4A088E538045A9EF2F484843ECD1B1B3560413A6A763BC88B3

Release v0.60.0

The v0.60 release cycle we focused on stability and improvements.

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

030A4F7C6D81B09C7B8C8D75FC9FDA8DA98BFB3E0AC03C555035FF66FE9F71C2

ARM64 Installer Hash

AEB644A76626CBD627455D30A9ABA0440A231CA0F82436A72D6299DA3CF49838

Highlights

• PowerRename and Image Resizer now appear on the new Windows 11 context menu.
• There's a new PowerToys Run plugin for OneNote. Thanks @palenshus!
• FancyZones uses a new zone identification with monitor Id to increase stability and avoid zone resets.
• AlwaysOnTop now uses rounded corners for highlighting rounded windows on Windows 11.
• Added settings to PowerToys Run to better control the query results order. Thanks @jefflord!

Known issues

• After installing PowerToys, the Windows 11 new context menu entries for PowerRename and Image Resizer may not appear before a restart.
  • On some Windows 11 dev channel insider builds, the new context menu entries are not registering correctly and the classic context menu entries will be shown instead.
• There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications (RTSS RivaTuner Statistics Server and MSI AfterBurner are known examples of this). If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

General

• Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.1. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)

Always on Top

• Added support for more diverse keyboard shortcuts with a fallback to low level keyboard hooks. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added rounded corner highlights for rounded corner windows on Windows 11.

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug where windows shown on all desktops were not working with FancyZones. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)
• When changing zone layouts, windows will match a new size/position if the option is on. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)
• Minor UI fix in FancyZones Editor. Thanks @ZetaSp!
• Fixed proper canvas layout rendering in FancyZones Editor and the unscaled monitor resolution is now shown.
• Fixed an issue with transparency in certain windows causing the window to go blank.

Image Resizer

• The Image Resizer entry is now shown in the new Windows 11 context menu.

File explorer add-ons

• Add a viewBox attribute to svg file thumbnails so that it tries to show the whole image, similar to what was done in the preview handler.
• Removed access to a remote image in the tests for markdown preview.
• Fixed flakiness in the markdown preview test suite with proper component initialization timeouts.
• Fixed the leaking WebView2 resources caused by svg thumbnails.

Keyboard Manager

• The Editor title bar is now shown in the immersive dark mode theme. Thanks @WilliamABradley!

Mouse utility

• The Mouse Pointer Crosshairs default activation shortcut was changed to not collide with a special character combination on some internation keyboards.

PowerRename

• Fixed the file enumeration logic to only change enumerations at the end of the file name.
• Clicking on regex/date and time cheat sheet appends that item to the selected search or replace text field.
• The PowerRename entry is now shown in the new Windows 11 context menu.
• The title bar is now shown in the immersive dark mode theme. Thanks @WilliamABradley!

PowerToys Run

• A setting was added to disable and configure the input delay on searching queries. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)
• Fixed and added logs for default Web Browser detection. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)
• The Program plugin can now search .lnk shortcuts by their executable name. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• A new plugin for OneNote was added. Thanks @palenshus!
• Query caching and delayed execution was added to the OneNote plugin. Thanks @palenshus!
• Quality of life fixes for the TimeZone plugin, including fixes for empty subtitles, missing time zones and results not being found when expected. Thanks @TobiasSekan!
• Calls to the obsolete WebRequest API were removed. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added common names for the share settings in the Settings plugins. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Calculator Mages engine was updated to 2.0.1, for higher precision. Thanks for the testing and for pushing for the changes @htcfreek!
• Translation fixes for the Calculator and TimeDate plugins. Thanks @htcfreek!
• An entry for "Search Settings" was added to the Settings plugin. Thanks @jefflord!
• Removed uses of the deprecated BinaryFormatter, which contained vulnerabilities. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added settings to better control the query results order. Thanks @jefflord!
• The Terminal plugin now uses a better API to detect installed Terminal packages. Thanks @htcfreek!

Settings

• Fixed a bug that said an update had failed, even if PowerToys was fully updated. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)
• OOBE window is resizable. (This was a hotfix for 0.59)
• OOBE can now show release notes through authenticated proxies.
• OOBE now hides the x64 and ARM64 installer hashes on the What's New page.
• Minor UI fix in the Keyboard Manager page. Thanks @ZetaSp!
• Fix in internal data type of CheckBox controls. Thanks @ghost1372!
• The title bar is now shown in the immersive dark mode theme. Thanks @WilliamABradley!
• Fixed a crash accessing the loading the System.Management API on ARM64 versions of Windows.

Installer

• Fixed signing of the setup custom actions dll in the new pipeline.
• The Visual C++ redistributable was updated to 14.32.31332 and fixed an installer error when a newer version was installed. Thanks @snickler!
• Updated the .NET dependency to 6.0.6.

Development

• Clean up of the CA1031 warning suppression. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Support for ARM64 binaries was added to the Microsoft Store submission task. Thanks @azchohfi!
• Added code for a tool to help identify monitor IDs.
• Support for ARM64 binaries was added to the winget package creation task.
• Updated the Pull Request template to better reflect project changes.
• Component Governance checks were re-activated on the new main branch.
• CI is failing to run tests calling the newer WebView 2 version, so these were disabled until a fix is found.
• Updated the tests SDK to 17.2.0.
• Nuget package versions used in the solution were consolidated.
• The CodeQL CI task was disabled in the repo, but was causing issues on forks, so it was removed.
• A specific Newtonsoft.Json version was specified in tests to avoid a vulnerability present in previous versions.
• FabricBot configurations were added to the repository.
• Added a dependabot configuration for updating GitHub actions dependencies. Thanks @naveensrinivasan!
• Updated the check-spelling action and added quality of life fixes to the workflow. Thanks @jsoref!

Release v0.59.1

This is a patch release to fix issues in v0.59.0 to fix a few bugs we deemed important for stability based on incoming rates. See v0.59.0 for full release notes.

• #18657: FancyZones not working with windows showing in all desktops is fixed.
• #18663: Messages showing there was an error updating should no longer appear when PowerToys is up-to-date.
• #18712: On some systems OOBE Windows renders a bit too big, so we made the window resizable.
• #18696: Added a setting to disable the search delay in PowerToys Run, as some users preferred the old behavior.
• #18679: A FancyZones bug where windows were not snapping after switching layouts is fixed.
• #18761: PowerToys Run is not getting the default web browser under some conditions. Potential fixes and added logs are included.
• #18842: Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtime to 1.1.1, containing the newest fixes.

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

6CFCDD19F8076ECF64BE98DA9C05257178B4CB1DBF41E2D014991ABEB2B83352

ARM64 Installer Hash

4F1430C8D6DEC1CAFF2FAA2C5DEE983FA75D7DB654FD5FDBA681C6F3B5FA92D4

Release v0.59.0

The v0.59 release cycle we focused on wrapping up building for native ARM64 and releasing the first experimental build. Below are some of the highlights!

Installer Hashes

x64 Installer Hash

A6742F3C9A477FF50BF3E6F8521FCDC4B7524A81659D0F5C5D850716EFF3D8B8

ARM64 Installer Hash

B7125697BDBF4A6F835757B4CFB9F71A5A5C6E08C073777112A3D212DC04B170

Highlights

• The work for running natively on ARM64 has been wrapped up and a build is released. Thanks @snickler!
• Power Rename now is running on WinUI 3.
• Keyboard Manager now allows up to 4 modifier keys for shortcuts and has received some quality fixes.
• Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.0, fixing an issue where Settings wouldn't start with UAC off and improving performance.
• The Windows App SDK runtime binaries are being shipped with PowerToys which should resolve the installations issues reported with WinAppSDK.

Known issues

• There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications (RTSS RivaTuner Statistics Server and MSI AfterBurner are known examples of this). If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

General

• Some typos were fixed. Thanks @eltociear, @rcmaehl and @ShyPixie!

ARM64

• ARM64 support now fully added!
• Fixed PowerRename to work on ARM64.
• Fixed File Explorer tools to work on ARM64.
• Made changes for the installer projects to build ARM64 installers.
• Configured the CI and Release pipelines to build for ARM64.
• Added ARM64 build status to the README.

Always on Top

• Fixed an issue where the borders where sticking around when a window was minimized with Win+D.

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug that was consuming CPU cycles when the default layout was set.
• Fixed a bug where apps were not opened in their last known zones due to Virtual Desktop ID changes.
• Fixed a bug that was snapping popup menus opened by applications.
• Fixed a bug causing windows not to be snapped under some configurations.

Image Resizer

• No longer tries to change metadata on files that were not actually resized. Thanks @adamchilders!

File explorer add-ons

• Fixed a bug where modules depending on WebView2 would be limited to opening files smaller than 2 MB. Now the resulting html is generated into a temporary file before presenting it.
• Add a viewBox attribute to svg files that don't have one so that the preview tries to show the whole image.
• Remove scrollbar that was showing when rendering svg thumbnails.

Keyboard Manager

• Now up to four modifier keys can be used in shortcuts. This will allow you to use the Office key (which sends Win+Ctrl+Shift+Alt), for example.
• Fixed a bug locking Keyboard Manager when two shortcut mapping were pressed at the same time.
• Removed event spam for certain telemetry events.

PowerRename

• Ported to use WinUI 3 instead of WinUI 2.

PowerToys Run

• The Services plugin is able to search for parts of the name, display name or the service type or state. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Services plugin now supports the startup type 'Automatic (Delayed Autostart)'. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Services plugin now has tooltips for large service names and other UI improvements. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The TimeDate plugin gave results for queries containing just numbers on global queries. This has been fixed. Thanks @htcfreek!
• We've introduced a throttle before a query is done to ensure typing is done to increase performance. Thanks @shandsj!
• Fixed a crash in WebSearch when there's an empty pattern setup for the system's default browser.
• Fixed a bug where VSCodeWorkspaces was not finding portable installations of VSCode. Thanks @harvastum!
• The Calculator plugin reacts better to invalid input and internal errors. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Calculator plugin can now be configured to use the US number format instead of the system one. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The Folder plugin supports paths containing "/". Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Settings

• Now the UI for adding excluded apps for FindMyMouse is disabled when the module is disabled. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Text was improved in the Settings UI for File Explorer. Thanks @Jay-o-Way!
• Settings won't try to launch if everything runs elevated in the machine, and a warning message is shown instead.
• Some minor UI fixes. Thanks @niels9001!
• The Settings screen should now open correctly if the OOBE screen was opened first.
• The rounded corner settings for FancyZones now only show on Windows 11. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed a UI freeze when entering the Keyboard Manager page with clean settings.
• Fixed a UI glitch where a message was being shown that all PowerToys Run plugins were disabled when using the search function. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Upgraded the Windows App SDK runtimes to 1.1.0, fixing an issue where Settings wouldn't start with UAC off and improving performance.

Runner

• Auto-update takes into account if it's running on x64 or arm64 to download the right installer.

Installer

• Updated the .NET dependency to 6.0.5.
• The installer is now built using a beta version of Wix 3.14 for arm64 support.
• Added the VC++ Redistributable binary as a requirement.
• The Windows App SDK runtime binaries are being shipped with PowerToys instead of running its installer. This should fix most of the install issues with 0.58.

Development

• New action added to GitHub to publish the winget package to PowerToys.
• New action added to GitHub to publish for the Microsoft Store. Thanks azchohfi!
• Documentation for installing the Windows App SDK dependencies and building the installer was updated.
• FxCop removed from the PowerToys Run TimeZone plugin and was replaced with NetAnalyzers. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Community contributions

We'd like to directly mention certain contributors (in alphabetical order) for their continued community support this month and helping directly make PowerToys a better piece of software.
@Aaron-Junker, @CleanCodeDeveloper, @davidegiacometti, @dend, @franky920920, @htcfreek, @jay-o-way, @jsoref, @niels9001, @snickler.

Release v0.58.0

The v0.58 release cycle focused heavily on upgrading to new dependencies and building for native ARM64. Below are some of the highlights!

Known issues

On this release we've changed the Settings application to use the Windows App SDK.

There are reports of users who are unable to open the Settings window. This is being caused by incompatibilities with some applications in some cases, or by some UAC settings which cause every application to run elevated. If you're affected by this, please check the linked issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

Some users are unable to install the 0.58 version of PowerToys due to the Windows App SDK runtime failing to install. If you're affected by this, please check the issue to verify if any of the presented solutions works for you.

Installer Hash

BBCE7F377EBA02C57C0529EFF00FE966A249BEB9F5EEDA068955A0E8032EA42F

Highlights

• Most of the work for running natively on ARM64 has been included in the repo. Thanks @snickler!
• Uses of the obsolete WebBrowser control were replaced with WebView 2.
• All uses of .NET Core 3.1 were removed. PowerToys now runs on .NET 6.
• Settings no longer runs on XAML Islands and is now running on WinUI 3, fixing many bugs related to XAML islands.

General

• Spell checking fixes in the code. Thanks @jsoref!
• Fix for a CI error related to spell checking due to a GitHub API change. Thanks @jsoref!
• Fixed the documentation references to GitHub. Thanks @Cyl18!

ARM64

• Prepare solution and property files for ARM64 port. Thanks @snickler!
• Port unhandled exception handler to ARM64. Thanks @snickler!
• Port of the Settings projects to ARM64. Thanks @snickler!
• Port of most of the PowerToys to ARM64. Thanks @snickler!
• Port of the debug utilities to ARM64.

Always on Top

• Fix for topmost state of the window resetting for some applications. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)

ColorPicker

• The CIEXYZ format is now properly show in upper case.

FancyZones

• Restore rounded corners on Windows 11 and add a setting to control this behavior. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fixed an edge case where the Windows Terminal window wouldn't be snapped when opened. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Improved narrator support in the Grid Editor. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fixed a bug when restoring rounded corners on Windows 11. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fix for windows not being resized correctly on different dpi settings. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Removed resolution from the screen identifier so zones aren't reset when resolution changes.
• Scale the canvas layout when editing according to new scaling/resolution.
• Shipping a new tool to help debug windows interactions with FancyZones.

File explorer

• Fix for a crash in dev file preview if the settings file hadn't been created yet. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• New file types were added to dev file preview (".reg", ".xslt", ".xsd", ".wsdl", ".ino", ".pde", ".razor"). Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Fix an existing "file still in use" issue in dev file preview. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Dev file preview is now able to interpret file extensions in a case-insensitive way. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• SVG and markdown viewers no longer use WebBrowser and use WebView2 instead.
• Markdown preview now respects the dark mode settings on Windows. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Mouse utility

• Fix for the bug causing shortcuts set on icons to not activate when a mouse utility was active on specific monitor configurations.

PowerToys Run

• Fix for PowerToys Run using high CPU and memory when updating its settings. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Add the "Run as different user" feature to the Program, Shell, and Search plugins. Thanks @htcfreek! (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fix for a WindowWalker crash when a Virtual Desktop registry key is not set. Thanks @htcfreek! (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fix for VS Code Workspaces not using the user's path variable right after an install or update. Thanks @ricardosantos9521! (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fix for the System plugin causing PowerToys Run to be slow when many network interfaces exist. Thanks @htcfreek! (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Fix for the Program plugin not showing special shortcuts with empty targets, like Control Panel. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Additional logging for the Terminal plugin. Thanks @davidegiacometti! (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Web Search and URI plugins have better code for detecting the default browser now.
• Fix for the Services plugin not manipulating service names with spaces correctly. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fix for the Terminal plugin not recognizing profiles correctly. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fix for latest VSCode insiders build not showing up in the VSCode Workspaces plugin. Thanks @JacobDeuchert!
• Increased floating number precision in the Unit Converter plugin.
• VSCode Workspaces now finds portable installations of VS Code. Thanks @harvastum
• Fixed an issue starting PowerToys Run when the desktop is not initialized. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Settings

• Settings now runs on WinUI3 instead of XAML islands.
• Settings no longer runs as an administrator when runner is started as an administrator.

Runner

• Use sensible default times for rechecking for an update, to avoid writing to the logs in a loop. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Runner cleans up the update directory if the installation is up to date. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Installer

• Distribute a signed .msi inside the .exe installer bootstrapper. (This was a hotfix for 0.57)
• Removed the .NET core dependency from the installer.
• Partial support for an ARM64 installer.
• Updated the .NET to 6.0.4.
• Force update all files on reinstall/update, to try and fix installation issues.

Development

• PowerToys no longer takes a dependency on .NET core.
• WinUI3 is a new dependency. Settings now targets win10-x64 and win10-arm64 due to this.

Community contributions

We'd like to directly mention certain contributors (in alphabetical order) for their continued community support this month and helping directly make PowerToys a better piece of software.
@Aaron-Junker, @CleanCodeDeveloper, @davidegiacometti, @dend, @franky920920, @htcfreek, @jay-o-way, @jsoref, @niels9001, @snickler.

Release v0.57.2

This is a patch release to fix issues in v0.57.2 to fix a few bugs we deemed important for stability based on incoming rates. See v0.57.0 for full release notes.

• #17332: AlwaysOnTop windows would lose their topmost status sometimes. It'll be reapplied when detected.
• #17390: PowerToys Run would consume 100% of the CPU when many changes were done on settings. This is fixed.
• #17406: FancyZones not restoring rounded corners after unsnapping bug is fixed.
• #17367: Not everyone was happy with FancyZones removing rounded corners on Windows 11. This is now a setting.
• #17318: Settings would get stuck in a loop checking for updates too frequently. This is fixed.
• #1605: PowerToys Run can now run programs as a different user.
• #17468: PowerToys Run WindowWalker crashed on startup on certain Virtual Desktop configurations. This is fixed.
• #16283: New installations or updates of VS Code were not being picked up by PowerToys Run.
• #17454: PowerToys Run was taking a long time to show queries on configurations with many network interfaces. This is fixed.
• #17027: Some applications were not being resnapped to a Zone as they were restarted. This is fixed.
• #17410: Sign the PowerToys .msi file bundled in the .exe installer.
• #17513: Special shortcuts like Control Panel and File Explorer appear again in PowerToys Run.
• #16552: Improve FancyZones Editor grid editor support for screen readers.
• #17537: Update the .net core installed version to 3.1.23, containing security fixes.
• #17493: Fix crash on Developer File Preview when the setting file is not created yet.
• #17539: Fix FancyZones bug when restoring original size of windows when unsnapping on certain display scalings.
• #17570: Additional logging for the Windows Terminal plugin in PowerToys Run.

Installer SHA256 Hash

92D657A001578AEE5B5A3F0748AC7C89C54C870BB86221A5ECFFF1506BD57C41

Release v0.57.0

The v0.57 release cycle focused heavily on stability and improvements. Below are some of the highlights!

Installer Hash

0F20DCDC0A1BF5C86D60A41DED8F459A2CF1457C37BB33DA31979D639DD8BD9E

Highlights

• PowerToys Run quality pass. Old standing issues were re-evaluated and fixed.
• Additional features and improvements were added to existing PowerToys Run plugins.
• New plugin for time and date values/information in PowerToys Run. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The PowerToys Run documentation is also receiving a required update. Thanks @htcfreek!
• We're registering svgs as a picture kind when SVG Thumbnails are enabled so they appear when searching for pictures in File Explorer.
• We've disabled PDF preview by default, given its incompatibilities with Outlook and that Edge is now being registered for previewing PDF files on Windows 10 too.
• From a coding quality point of view, every project now has code analyzer active. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!
• A double click on the tray icon is needed instead of single click to open settings.

Always on Top

• New sound for Always on Top activation. Thanks @franky920920!

Awake

• Fixes for the system tray icon. Thanks @dend!
• Temporary duration presets are now configurable. Thanks @dend!
• Fix for an issue causing Awake to not be closed properly. Thanks @dend!

ColorPicker

• It's now possible to delete multiple colors from history and also export them to a file. Thanks @mshtang!
• The CIEXYZ format has increased precision. Thanks @m13253!
• Performance improved by reducing the use of low level keyboard hooks.

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug where the same layout applied with different configurations to different screens would reset to a single configuration. (This was a hotfix for 0.56)
• When snapping windows with rounded corners on Windows 11, set the correct corner preferences to avoid gaps between zones. Thanks @hallatore!
• Fix for canvas layout resetting due to resolution changes.

File explorer

• Additional markdown file extensions added for Markdown Preview. Thanks @skycommand!
• Svgs are now registered as a picture kind on Windows.
• Added a text wrapping setting and copy context menu to dev file preview. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
• Pdf file preview and thumbnails are now disabled by default, due to incompatibility with Outlook and an appropriate warning is shown in Settings.

Mouse utility

• Find my mouse has a new setting to specify a minimum distance for activation. (This was a hotfix for 0.56)
• Fix for the bug causing the task bar to be hidden behind other windows when a mouse utility was active.
• Fix for the bug causing shortcuts set on icons to not activate when a mouse utility was active.
• Fixed a slight offset in Mouse Pointer Crosshairs when it's configured with an odd thickness.

PowerToys Run

• New plugin for time and date values/information. Thanks @htcfreek!
• WindowWalker now has a tooltip, additional features like killing the process and closing the window, additional settings and improvements. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Unit converter now accepts additional ways of writing feet and gallon. Also interprets as either imperial or US gallons depending on current culture. Thanks @yifan-k!
• Unit converter now accepts metre for meter.
• Localization for Web Search and Unit Converter (not including units) has been enabled.
• Localization for Windows Terminal has been enabled. (This was a hotfix for 0.56)
• Calculator now tries to always interpret the dot (.) symbol as a decimal separator, despite configured culture, to meet expectations.
• Calculator now handles trailing zeroes on hexadecimal numbers correctly.
• System commands plugin can now show the local ip and mac addresses. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Folder plugin has improved results, with improved tooltips. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Windows settings plugin has added entries for Screen Saver and Connect Wiring Display Panel. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Plugins can now show descriptions for their configurations in settings. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Fix for the focus issue when calling PowerToys Run for the first time after login and after returning from some windows.
• Fix for a bug on Program when creating a shortcut.
• Validated that upgrading to .net framework 6 fixed the error appearing when shutting down the system with PowerToys Run running.

Video conference mute

• Newly added microphones are now updated and tracked by VCM.

Settings

• What's new button in the bottom with a new look, with a couple more UI tweaks. Thanks @niels9001!
• Fixed a bug causing Settings not to open when a racing condition caused Keyboard Manager settings to not be read correctly.
• To open settings from the tray icon a double click is needed instead of a single click.
• Fix for a bug which would cause checking for updates to run indefinitely.
• When auto-updating, pass a flag to avoid restarting without being prompted.

Installer

• Dependencies installers are now executed with /norestart to avoid unprompted restarts. (This was a hotfix for 0.56). Thanks @franky920920!
• Upgraded .net framework dependency to 6.0.3.
• Installer logs are now saved where they can be collected and sent by the bug report tool.
• Reverted changes to start with proper elevation and when installed under a different user since those changes ended up causing more issues where PowerToys would start running with the wrong user.

Development

• OOBE code refactor to have all module information in XAML, like in Settings. Thanks @niels9001!
• Every project now has analyzers turned on and warnings fixed. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!
• New patterns added for code spell-checking and stale entries removed. Thanks @jsoref
• Additional logging has been added to Fancy Zones and PowerToys Run.
• A new CI release build will not be triggered if all that was changed was just documentation.
• Fixed a racing condition causing flaky build errors when building PowerRename.
• Centralization of common csproj/vcxproj settings underway. Thanks @CleanCodeDeveloper!

Community contributions

We'd like to directly mention certain contributors (in alphabetical order) for their continued community support this month and helping directly make PowerToys a better piece of software.
@Aaron-Junker, @CleanCodeDeveloper, @dend, @franky920920, @htcfreek, @jay-o-way, @jsoref, @niels9001, @snickler.