Windows Terminal version 1.5 is now available as preview on Windows 10, and it introduces a bunch of new features and improvements.
According to the company, the terminal is getting support for full hyperlinks, BEL character, emojis for profile icons, and tab switcher ordering. In addition, you now have the ability to set the desktop wallpaper as the background for the Windows Terminal. You can now decide the launch mode of the app, disable animations when creating or closing panes, and there are some new command palette improvements.
Windows Terminal 1.5
Here are all the new features and improvements for version 1.5 of the Windows Terminal app:
Tab switcher order
In this new version of the Windows Terminal, there are two new settings, including the "mru" and "inOrder" to enable the tab switcher with the tabs listed either in most recently used order or in order of their layout in the terminal.
// Enables the tab switcher "useTabSwitcher": "mru", "useTabSwitcher": "inOrder" // Disables the tab switcher "useTabSwitcher": "disabled"
Desktop background image
In the "backgroundImage" setting, you can now use the "desktopWallpaper" to set your desktop wallpaper as your terminal background.
Launch modes
Windows Terminal 1.5 also includes a new "launchMode" setting to specify whether the terminal should start in focused or maximized focus mode.
"launchMode": "focus", "launchMode": "maximizedFocus"
Animation control
If you’re not interested in seeing animations when you create or close pane, you can use the the "disableAnimations" global setting.
Hyperlink support
Starting with version 1.5, the terminal can detect and make links clickable using the Ctrl + Click combo.
Emoji for profile icon
You can now use emojis as your profile icon for any of the consoles. You only need to set the “icon” to an emoji.
Audible bell
It’s now possible to enable or disable the bell character with the "bellStyle" profile setting.
Actions improvements
As part of new actions, you can now specify the "openTabRenamer" option to enable the ability to click and rename a tab.
In addition, the "togglePaneZoom" setting is new, and it allows you to expand a pane to fit the entire contents of the terminal window.
Commands palette improvements
When you install version 1.5, you’ll also find several improvements for commands. For example, the > prefix has been switched to action mode inside the command palette. And you can use a backspace to remove the character and jump to the command line mode to run command arguments.
If you’re in a nested menu, you can now navigate back to the root menu without having to exit the command palette. Also, when searching for a command in the command palette, the matching text will be highlighted in the result to make it visually easier to find the command.
Windows Terminal 1.5 is now available as preview with the new features mentioned above and several bug fixes, and you can download it from the Microsoft Store or GitHub.
If you’re in the stable release of the terminal, the version is now 1.4 available with all the changes previously unveiled in the preview release of this version.
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 15 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 21 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. Email him at [email protected].