Microsoft’s productivity tool, PowerToys, received V0.64 with a handful of features, including the Locksmith tool and the new File Editor. On top of this, it has a new feature that allows you to export your PowerToys Settings backup, restore, and more to FancyZone.  Microsoft released another major update to Microsoft PowerToy, which solved one of the significant issues for general and somewhat professional users. As we all know, to use a feature, we either had to see the shortcut key for that feature or launch Microsoft PowerToy.

Now, with Microsoft PowerToy v0.67.0, there is a new taskbar quick access flyout feature that really helps users get shortcuts to the PowerToys tools. Aside from that, Microsoft PowerToys received an update that included improved performance, bug fixes, and quality-of-life improvements.

Download Microsoft PowerToy

You can download the latest Microsoft PowerToys from the Microsoft Store or the GitHub repository. The Taskbar Quick Access Flyout for PowerToys Shortcut now allows you to launch the Main PowerToys app and access all of the tools from PowerToys Tools by clicking on the system tray. The shortcut also looks native to Windows 11 and allows users to choose by toggling the device from the context menu. The latest Microsoft PowerToys also bring a set of bug fixes and quality-of-life updates, with enhancements for Windows 11 and 11.

Microsoft updated its PowerToy, which brings the ability to enable the registry preview feature in Settings with a modern design and an easy-to-use interface. This update made the design feel more native to the registry with mica material and rounded corners. It is based on WinUI.

The registry still needs to be replaced with the legacy registry editor at this point. Still, it offers similar functionality with a few more options, like the ability to check the changes with an Edit and Preview option, so users can check the effect in real-time of the changes made. Despite this, it comes in handy as a tool to create or modify the registry files to make changes in Windows. You can change several Windows behaviors, like removing the Bing Discover Icon, enabling the Classic Context Menu, and more.

Patch Notes for Microsoft PowerToys v0.67.0

Highlights

• I added an option for PowerToys to run to a tab through results instead of using context buttons.
• All PowerToys registry entries are moved from machine scope (HKLM) to user scope (HKCU).
• I added a system tray launcher for quick access.

Feature Updates and Enhancements

• Awake: Disabled instead of hiding the “Keep screen on” option.
• FancyZones: Refactored and improved code quality.
• File Explorer: Fixed escaping HTML-sensitive characters when previewing developer files.
• Image Resizer: Improved code quality around a silent crash that was being reported to Microsoft servers.

PowerToys Run

• I added the option to tab through results only.
• System plugin: updated the Recycle Bin command to allow opening the Recycle Bin.
• System plugin: Improved Recycle Bin command to not block PT Run while deletion is running.
• System plugin: Other minor changes to improve the usability of the Recycle Bin command
• WindowWalker plugin: shows all open windows with the action keyword.

Quick Accent

• Added dash characters.
• Added Estonian characters.
• Added Hebrew characters.
• I added diacritical marks.
• Added Norwegian characters.

Settings

• Fixed the URL click crash on the “What’s New” screen.
• I added a system tray launcher for quick access. 

You need to know these highlighted features; however, there are more features. The developer confirms bringing the warning sign about deprecation during the video conference mute. 

• New Utility: Add File Locker, Host File Editor 
• Setting up Backup and Restore 
• Set the default rotation of the screen when a monitor ID is reset. 
• Updated with Group Policy Objects settings for enabling and disabling software utilities in organizations. 

File Locksmith 

This is one of the most interesting things; we have been in a situation where we got stuck with an error while deleting a file. These features allow you to find the app and easily terminate the process to finish deleting the file. 

Host File Editor Tool 

This allows you to edit the host file in Windows 11 or 10 with a dedicated interface. Without it, you need to edit the host file in Notepad.

Besides this, Always on Top is fixed now; it detects and places the window again on top if not. A new hexadecimal integral format is available in Colour Picker. As mentioned, Fancy Zone allows you to set the default layout for horizontal and vertical screens, but there is more to it.  It now improves accessibility for screen rendering by replacing the remaining number boxes and fixing the issue related to breaking window-switching shortcuts. Meanwhile, the other has been fixed and optimized so that you can read it here on GitHub. 

The PowerToys update includes the Registry Preview feature for previewing and editing in Windows 11.

Microsoft recently added a host file editor and the Monitor tool to check what process uses a specific file. Despite this being designed for Windows 11, Windows 7 or higher can use this feature with PowerToy.

Microsoft PowerToy

Users can install the PowerToy from the Microsoft Website or use the “winget install –id Microsoft.PowerToys” command to install the app from CMD. Alternatively, you can check out the Microsoft Store or GitHub. To update, you can check for updates in PowerToy to update your PowerToy to V0.69.

If you are unfamiliar with the PowerToy, then it’s an open-source project by Microsoft that brings experimental features that Windows lacks by default, several updates, and components that can later debut with the Windows stable, such as the Snap from the Fancyzone. Apart from this, there are a lot of features, like PowerRename, Pin Window on top, Focus on Mouse Cursor, Text Extractor, Keyboard Manager, Image Resizer, Colour Picker, and more.

PowerToy Registry Preview

It is a GUI/applet designed to launch the Windows Registry (.reg files), allowing users to preview the registry file before importing and modifying the registry. Commonly, it has a database that stores system and application settings. As we mentioned, you can make and import changes to registry files to modify Windows behavior like appearance, performance, security, and compatibility. It will be available on PowerToy V69 or later, and it is under development so it might have significant bugs or limitations.

This is one of the most complex features when making changes to customize your Windows, but editing could be challenging when you get familiar with the fundamentals. The Registry Preview brings a simplified registry to an appealing interface, allowing modification of registry files. Microsoft confirms that the Registry Preview is limited to 10MB per file. You might encounter an error if the file is more than 10MB. This is a welcome feature of Windows.

What is the New PowerToy Registry Preview Feature?

This new feature allows users to view the registry and edit the .reg file easily. Users can use any text editor to display the content in simple text. Registry preview can be used to preview them in style, which often has a.reg file in the style of Registry Editor.

It does have a lot of handy editing capabilities. As we often get the.reg file from an unknown source, it is better to check the registry for which we previously needed to apply those files, and then later, we can use it, but it does have a significant disadvantage. But now you can check to preview what.reg has effect before making changes.

To manage files and make modifications to the registry, you can also have the ability to create, edit, and preview registry files in an editor section on the left side. It has a virtual tree view on the right side for each patch of registry settings, with a string and DWORDS with a respective value at the bottom. With the new Graphical User Interface (GUI), users can view the contents of registry files without opening them in a text editor or importing them. Users can also compare the file’s content with the current registry value.

How to use the new PowerToy Registry Preview on Windows

This feature is not enabled by default on PowerToy. Users need to enable this in the PowerToy settings, and the steps for this are quite straightforward. Here are the instructions mentioned below.

Registry files are available with the extension.reg, which you can create and share with the registry without requiring you to open a Registry Editor. To edit a file, you can also use Ctrl + E to edit the.reg file within the registry preview and to write to the registry, use Ctrl + W.

• Open PowerToy, and then head over to Registry Preview from the left sidebar.
• Use the toggle to enable the Registry Preview option.
• Click on Launch Registry Preview to open it, and then you can start using the new registry on Windows.

This new registry preview has four different areas to work with, starting with a toolbar that you can use to manage and make changes to registry files. On the left side panel, you have an editing section, and on the right, you have a virtual tree and the file’s DWORDs with a respective value at the bottom.

• If you want to open any file, head over to the file and then use the Open file button from the toolbar or right-click on the file to open the Reg file.

If you want to open any registry file from a File Manager, right-click on the reg. File. There is a Preview option within the Show More option in the context menu. To use Preview before saving the file, follow the following instructions:

• Next, choose the Preview option, and then you can modify the registry. Users can now write settings to preview, which means even before saving the changes, you can check the effect for which you need to use “[]” in Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 in the first line, and at last, use “[]” followed by settings and its value.
• Once you finish making changes, you can save the file.

Apart from this, there is a new Reload from the file that you can use to open the file in another text file. The Write to Registry option also allows you to make changes to the computer’s registry, for which you need to click on Confirm to verify your changes. However, Open Registry Editor will open the legacy registry editor in Windows 11.

Download PowerToy

It now improves accessibility for screen rendering by replacing the remaining number boxes and fixing the issue related to breaking window-switching shortcuts. Meanwhile, the other has been fixed and optimized so that you can read it here on GitHub. 

PowerToys is one of the most powerful utility tools that add productivity value to Windows. Which is constantly improving and adding features that might later come with the Windows stable update. There are many known issues, including the error with the Text Extractor where it won’t recognize the text on Arm64-based devices that you can check out on the GitHub page.