PowerToys improves FancyZones and adds new utilities in latest update

Microsoft PowerToys logo (Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

PowerToys has a new update that brings it to version 0.1.6.0.
The update brings improvements to FancyZones and several new utilities.
The update also brings over 100 fixes to issues.

Microsoft's PowerToys has a new update that brings several improvements and new utilities. The update brings the tool to v0.1.6.0 and adds a Markdown Preview pane extension, SVG Preview pane extension, Image Resizer Windows Shell extension, and Window Walker, which is an alt-tab alternative. The latest version also improves Fancyzones.

PowerToys is a collection of utilities for power users. It includes utilities like the PowerRename tool, an Image Resizer tool, and FancyZones, which lets you customize windows on your desktop.

Here's the complete changelog for v0.1.6.0:

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FancyZone improvements:

Multi-Monitor improvement: Zone flipping switching now works between monitors! Simplified UX: Removed layout hot-swap and flashing feature due to need to improve multi-monitor support

New Utilities!
- Markdown Preview pane extension
- SVG Preview pane extension
- Image Resizer Window Shell extension
- Window Walker, an alt-tab alternative
Fixed over 100 issues!
Testing improvements
- 54 UX Functional tests
- 161 new Unit tests

Window Walker is an interesting utility that comes with this update. It allows you to press Control + Windows to bring up a search bar. You can then search for running programs on your PC.

You can grab the latest version of PowerToys from GitHub.

Sean Endicott is a News Writer at Windows Central, where he covers Windows 11, Surface hardware, Microsoft 365, AI, apps, and the broader PC ecosystem. Since joining the site in 2017, he has written well over a thousand articles across the Microsoft landscape, covering breaking news, analysis, and feature reporting.

He writes Windows Wrap, a weekly column covering the biggest stories in Windows and the PC industry, and what they mean for the platform going forward.

Before joining Windows Central full-time, Sean worked in journalism and media production after earning a First Class degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. Outside of tech, he is an award-winning American football coach based in Nottingham, England, and was named BAFCA Youth Coach of the Year in 2024.