- Windows 11 previews are soon to roll out with many new features.
- Some new features include a Snap bar, acrylic visuals for title bars, and new touch gestures.
- Taskbar drag and drop files and app folders for the Start menu are coming back.
Microsoft plans to release a slew of experimental new features for Windows 11 in the Dev Channel. According to a new report from Windows Central, sources familiar with the development say that new builds will roll out to testers with new features and bring back functionality absent from the original release in the coming weeks.
If you follow the Windows Insider Program, you know that the company hasn’t rolled out new builds in several weeks. This is because the development team has been spending more time adding new features and improvements.
For example, the report says that Microsoft is bringing the file drag and drop feature back to the Taskbar. The ability to create app folders in the Start menu. Blur and semi-transparent materials for legacy title bars, a new “Snap bar” feature, and new gestures for touch-enabled devices.
Taskbar and Start features coming back
As part of the Taskbar changes, the team is re-introducing the ability to drag and drop files to open files and updated auto-hide functionality when using Windows 11 in tablet mode. Also, the Taskbar is getting a new overflow experience that will enable automatically when the user has too many apps on the Taskbar.
In the Start menu, the app folders would let you drag and drop apps over another to create a folder to better organize your applications in the “Pinned” section while optimizing the space.
New Snap bar feature
On Windows 11, Microsoft introduced a new feature known as “Snap layouts” to help users snap multiple windows together on the screen, and “Snap bar” is a new feature that will introduce another way to snap apps.
The feature it’s said to be a new “bar” interface that will drop down from the top of the screen when you grab and drag a window that will make it easier to snap windows.
Windows 7-like visuals for title bars
As part of the process to modernize the remaining legacy elements, Microsoft plans to add a blur and semi-transparent visuals for title bars across the entire system and classic applications, similar to the acrylic design for Windows 7.
Windows 11 touch improvements
Finally, the company also plans to start experimenting with some tablet improvements, including new swipe gestures to open the Start menu and Quick Settings flyout. For instance, swiping up from the bottom will open Start, and swiping up from the system tray area would open the Quick Settings flyout.
Alongside these changes, upcoming preview builds in the Dev Channel are also expected to ship with a slew of other features, such as Stickers for wallpapers, notification improvements, new power management settings, and other tweaks for the Settings app.
Some of these features are likely to ship with the next update codenamed “Sun Valley 2” for Windows 11, arriving during the second half of 2022. However, since the changes in the Dev Channel are now purely experimental, it’s unclear which features will make it to the final release.
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. Email him at [email protected].