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Windows 11’s File Explorer could hook up directly with your smartphone to make file transfers from Android easier than ever
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Microsoft has been hard at work further integrating Android devices into Windows 11, recently allowing users to draft in their phones as makeshift webcams. Riding the same wave of inter-device connectivity, a new feature is apparently in the works that will allow you to see and use your smartphone directly in Windows 11’s File Explorer – just like it was an external drive. 

According to reputable leaker @PhantomOfEarth on X, the groundwork is present in Windows 11 for the ‘Cross Device Experience Host’ to be able to link File Explorer on the desktop to your smartphone. This will allow File Explorer direct access to the files on your smartphone, or the ability to shift files the other way, from your PC to phone.

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If you cast your mind back to the beginning of the year, you may remember that the Cross Device Experience Host is replacing the Phone Link feature, so if you’re wondering why this may sound like more of a Phone Link feature, there’s your answer.

Once you turn on the feature – note that it’s still hidden in test versions of Windows 11 – @PhantomOfEarth observes that you’ll be asked to grant file access permissions, after which you’ll be good to go.

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Exciting times

Sadly, there isn’t anything else revealed about the feature, and we don’t even know the basics of how it’ll actually work. We’re assuming it’ll use Wi-Fi, maybe, to connect your phone and PC, so that your smartphone is always there in File Explorer whenever you sit at your computer with it (with both on the same Wi-Fi network). That’s pure speculation, mind.

We expect to see this functionality make an appearance in the Windows Insider Program, where devs and enthusiasts test out potential new features in preview builds of Windows 11. Until we have official word from Microsoft to confirm the feature is happening, though, we won’t know for sure – so don’t get your hopes up too high. 

That being said, it’s still a pretty cool ability to look forward to!  Not only could you move documents, photos, or other files between your PC and phone a lot more quickly and conveniently, but as noted, it seems like once you’ve set permissions your device should automatically register in File Explorer.

This is definitely a feature I would have enjoyed when I was a student and had to search and scramble between my phone and my laptop to make sure I had all the relevant research in one organized place. While I won’t allow myself to get too excited yet, I will wait patiently and hope to see the feature on my PC before too long. 

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Microsoft forgot to remove Windows 10’s File Explorer from Windows 11 – here’s how to find it
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An especially inquisitive Reddit user has worked out a trick that lets you use Windows 10’s File Explorer in Windows 11 without having to mess with your Windows Registry.

Windows 10’s File Explorer and overall user interface (UI) are some of the biggest reasons that many folks prefer the older operating system, so this will be regarded as quite the breakthrough in some respects. Mainly because other workarounds to be able to achieve the same end require that you tinker with your Windows Registry, requiring a degree of understanding and care (or a third-party tool, most of which are not free).

Now, thanks to Reddit user The_Blank_Spot, you can achieve the same thing a lot more easily. 

To fire up Windows 10’s File Explorer within Windows 11, follow these steps: 

1. Type ‘Control Panel’ into the search box in the Windows 11 taskbar and open the panel.

2. Click on ‘System and Security.’

A screenshot of the home screen of Control Panel, with an arrow pointing to 'System and security'

(Image credit: Microsoft)

3. Click on ‘Windows Tools.’

A screenshot of the 'System and Security' page, with an arrow pointing to 'Windows Tools'

(Image credit: Microsoft)

This should open the ‘Windows Tools’ folder, but here’s the trick: it opens in the classic Windows 10 File Explorer UI. From here, you can go on to navigate to different file locations or system drives, and those who have tried, including us, have observed that the interface won’t change while that window stays open.

In other words, you’ll have the Windows 10 File Explorer the whole time you’re working with this window, until you close it.

An easy workaround with seemingly no downside

This workaround seemingly doesn’t cause any issues with your OS and it also doesn’t replace the current Windows 11 UI. You can use the rest of Windows 11 as usual, and you can even use both File Explorers side by side at the same time (if you open any folder in Windows 11 as normal).

Using Windows 10’s UI here also means you get access to a feature that was cut in Windows 11 – though admittedly it’s coming back in testing – namely ‘drag and drop’ in File Explorer’s address bar. This allows you to select a file or folder that’s currently open in a location in File Explorer, then drag it to another location listed in the address bar to move it there. 

A commenter in the thread regarding The_Blank_Spot’s discovery, RockFox, pointed out that once you’re in ‘System and Security’ within ‘Control Panel,’ you can right-click ‘Windows Tools’ and use ‘Create shortcut.’ Then, you can right-click this shortcut and select ‘Pin to Start’ or  ‘Pin to Taskbar’ to place it in a convenient place in those parts of the Windows 11 interface, and rename it to whatever you want.

Many people might be delighted to find out about this, and I will probably take these steps on my own device, too. However, since this does appear to be a bug that Microsoft hasn’t caught yet, it’s likely the company might close this loophole when the next huge Windows 11 update, 24H2, is released later in 2024.

Via Notebookcheck.net

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Microsoft still has tricks beyond just ads and AI: Windows 11’s File Explorer set to get a slick new ‘Shared’ section
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It looks like Microsoft is still making time to work on functional improvements to Windows 11, such as a recent update to File Explorer – and I’m not just talking about its enthusiasm for holistically peppering adverts all over the operating system and integrating AI into every part of it. The new development is looking to add a ‘Shared’ section into File Explorer and is currently being tested with Windows 11 beta users. 

The new File Explorer section is included as part of the Windows 11 Preview Build 22635.3640, available through the Beta Channel of the Windows Insider Program. Even if you install this preview build, the feature is disabled by default and has to be enabled using ViveTools, an open-source software that allows you to test out experimental features. 

The addition of this new section to File Explorer was discovered and shared by X user and occasional Windows leaker @PhantomOfEarth who described their experience of the upgrades that Microsoft is toying with introducing for File Explorer, including ‘fancy visuals’ for sections (even if they are empty) and the introduction of the ‘Shared’ section. 

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The first of these discoveries indicates that Microsoft is currently testing changes to the File Explorer user interface (UI), specifically three sections appearing in a sort of horizontal ribbon layout below your file folders: ‘Recent,’ ‘Favorites,’ and ‘Shared.’ Formerly (well, currently, for those of us not using a preview build of Windows 11), these appeared in a vertical list below your file folders. 

A screenshot of locating the old Task Manager using File Explorer's address bar

(Image credit: Microsoft)

How you can set up and try out the new 'Shared' section for yourself

If you’re absolutely itching to get the newly introduced ‘Shared’ section, as well as the changes to the UI, Windows Report recommends that you download ViveTool from its official GitHub page. You’ll have to install Windows 11 Preview Build 22635.3640 first, and then download ViveTool. ViveTool is a third-party app, but it’s widely used and I don’t see any immediate issues that strike me as cause for concern on its GitHub page. 

Once you’ve downloaded ViveTool, you’ll want to open Command Prompt or PowerShell, which are easiest to find by typing either one of those into the search bar in the Windows Taskbar. Then, copy and paste the following code into the window that opens: 

vivetool /enable /id:45130483

Again, this is a feature that’s currently in the testing stage; it’s not even enabled by default in the preview build, and this tracks with what users who have used it have been reporting – the new section appears to not be fully integrated into File Explorer yet and can be buggy at times. One user reported a bug that affected the whole of File Explorer, with the left-hand menu being automatically populated with copies of pinned shortcuts. 

The new section’s bugginess is probably why it’s currently disabled by default, and as Windows Report cautions, you should only enable it at your own risk. You can disable the new features and changes by modifying the ‘enable’ part of the above code to ‘disable,’ so you don’t have to panic even if you do choose to try this out and end up encountering some glitches. 

The new functionality for File Explorer seems useful, and I hope Microsoft continues to work on it to sharpen it and make it functional. It’s easy to see how a ‘Shared’ section would make it easier to collaborate with others your device is connected to. Also, these are the kinds of changes that I think users welcome, as they’re not too big, but have the potential to become part of how we use Windows in our regular routines.

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Microsoft improves File Explorer in Windows 11 testing, but appears to have second thoughts about some Copilot ideas
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Windows 11 just received a new preview build and it makes a number of important changes to the central pillar of the operating system’s interface, File Explorer – and there’s an interesting announcement about Copilot here, too.

As you may be aware, File Explorer is what you’re using when opening folders on your desktop, and Windows 11 got web browser-style tabs in these folders courtesy of the first major update for the OS (at the end of 2022).

In the new build 22635 in the Beta channel, Microsoft has introduced the ability to easily duplicate a tab in File Explorer.

All you need to do is right-click on an existing tab, and there’s a new option to duplicate it – click that and a second copy of the tab will be opened. It’s a neat shortcut if you want to dive deeper into other folders inside a particular folder, while keeping that original folder open.

On top of this, the preview build ushers in multiple fixes for this part of the interface, including the solution for a memory leak when working with ZIP folders in a File Explorer window. A fix has also been implemented for an issue which means the spacing between icons in File Explorer becomes very wide.

There’s also a cure for a bug where a search wouldn’t work the first time you tried it, and it’d return no results. Microsoft also notes that it: “Fixed a few issues impacting File Explorer reliability.”

There’s not much else happening in build 22635 – check out the blog post for the full list of other tweaks – but Microsoft has taken a notable step back with Copilot.

The company notes that over the past few months in Windows 11 preview builds, it has tried out a few new ideas with the AI assistant, observing that: “Some of these experiences include the ability for Copilot in Windows to act like a normal application window and the taskbar icon animating to indicate that Copilot can help when you copy text or images. We have decided to pause the rollouts of these experiences to further refine them based on user feedback.”

Analysis: Some careful thought is required for Copilot visibility

It’s interesting to see that feedback has resulted in a halt on those Copilot experiments, though obviously Microsoft is careful not to say exactly why these changes have been rescinded (for now).

We were particularly skeptical about having Copilot effectively waving its hands at you from the taskbar, with that animation declaring it can help with something, so we aren’t too surprised Microsoft is having a careful think about how to proceed here.

If there is any behavior along those sorts of lines, it’ll have to be subtle, and users will need the ability to switch it off, if they don’t want animations on the icon (which is also happening with widgets on the taskbar, too). We’ll be keeping a close eye on Microsoft’s moves in this respect.

The work on File Explorer is good to see, and should make it more stable and reliable overall. Duplicate tabs are a useful shortcut to have brought in, as well, and were only recently spotted hidden in test builds, so Microsoft has moved pretty swiftly to officially introduce this change.

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Tired of Windows File Explorer? This app makes it way easier to navigate everything on your PC
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If you think that Windows 11’s File Explorer could be better, you’re not alone – and there’s a popular third party alternative, the Files app. The Files app (which despite its name, has no relation to Microsoft’s own File Explorer) just got an upgrade that makes it an even better tool for navigating your file systems, with the latest version of the app allowing users to navigate big folders more easily. 

The Files app update 3.2 brings user interface (UI) improvements like a list view layout for files and folders, the capability to edit album covers of media files via folder properties, and support for higher quality thumbnails. Along with UI improvements, users can also expect many fixes and general improvements.

According to Windows Central, the Files app’s occasional instability while handling large file folders was one of the biggest user complaints with it and this update addresses that, too. The app should now be more functional when users attempt to use it with bigger file folders.

A young woman is working on a laptop in a relaxed office space.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How the Files app measures up as a file explorer 

Windows Central does state that it doesn’t think the Files app is just ready to completely replace the default Windows Files Explorer, but that “it can be a powerful and useful companion app.” It offers unique features that File Explorer itself doesn’t offer and, to many users, it’s got a sleeker look. This app is available for both Windows 10 and Windows 11, but the app’s performance can vary from system to system. Window Central writes of its own investigation of the File app’s performance and it does report that the app has issues with performance and stability on some PCs. You can check the full change log of what Files version 3.2 delivers if you’d like to know more.

Many users would like to see Windows’ old File Explorer include many of the File app’s features, and maybe Microsoft is watching. It recently released its own proprietary PC Cleaner app, a system cleaner tool that offers lots of the tools of popular paid third-party system cleaners for free. Also, Microsoft’s been at the receiving end of some heat both from industry professionals and competitors, as well as regulators in the European Union with its recent introduction of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Offering tools like PC Cleaner and a souped-up File Explorer could be a way for it to win back some user trust and goodwill. 

The existence of third-party apps like this is good for users two-fold because it can motivate first-party developers to improve their products faster, and it also gives users more choice over how they use their devices. The Files app looks like it sees regular updates and improvements, and definitely sounds like it could be worth users’ while given that it has no malware issues and if you get good performance upon installing it.

If you’d like to try out Files for yourself, bear in mind that it isn’t free: the app comes with a one-time charge of $ 8.99/£7.49, although thankfully there aren’t any subscription fees. You can download it directly from the Microsoft Store. 

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Fed up with Windows 11’s Copilot already? Then you won’t like this leak which suggests the AI could be inserted into File Explorer
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Windows 11 might soon witness Copilot coming to File Explorer, or in other words, the folders on your desktop that you use to interact with files on a daily basis.

The theory is that Microsoft could be planning to bring the Copilot AI to these folders based on a line of code uncovered by a leaker on X (formerly Twitter).

PhantomOfEarth made the revelation in a tweet that noted there’s a new feature called ‘CopilotFEContextMenu’ present in test builds of Windows 11 which can be enabled using a special configuration tool. (Not that there’s any point in doing so, as the feature doesn’t do anything yet – it’s just a signal of Microsoft’s potential intentions here).

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As the name suggests, this would appear to hint at a context menu option. In other words, when you right click a file in a folder, a choice relating to Copilot will be present in the menu that pops up.

As theorized, it might be a ‘Send to Copilot’ option that passes the file to the AI, whereupon you’ll presumably get the assistant popping up offering further choices (summarizing a document, for example).

Analysis: No surprises, but maybe alarms for some

All of this is mere speculation, of course, at this point, and lines of code in the background are the very earliest of signs that something is happening around a potential feature.

However, it’d be no great surprise to see Copilot integrated into File Explorer in this way, as it makes sense to have a convenient option to invoke the AI when you want it to work with a specific file.

Certainly, Microsoft has made no secret that it’s massively focusing on pushing AI across all its products, including Windows. Only yesterday we saw that Microsoft is ushering in a new key for the keyboards of Windows PCs – a move mirroring the introduction of the Windows key itself nearly 30 years ago.

Think about it for a moment: that’s how important Copilot is, in that it gets a dedicated key in the same vein as the key named after the operating system itself.

It’d be a shock if Microsoft wasn’t planning to introduce Copilot to other parts of the Windows 11 interface, frankly, and we can certainly expect further ways of invoking the AI across the desktop in the future – alongside the ability to directly summon Copilot from the keyboard as mentioned.

The best that those who aren’t so keen on Copilot can hope for is that they get ways to turn off the AI assistant across the board in Windows 11.

Via Neowin

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Microsoft steps up its Windows 11 file management game – get ready to say goodbye to WinRAR and &-Zip
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If you’ve ever downloaded a 7-Zip file or RAR file (archive file formats that allow users to compress files to more portable, smaller sizes), you will probably find that you need an extra program or app or do something with them in Windows 11, but that’s about to change. Microsoft has announced native (as in, built-in) support for 7-Zip file and RAR file formats in Windows 11 22H2. 

According to BleepingComputer, Microsoft has stated that Windows 11 22H2 can now support almost a dozen archive file formats that it couldn’t before without a third-party app or program such as RAR, 7-Zip, Tar, and GZ archives. 

This update came as part of October’s optional KB5031455 Preview cumulative update. This means to have this new archive file capability, you’ll need to go to Settings, then to Windows Update, and select ‘Check for Updates’. Once your device finds the new optional update, click the ‘Download and install’ button. 

That means Windows 11 will soon support all of the following archive file types: .rar, .7z, .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.bz2, .tar.zst, .tar.xz, .tgz, .tbz2, .tzst, and .txz. Password-encrypted files aren’t covered in this update, but that will come soon. BleepingComputer asked Microsoft about the lack of password-protected archive support, but Microsoft had nothing to share at this time. 

This development was first announced during the Build 2023 conference back in a May blog post that detailed Microsoft’s new Dev Home Windows control center.

Reportedly, Microsoft enlisted the open-source libarchive project, a library of file archive and file compression formats. Apparently, this open-source project also allows users to enable support for the LZH and XAR file formats, so we could see in-house Windows 11 support for these as well. If you’re familiar with the .gz archive file format, you’re probably a Linux user familiar with the GNU Zip (gzip) utility. This new Windows support for this file format will be helpful to those using the Windows Subsystem for Linux. 

Internet Archive

(Image credit: Shutterstock / 300 librarians)

How you can power up your Windows 11's file capabilities

Again, if you’d like this new capability for Windows 11 right now, you’ll need to manually install it. Otherwise you can wait until November’s Patch Tuesday, when there is a scheduled Windows 11 cumulative update. Either way, you will get all the new Moment 4 update features which includes a whopping seventy two new features for Windows 11 like a revamped File Explorer, a renewed Backup app, a new Passkey Manager, and the shiny jewel of the update, Windows Copilot. 

This is a welcome update, especially since the ZIP, 7-Zip, and RAR archive formats are widely used by users of Windows systems past and present. Since 1998, Windows has had native system support for ZIP archive files, and it’s good to see 7-Zip (.7z), RAR (.rar), and gz (.gz) files, get support in Windows 11, which should make using those files much easier – and means you won’t need to install any extra applications. 

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A new Windows 11 bug can be tweaked to turbocharge your File Explorer
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A newly-discovered Windows bug can be activated to turbo boost your File Explorer in Windows 11. X (formerly Twitter) user @VivyVCCS made the discovery and shared it. 

Multiple users have been complaining that their Windows 11 is sometimes slow to load and that it takes a while to get search results in File explorer. According to Neowin, tests have shown that in some respects, Windows 10 is actually faster than Windows 11 – which is pretty embarrassing for Microsoft.

However, the new bug has been found that affects the navigation bar, but which also causes much faster loading times for folders and files. You can see a demo of this in @VivyVCCS’s post: 

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The effect of the trick

Neowin also reports that this trick can speedsup the search function within File Explorer. MSPoweruser also claims that this F11 full-screen trick can improve the loading performance of your directory and slash down the “Working on it…” time in Windows 11 devices that don’t make use of an XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) navigation bar.

This increases File Explorer’s responsiveness. Triggering the bug prompts the contents of a folder and thumbnail previews for files to load immediately, and Neowin quotes a Reddit user that compared this altered loading time to that of File Explorer in Windows 7, which was widely praised for its speediness.

This isn’t the only nifty trick that isn’t widely known. You can force Task Manager process updates to pause by holding down Ctrl for some time while the process updates window in Task Manager is open. Doing this can help you end tasks more easily instead of trying to pin them down as they jump around in the Processes window. 

Trying it for yourself

In order to try this out for yourself, you’ll first need to have Task Manager open. You can open it by pressing Ctrl + Windows key + Delete or search for it in the search box in the taskbar.

You can then  trigger this bug by the following procedure: 

1. Open or switch to File Explorer in full-screen mode. You can do this by pressing F11. 

2. Exit full-screen mode. Press F11 once more. 

Undetermined source of the bug

According to Neowin, this bug (and possibly also the workaround) affects all versions of Windows 11, stretching from the original release all the way up to the most cutting-edge Canary update channel Insider builds. 

It’s not yet established exactly why this trick works, or whether this has any adverse effect on other parts of Windows 11. 

This is a handy tip to make use of, but you’d hope this sort of thing would be incorporated into Windows 11 by default. Windows 11 is supposed to be Microsoft putting out its best modern operating system, so it's not a great look if there are bugs that actually improve its performance. 

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Don’t worry – Google Drive is already removing its new file limit
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Google appears to have already stepped back from introducing a file limit to its online cloud storage platform.

Earlier this week, reports began to surface from Google Drive users across the globe that they had encountered new notifications about a seemingly newly-introduced account limit of five million files.

However, Google Drive has now officially responded to the reports, revealing that it will not be introducing a limit after all, and reassuring users that their files are safe.

There's no limit

“We recently rolled out a system update to Drive item limits to preserve stability and optimize performance,” the company's official Twitter account said. “While this impacted only a small number of people, we are rolling back this change as we explore alternate approaches to ensure a great experience for all.”

“If we need to make changes, we will communicate them to users in advance.”

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The move was met with some alarm by Google Drive customers, who received no warning of the change, suggesting it may have been a mistake on the company's part.

The wording of the warning notification certainly didn't reassure users, who were confronted with a message reading, “Error 403: This account has exceeded the creation limit of 5 million items. To create more items, move items to the trash and delete them forever.”

One Reddit user was even given a notification telling them to, “Please delete 2 million files to continue using your Google Drive account.”

As we noted in our original story, five million files is a pretty big allowance in real terms. For users on Google Drive’s 2TB offering – the highest personal plan available – the average file size across an account would have to be 400 kilobytes (KB). 

That being said, there are certainly some instances where users may have that many files, for instance in the storage of large amounts of record data – but for the vast majority, users shouldn’t hit their limit, whatever Google decides that will be.

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Google Drive has suddenly decided to introduce a file cap – but you might never hit it
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It’s official – cloud storage provider Google Drive has decided to add an official cap on the amount of files that can be stored on a single account.

Per Ars Technica, the limit, set at five million files, started cropping up for some Google Drive users in February 2023, despite Google offering no warning that the cap was being introduced, and offering a notification that wasn't all that clear at explaining what the problem was: “The limit for the number of items, whether trashed or not, created by this account has been exceeded.”

Said notification has evolved since then, and now reportedly reads: “Error 403: This account has exceeded the creation limit of 5 million items. To create more items, move items to the trash and delete them forever.”

Google Drive file cap

As of last week, the notification for one Reddit user read “Please delete 2 million files to continue using your Google Drive account.”

The new policy (which remains undocumented across all pricing pages) means Google Drive customers are being prevented from accessing the full extent of the storage they’ve paid for. However, it’s worth noting that 5 million files, in real terms, is a pretty big allowance.

For Google Drive’s 2TB offering – the highest personal plan available – the average file size across an account would have to be 400 kilobytes (KB). There are certainly instances where that may be the case – the storage of large amounts of record data, for example. But in the vast majority of cases, users shouldn’t run up against the limit.

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> Google Drive is finally making it easier to find your lost files

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Business users are even less likely to face issues with the limit. A spokesperson for Google told Ars Technica that the limit applied to “how many items one user can create in any Drive,” rather than a blanket cap.

Details were thin on the ground, but they also noted that the new limit is “a safeguard to prevent misuse of our system in a way that might impact the stability and safety of the system.” 

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