Windows 11’s major File Explorer overhaul is now in the latest preview build and actually works – to a point – although it’s hidden away and you have to tinker under the system hood. operation to activate it.
This revelation was made by a Windows 11 tester appearing more and more on Twitter these days to share interesting discoveries hidden behind the scenes of the operating system, namely PhantomOfEarth.
The leaker used ViVeTool (a Windows configuration utility) to enable the revamped File Explorer homepage in the new Windows 11 preview build 23419 (just released in the Dev channel).
Yes, it can be enabled. Soon the identifiers! For now, here’s a video showing some neat animations, it looks like the legendary purple highlight (/s) on items has been replaced pic.twitter.com/51k22tOt1aMarch 22, 2023
As you can see, PhantomOfEarth has a video clip of the new File Explorer briefly showing it in action, which makes for an interesting watch.
Additionally, the leaker points out that Techosarusrex has unearthed recommendations that will appear at the top of File Explorer’s home page, highlighting files you might want to access quickly.
The special look for recommended content in the new homepage is also present, thanks to @techosarusrex for the screenshot pic.twitter.com/59YheHU2rjMarch 22, 2023
Remember, these are all hidden items, and naturally Microsoft has applied a bunch of visible changes to Windows 11 with build 23419. This includes a new USB 4 settings page that lists connected USB 4 hubs and devices, as well as related details to help you. along with troubleshooting any related connectivity issues.
There are minor tweaks elsewhere, like renaming the “Recommended” section of the Start menu to “For You” (a change we already knew was coming), and a new way of working for specifying default apps (which we’re discussing in depth here).
Analysis: Some interesting insights – but be careful looking under the hood
How do you find the appearance of the new File Explorer so far? We have to say that these recommended files are displayed quite prominently at the top of File Explorer, but this implementation can change to something a little more subtle down the line. Of course, all of these features are still in pre-testing (not yet enabled in preview builds), so this is a very early preview of the File Explorer redesign.
Note that even when enabled, File Explorer’s recommendations feature only works for those connected to Azure Active Directory (AAD), as initially Microsoft is aiming this at business users. That said, it could possibly see a wider rollout to consumers, or at least it’s easy enough to envision that, especially since suggestions and recommendations are a path that Microsoft seems keen to go down (no doubt integrating AI as an assistant on the longer-term desktop).
It’s also worth mentioning that another big change to File Explorer in the pipeline that you can enable is the previously spotted built-in photo gallery. Clearly, a lot of changes are coming to this central pillar of the Windows 11 interface.
If you enable these hidden features, by the way, you can expect serious problems (don’t do it on a daily driver PC, for example). Early previews are unstable by their very nature, not to mention features unofficially brought into play before they’re ready by playing around with the Windows 11 setup.
