What you need to know
- Microsoft PowerToys is a collection of utilities that enhance the Windows experience.
- The app just received an update to version 0.80.0, which includes several improvements and fixes.
- Among the highlights is added support for WebP, WebM, and audio files when using the Peek utility.
Microsoft PowerToys is arguably the best free app on Windows 11. The collection of utilities gets new features and improvements regularly, and April is no exception. You can now download PowerToys v0.80.0 through GitHub or the Microsoft Store.
The update allows winget to configure PowerToys and fixes several UI issues. It also adds support for the Peek feature to look at WebP, WebM, and audio files. The full change log is quite extensive, as is often the case for PowerToys.
The Peek feature in PowerToys lets you preview files without having to open multiple separate applications. You just need to configure a shortcut to take a peek at any supported file (CTRL+SPACE is the default shortcut). Since Peek supports images, videos, and now audio files, you can preview all those files with a single shortcut rather than having to open different apps. Pressing an arrow key lets you browse through the file previews, which is handy for quickly checking content.
What is a WebP file?
Our colleagues over at Tom's Hardware have a breakdown of the history of WebP files and why websites use them, but I'll summarize some of the key points here. As the name suggests, WebP files were invented with the web in mind. You have Google to thank for WebP, as the company introduced the file type in 2010.
WebP files are designed to reduce load times for websites. They compress better than JPEG files by between 25-34%, according to Google. Despite Google's involvement of introducing and supporting WebP files, other companies are on board. Apple's Safari supports WebP, as do Chromium browsers and some other browsers.
For several years, WebP files required a plugin to work in Photoshop, but that's no longer the case. Most photo editing apps support WebP files in 2024. Many of those apps can convert WebP files into other formats easily.
So, if many big companies are on board and my browser of choice works with WebP files, why do I hate them? Because some images appear to be a different file format but then when you try to save them, they turn out to be WebP files. I then have to convert the files into the format I want, creating an extra step to use the image. It's probably a rather specific struggle that myself and the rest of the Windows Central team deal with, so it may not affect your workflow.
PowerToys v0.80.0 change log
Highlights
- New feature: Desired State Configuration support, allowing the use of winget configure for PowerToys. Check the DSC documentation for more information.
- The Windows App SDK dependency was updated to 1.5.1, fixing many underlying UI issues.
- WebP/WebM files support was added to Peek. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
- Audio files support was added to Peek. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
- Automated UI testing for FancyZones Editor was added to CI.
General
- Added a Quick Access entry to access the flyout from PowerToys' tray icon right click menu. Thanks @pekvasnovsky!
- Added support for Desired State Configuration in PowerToys, allowing the use of winget configure to configure many settings.
Awake
- Fix an issue causing the "Keep screen on" option to disable after Awake deactivated itself.
Color Picker
- Fixed a UI issue causing the color picker modal to hide part of the color bar. Thanks @TheChilledBuffalo!
Command Not Found
- Now tries to find a preview version of PowerShell if no stable version is found.
FancyZones
- Fixed a crash loading the editor when there's a layout with an empty name in the configuration file.
- Refactored layout internal data structures and common code to allow for automated testing.
- The pressing of the shift key is now detected through raw input to fix an issue causing the shift key to be locked for some users.
File Explorer add-ons
- Fixed a crash occurring in the Monaco previewer when a file being previewed isn't found by the code behind.
- Fixed an issue in the Markdown previewer adding a leading space to code blocks. Thanks @Aaron-Junker!
- Fixed wrong location and scaling of preview results on screens with different DPIs.
- Added better clean up code to thumbnail handlers to prevent locking files.
File Locksmith
- Allow multiple lines to wrap when viewing the modal with selected file paths. Thanks @sanidhyas3s!
Installer
- Fixed the final directory name of the PowerToys Run VSCode Workspaces plugin in the installation directory to match the plugin name. Thanks @zetaloop!
- Used more generic names for the bootstrap steps, so that "Installing PowerToys" is not shown when uninstalling.
Keyboard Manager
- Fixed an issue that would clear out KBM mappings when certain numpad keys were used as the second key of a chord.
- Added a comment in localization files so that translators won't translate "Text" as "SMS".
Peek
- Added support to .WebP/.WebM files in the image/video previewer. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
- Added support for audio files. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
- Fixed an issue causing the open file button in the title bar to be un-clickable. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
- Fixed an issue when previewing a folder with a dot in the name that caused Peek to try to preview it as a file. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
PowerToys Run
- Added a setting to the Windows Search plugin to exclude files and patterns from the results. Thanks @HydroH!
- Fixed an issue showing thumbnails caused by a hash collision between similar images.
- Added the "checkbox and multiline text box" additional property type for plugins and improved multiline text handling. Thanks @htcfreek!
Quick Accent
- Added the Schwa character to the Italian character set. Thanks @damantioworks!
Registry Preview
- Allow alternative valid names for the root keys. Thanks @e-t-l!
- Fixed an issue causing many pick file windows to be opened simultaneously. Thanks @randyrants!
Screen Ruler
- Updated the measure icons for clarity. Thanks @Aaron-Junker and @niels9001!
Shortcut Guide
- Updated the Emoji shortcut that is shown to the new Windows key + period (.) hotkey.
Text Extractor
- Fixed issues creating the extract layout on certain monitor configurations.
Video Conference Mute
- Added enable/disable telemetry to get usage data.
Settings
- Added locks to some terms (like the name of some utilities) so that they aren't localized.
- Fixed some shortcuts not being shown properly in the Flyout and Dashboard. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
- Updated image for Color Picker and outdated animations for utilities in OOBE. Thanks @niels9001!
Documentation
- Added FastWeb plugin to PowerToys Run thirdPartyRunPlugins.md docs. Thanks @CCcat8059!
- Removed the old security link to MSRC from the create new issue page, since security.md is already linked there.
- Added clarity regarding unofficial plugins to the PowerToys Run thirdPartyRunPlugins.md docs.
Development
- Updated System.Drawing.Common to 8.0.3 to fix CI builds after the .NET 8.0.3 upgrade was released.
- Adjusted the GitHub action names for releasing to winget and Microsoft Store so they're clearer in the UI.
- Upgraded WinAppSDK to 1.5.1, fixing many related issues.
- Consolidate the WebView2 version used by WinUI 2 in the Keyboard Manager Editor.
- Unified the use of Precompiled Headers when building on CI. Thanks @dfederm!
- Added UI tests for FancyZones Editor in CI.
- Added a GitHub bot to identify possible duplicates when a new issue is created. Thanks @craigloewen-msft!
- Updated the WiX installer dependency to 3.14.1 to fix possible security issues.
- Changed the pipelines to use pipeline artifacts instead of build artifacts. Thanks @dfederm!
- Added the -graph parameter for pipelines. Thanks @dfederm!
- Tests in the pipelines now run as part of the build step to save on CI time. Thanks @dfederm!
