Microsoft details new Windows 8 beta changes in file management

Building Windows 8 Blue

As Windows 8 beta release date approaches, Microsoft is trying to satisfy all its users. This week the company is responding to users feedback by tweaking and making changes that are going to be reflected in the next public milestone.

To begin, one of the issue for many  users was the Ribbon style menu that appears atop of Explorer in Windows 8. The software maker has said in many occasions that the Ribbon is just necessary to expose features that otherwise will remain hidden and never be used by most users, and for tablet users. Many tech-savvies were not very happy with the Ribbon taking so much screen space.

Moving forward, Microsoft will keep the Explorer’s Ribbon minimized by default in Windows 8. Additionally, users who utilize the Ribbon menu will notice that a new tooltip appears next to the button with the keyboard shortcut for that action, that way in the future users will learn and use the keyboard shortcut instead of finding and clicking the button — at least that is the plan. In a new article the Ilana Smith from Microsoft said “we will be reducing distractions and trusting users to discover functionality on their own, by minimizing the ribbon by default”.

Ribbon minimized by default - Windows 8

Tooltips - Windows 8

In addition, Microsoft is making some other changes thanks to users feedback:

From Windows Explorer, users will now be able to pin shortcuts, executable files and folders to the new Metro style Start menu, “which can be very useful for applications that don’t add themselves to the Start screen by default” Ilana said.

Ribbon - Pin to Start - Windows 8

Furthermore, Explorer in Windows 8 will respect EXIF orientation information for JPEG images. This means that if your camera is set correctly, you’ll hardly need to rotate your photos.

In Windows 8, Microsoft is improving how the OS handles copy operations when the computer sleeps or hibernates. Originally a copy job was going to resume after the computer wakes up, but to avoid errors users will have to click a depressed pause button to resume the copy job.

Copy conflict resolution - Windows 8

In the upcoming release, Windows will have a better way to deal with file conflicts. The software maker is including a new check box that will let the OS automatically skip files with the same date, size and time (duplicates). Also Windows 8 will be able to increase the network throughput on the fly, when copying a large amount of data, if a new network connection is added.

Finally, Windows 8 will incorporate a new feature that will allow the sync of all Explorer settings across PCs. This new option can be found in PC Settings, under Sync your settings as Other Windows settings.

Sync your settings - Windows 8

If you are getting excited about all the new changes that are coming in Windows 8 beta, you should check the complete list of changes that Microsoft is incorporating from users feedback and you can always check all our Windows 8 coverage here. Remember that Windows 8 beta is set to be released in late February.

Let us know what do you think so far are about Windows 8 in the comments below.

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.