Boost Windows with Microsoft PowerToys
YOU’LL NEED THIS
WINDOWS 10 OR 11; MICROSOFT POWERTOYS a free and open-source download from either the Microsoft Store or Github ( https://aka.ms/installpowertoys).
MANY OF THE BEST TOOLS are small and perfectly formed, but having to source them all from separate places, never mind manage them, can be a real pain, even for the most enthusiastic Windows tweaker. That’s part of the rationale behind resurrecting Microsoft PowerToys, a disparate collection of tools that was originally released back in the days of Windows 95, and then later updated for Windows XP before being retired. But now they have been resurrected again in the style of the original Windows 95 release, as a single, unified package rather than a series of individual downloads.
In this tutorial, we’re going to showcase some of the 18 tools and mini-apps that make up the PowerToys collection, drawing your attention to those we think are of the most interest to MaximumPC readers. But don’t just take our word for it, why not install them yourself? The simplest way to install PowerToys on your PC is to search for it in the Microsoft Store, but you can also download the latest installer direct from its GitHub page. Most people will require the x64 version, but there is also an arm64 build available for compatible devices, such as Microsoft’s SQ3 Surface Pro 9. –NICK PEERS
1 FIRST STEPS
Launch PowerToys ( https://aka.ms/installpowertoys) for the first time and a colorful icon appears in the Taskbar notification area. Clicking this reveals the Shortcuts pane, which is initially empty. Click the More button, and a complete list of PowerToys components will appear with a series of simple on/off sliders indicating whether the applet is enabled or not.
» An easier way to review PowerToys’ available tools is via its Settings. Click the cog on the main Shortcuts screen or rightclick the Taskbar notification area icon and choose Settings. This will open to the program’s General settings page, which contains the usual set of configuration options, from checking for (and configuring automatic notification of) updates to backing up and restoring your PowerToys settings. It’s all self-explanatory, so click the hamburger ( ) icon to reveal the components list where you can configure individual applets.
» However, before exploring this further, click ‘Welcome to PowerToys’ beneath it. This opens a new window with a handy preview of each applet, as shown in [ Image A], what it does, how to use it, and a direct shortcut to its Settings pane. Take the time to work through the list.
2 CONFIGURE INDIVIDUAL APPLETS
Once you have familiarized yourself with what PowerToys offers (new components are constantly being added via regular updates, so keep checking back after updates), it’s time to explore some of the most interesting tools.
» Let’s start with ‘Always On Top’ a handy tool that can be used to pin individual application windows so they always remain on top of others. The feature is enabled by default and you can test it by selecting a window and pressing Win + Ctrl + T. You’ll hear a sound and the selected window will gain a visible border to help identify it. You’ll notice as you open and close other windows it remains stubbornly on top.
» You can pin multiple windows (the last pinned window is always the one at the top) or select a pinned window and press Win + Ctrl + T again to disable the pinned feature so it behaves normally again. Now open the applet’s Settings page where you’ll find that all aspects of it can be configured as shown in [ Image B].
» You can enable or disable the feature, change its shortcut, limit its behavior (for example, so that it’s disabled when Game Mode is on), alter its appearance (the border, its color, and whether it’s rounded or not), and create individual exclusions to prevent selected apps from being pinned.
3 HANDY SYSTEM TOOLS
Let’s continue our tour by grouping the applets into two broad categories, starting with system tools. ‘Awake’ (disabled by default) lets you temporarily override your power saving settings via a Taskbar notification area icon, while ‘FancyZones’ takes window management to the next level by allowing you to create custom-sized zones for arranging and snapping windows.
» ‘File Locksmith’ helps you track down what process is currently locking a file or folder—simply right-click the errant file and choose ‘Show more options > What’s using this file?’ to view a list, plus close the errant process to give you access to edit or delete the file as required. ‘File Explorer add-ons’ simply add support for previewing PDF, mk (markdown), and various developer file formats to File Explorer.
» ‘Mouse utilities’ adds useful features to your mouse, from ‘Find My Mouse’ (shake the mouse or press left Ctrl twice) to ‘Mouse Jump’ (move the mouse instantly to anywhere on your desktop). ‘PowerRename’ integrates bulk renaming into Windows via a shell extension, with support for regular expressions and other powerful naming conventions.
» Forgotten what Windows keyboard shortcut does what? Press Win + Shift + / and Shortcut Guide will pop up a handy overlay revealing what universal shortcuts are available and, in the case of the Taskbar shortcuts, they’ll even point to the relevant app icon on the Taskbar as shown in [ Image C].
4 BOOST YOUR PRODUCTIVITY
PowerToys is also packed with tools to help boost your day-to-day productivity. One of its standout features is ‘Text Extractor’, which allows you to pull editable text from images through clever use of OCR. Before you begin, you’ll need to install an OCR language pack. Right-click the Start button and choose Terminal (Admin). In a PowerShell window, enter the following commands:
$Capability = Get-WindowsCapability -Online | Where-Object { $_.Name -Like ‘Language.OCR*en-US*’ }
$Capability | Add-WindowsCapability -Online
» Once installed, Text Extractor works in a similar way to the Snipping Tool. First, bring up the image containing text onscreen – the larger the better. Then, press Win + Shift + T to click and drag a rectangle around the text part of the image as shown in [ Image D] (hold Shift if you need to move the selection for any reason). Once captured, the screen will flash and the converted text is placed on the clipboard, ready for pasting elsewhere.
» Elsewhere, ‘Color Picker’ makes it easy to quickly select colors from any application window, then configure them in a clipboard-friendly format, from RGB to HEX. ‘ Image Resizer’ allows you to quickly resize one or more files directly from File Explorer. When enabled, right-click the selection and choose ‘Show more options > Resize pictures’. You can set your own custom sizes for quick selection or make precise adjustments each time.
» Keyboard not working as you’d like? ‘Keyboard Manager’ allows you to remap keys and create your own keyboard shortcuts, while ‘Paste As Plain Text’ allows you to strip any text formatting from the clipboard so plain text is pasted into any application with a global keyboard shortcut (Win + Ctrl + V by default).
» PowerToys is constantly expanding its capabilities— ’Paste As Plain Text’ is the newest tool added to the mix, and with major updates appearing every month, it pays to keep a close eye on the tool’s release notes ( https://github.com/microsoft/ PowerToys/releases). Remember, though, that PowerToys is still pre-release software, so expect some bugs.