Windows 11 could finally make color management easier, and that’s great news for artists and gamers

Microsoft might be planning to release a new color management panel that’ll make picking the perfect color profile for your PC much easier. The perfect color settings make games pop out of the display more vividly, and if you’re a digital artist or photographer, the right color profile could make or break your next masterpiece. 

According to VideoCardz, the change was spotted in the Windows Insider program's latest Insider Preview Build 26052. This is a community of Windows enthusiasts and developers that get early access to potential new features and upgrades, and give feedback before the features are available to regular Windows 11 users. 

The new color management panel showcased in the build has been updated to the modern Windows 11 aesthetic and relocated to the main Settings menu, with easy-to-navigate options and a simpler layout. The old color management menu, which had to be accessed via the Windows Control Panel, has been effectively removed in Build 26052.

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Better control,hopefully … 

Most people who just use their PC for office work or school projects might never venture to this section of the Settings menu, but this could be great news for photographers, digital artists, video editors, and gamers who rely on getting the most out of their monitors. 

From the side-by-side screenshot comparison in the above tweet (sorry, 'X post'), you can see some new features too: the option to color-calibrate your monitor for specific profiles and enable automatic color balancing for compatible Windows apps. If you don’t want to manually color calibrate, you can either select the best option from the available profiles or create your own so you get the most accurate hues. 

While we're excited about this change, we do have to keep in mind that some features that are put into the Dev channel don’t always make it out to the public, so there is a chance we might never see it reach the public build.  We do however hope to see it come to Windows 11 soon because it’ll be a convenient way of managing your color preferences and profiles within the menu layout you’re already familiar with. 

If you want to give it a go, you’ll have to sign up to join the Windows Insider program first. Once you’ve done that you’ll be able to go straight to the ‘display’ section of your general settings and see the ‘Color Management’ option, where you can play around with different profiles and settings. 

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This Outlook email update will give your calendar a splash of color

Microsoft Outlook users will soon be able to liven up their work calendars with a bit of color thanks to a new update coming to the service.

An upcoming upgrade will soon allow Outlook web users to customize the color of the events in their calendar app, letting them not only liven up the view, but also create better distinction and visibility into their working week.

The official entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap notes that users of the email service will be able to select custom colors for their calendar events using hexadecimal values, RBG values, or a color picker control.

Outlook update

The update is currently still in the development phase, but Microsoft has pegged it for a release in February 2022. It will only be available to web users to begin with, but may roll out elsewhere soon.

The move brings Outlook up to speed with some of its biggest rivals, with Google Calendar already allowing users to set a number of different colors for events.

Microsoft has revealed a number of useful updates for Outlook in the last few months as it looks to further assist those embracing the hybrid working lifestyle.

This includes a tool that will help users eliminate mistakes from their messages with the launch of spelling and grammar checks for its Outlook on mobile platform.

Another update will allow workers to set a notice showing where they are working, whether that be at home, in the office, or anywhere else.

Google Calendar received a similar feature in August 2021, allowing users to highlight exactly where they would be working, with the options of home, office, or a specific other location.

Users can also create a weekly working location routine if they plan on going into the office on certain days and working remotely on others, which can be updated at any time if plans change. There was no information as to whether Microsoft's Outlook update will do the same, but we're hopeful it will.

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