My favorite free Windows 11 app just got another great update — what's new in PowerToys v0.98

PowerToys v0.98: What's New

• Advanced Paste
  • Fixed a crash on the Advanced Paste settings page caused by null property values in #45207
  • Fixed a crash on the Advanced Paste settings page caused by unsafe settings upgrade logic in #44862
  • Fixed a settings page crash by resolving the Foundry Local AI endpoint when it changes in #45699
  • Added resilient handling of Foundry Local port changes at runtime so AI paste actions recover automatically in #45362
  • Added auto-copy selection for custom action hotkeys so users can copy and paste with a single shortcut in #44767
  • Updated OOBE description to clarify AI features now support more than just OpenAI API keys in #45233
  • Added AI preview credit documentation in #45236
• Always On Top
  • Added a "Toggle always on top" entry to the window system menu (title bar right-click) for easy access without hotkeys in #45773
  • Added transparency adjustment support for pinned windows using modifier keys + plus/minus shortcuts in #44815
  • Fixed an issue where Always on Top settings changes were not applied immediately in #45994
  • Fixed duplicate command entries in the window system menu in #45845
• Awake
  • Improved code quality and developer documentation for Awake in #44795 by @dend
• Color Picker
  • Added an optional integer-rounding formatter for CIELab color components, with updated help in Settings in #42986 by @ruthiesun
• Command Palette Dock (New Feature)
  • Added Dock, a persistent command and application launcher in #45824
  • Added Dock APIs, allowing extensions to integrate with the launcher in #45432
  • Fixed several visual and behavior issues in the pre-release Dock including handling multiple app bars, keyboard focus order, and missing icons in #45871, #45873, #45954, #45837, #45839, #45898, #45968 by @jiripolasek
  • Added instructions for pinning items to Dock in #46052
• Performance & Reliability
  • Dramatically improved Command Palette search and launch performance in #45764, #44090 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved fuzzy matching accuracy and robustness, including better Unicode and emoji handling in #45275, #44809, #44807 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved icon loading performance, and fixed icon loading issues in #44938, #44973, #44538, #45460, #45980 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved UI responsiveness during search and result updates in #44545, #45782 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved extension loading reliability so one faulty extension no longer blocks others in #45720 by @jiripolasek
  • Fixed several threading and stability issues in #42273, #45076, #44729 by @jiripolasek
• UI & UX
  • Switched to single-row result items for a cleaner, more compact layout in #45763 by @jiripolasek
  • Added support for translucent Command Palette windows in #45159 by @jiripolasek
  • Replaced the filter dropdown with a searchable version in #45747 by @jiripolasek
  • Added a context menu for quick actions on search results in #45086 by @jiripolasek
  • Added a "Keep previous query" setting to preserve search text between invocations in #45742
  • Added the ability to retain the selected item when refreshing results in #45882 by @jiripolasek
  • Fixed several UI bugs affecting selection, focus, and scrolling in #46038, #45949, #44757, #45309, #45815 by @jiripolasek
  • Added the ability to pin and manage commands from anywhere in the command tree in #45673, #45566
  • Improved window positioning and multi-display behavior in #45057, #45877, #45585 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved icons, Home page headings, and added developer UI toggle in #45870, #45958, #45979, #45379 by @jiripolasek
  • Fixed opening web URIs in default browsers that don't support exe arguments in #45614 by @jiripolasek
  • Fixed alias UI clearing when toggling Direct/Indirect combobox in #45381 by @jiripolasek
• Extensions & SDK
  • Added a new Performance Monitor extension that brings DevHome performance widgets into Command Palette in #45217
  • Added an option to hide non-application results from search in #45741 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved the reliability of several extensions including Calculator, All Apps, and RDP in #44594, #45804, #45716, #45740 by @jiripolasek, @michaeljolley
  • Added Mouse Without Borders easy mouse support to the PowerToys extension in #45350
  • Fixed Window Walker issues when enumerating UWP apps in #45601 by @daverayment
  • Improved localization and accessibility across extensions in #45505, #45506, #45508, #45589 by @jiripolasek
  • Added caching for disabled command providers so their names and descriptions still display in #44278 by @jiripolasek
  • Changed RDP fallback to non-global by default in #46053 by @jiripolasek
• Infrastructure & Code Quality
  • Introduced a global error-handling foundation for Command Palette, including an error report builder and PII sanitizer, with improvements to version reporting and sanitizer behavior in #44140, #45374, #45613 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved stability and thread safety across several components, fixing potential race conditions and UI threading issues in #46020, #46021, #45498, #45502, #45878 by @jiripolasek
  • Refactored internal architecture and removed obsolete code to simplify the Command Palette codebase, including factory usage improvements, Window Walker cleanup, and Core project removal in #45572, #45570, #45693 by @jiripolasek, @michaeljolley
  • Added unique IDs to all PowerToys commands to allow them to be pinned to Home in #45840
  • Improved build reliability and tooling by addressing CsWinRT warnings, WinUI binding issues, and markup extension limitations in #45827, #45324, #45830, #45833 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved development workflow and repository configuration, including formatting rules, solution filters, and build configuration fixes in #45739, #45738, #45096, #45250 by @jiripolasek
  • Improved extension infrastructure and documentation, including updated installation tooling and new development guides in #44886, #44863, #45632, #45967
  • Improved system command handling by running shutdown and restart actions in a hidden window in #45062 by @jiripolasek
  • Optimized Performance Monitor GPU statistics collection using batched counter reads in #45835 by @jiripolasek
  • Updated dependencies and project improvements including MarkdownTextBlock upgrades, SDK spec corrections, and string updates in #44793, #44781, #46040 by @RubenFricke
• Cursor Wrap
  • Added an enhanced cursor wrapping engine which includes enhanced multi-monitor support, display change handling, configurable wrap modes (horizontal, vertical, or both), and enterprise policy support in #44936 by @mikehall-ms
  • Added option to disable CursorWrap when only a single monitor is connected in #45303 by @mikehall-ms
  • Improved wrapping behavior and diagnostics with updated edge-wrapping model, cursor logging, and module loader settings support in #45915 by @mikehall-ms
  • Updated modifier-key activation so wrapping only occurs while Ctrl/Shift is held, matching similar behavior in Mouse Without Borders in #46009
• File Explorer
  • Updated the Markdown previewer to prevent unsafe navigation in #45801
• Image Resizer
  • Temporarily disabled AI Super Resolution feature and refactored caching in #44768, #44759
• Keyboard Manager
  • Updated Keyboard Manager to a new modern WinUI3 interface with the ability to enable or disable individual mappings in #45649 by @chenmy77, @Jay-o-Way
  • Added a hotkey (Win + Shift + K) to enable or disable Keyboard Manager on the fly in #42472 by @weikequ
  • Fixed new Keyboard Manager entry not being shown in the Settings shortcut list in #45938
  • Improved performance when performing multiple text replacements quickly in #46046
  • Fixed a text replacement bug in #46069
• Light Switch
  • Fixed an issue where Light Switch could be manually enabled or disabled even when Group Policy restrictions were active in #45756
  • Improved the reliability of location detection by adding a timeout and validation checks in #45887
  • Updated sunrise/sunset offset validation rules to make the feature more robust in #45125
  • Fixed incorrect theme being loaded at startup in #45304
• Mouse UtilitiesNew+
  • Added ability to hide the Windows built-in "New" context menu when New+ is enabled to avoid duplicate entries in #44979 by @cgaarden
  • Fixed issue where templates with numeric-only names were not displayed correctly in #45439 by @cgaarden
  • Fixed error dialog appearing when toggling the built-in "New" context menu visibility in Settings in #46029
• Peek
  • Fixed file rename or search operations in Explorer incorrectly triggering Peek in #44995
• PowerRename
  • Improved Unicode normalization and added regex metacharacter tests in #44944
• PowerToys Run
  • Improved Window Walker search performance and significantly reduced memory usage when matching repeated/similar strings in #44551 by @daverayment
• Settings
  • Prevented duplicate Shortcut Conflict windows by introducing a singleton pattern in #42440 by @davidegiacometti
  • Fixed multiple UI and usability issues across Settings, including tray icon theme handling, context menus, contrast issues, and incorrect button states in #44931, #44982, #44736, #45367
  • Fixed reliability issues including crashes, incorrect symbols, and Settings process shutdown behavior in #45766, #45787, #45696
  • Refactored OOBE/SCOOBE flows into standalone windows and removed unused experimentation plumbing in #44721
  • Added an Open Settings button to SCOOBE for easier access in #45775
  • Improved Settings UX and policy messaging in #45513, #45030, #45033 by @htcfreek
  • Reduced overhead by using OneTime bindings for static Dashboard controls in #45765
  • Updated badges and telemetry handling in the system tray and Dashboard in #45992, #44985, #46048
  • Added solution filter support for Settings UI projects and improved layout constraints in #46036, #46035 by @jiripolasek
• Workspaces
  • Fixed overlay positioning on multi-monitor setups with mixed DPI settings in #45183
• ZoomIt
  • Added a video trim dialog for editing recordings directly in ZoomIt in #45334 by @foxmsft, @MarioHewardt
  • Added configurable audio inputs for recordings, fixing silent recording issue in #45700 by @foxmsft
  • Fixed issues affecting recording saving, subsequent recording startup, and virtual microphone cleanup in #46034, #45386 by @foxmsft
  • Fixed an ampersand typing bug and debug assertion failure in #43679 by @daverayment
  • Added datetime suffix to screenshot filenames for easier organization in #43172 by @daverayment
  • Added the full ZoomIt hotkey list to ZoomIt's settings page in #43073
• Development
  • Added support for Visual Studio 2026 and centralized the PlatformToolset configuration in #44304 by @snickler
  • Improved build configuration and project consistency, including centralized .NET target framework handling in #41366 by @snickler
  • Upgraded dependencies including Windows App SDK and the C++ runtime in #45532, #45420 by @snickler
  • Improved async infrastructure with WinRT coroutine support in #45522
  • Fixed several CI and release pipeline issues affecting signing, build failures, and Windows App SDK compatibility in #45971, #45211, #45390, #44639, #45582, #44800
  • Improved development environment tooling and solution organization in #45990, #45555
  • Added documentation for writing a new PowerToy module in #44242
  • Added telemetry developer documentation in #44912
  • Improved developer docs in #45534 by @noraa-junker, @snickler
  • Updated the data and privacy documentation to reflect current telemetry events in #44844
  • Added spellcheck words and sorted expect.txt in #45251 by @jiripolasek
  • Added dev guideline to verify builds before opening PRs in #45419
  • Fixed libFuzzer failing to resolve target class name in Hosts fuzz tests in #45784
  • Added unit tests to protect common utility code and fixed discovered bugs in #45290
  • Migrated test infrastructure to newer MSTest framework in #37651 by @Youssef1313
  • Fixed UI tests for Light Switch, Hosts, Workspaces, and Mouse in #44754
  • Updated localization build dependencies and bundled extension localization files into installer in #45889, #45194
  • Created Common.UI.Controls library to consolidate shared WinUI controls in #45542 by @jiripolasek
  • Added Group Policy definition for CursorWrap to ADMX/Intune templates in #45028 by @htcfreek
  • Fixed Image Resizer not working after upgrade on Windows 10 in #45184
  • Improved internal tooling for release note generation, PR comment workflows, and developer utilities in #44762, #44996, #45204, #45606
  • Improved development environment setup tooling in #45813 by @SeanKilleen
  • Updated Assets conflict script to improve error message clarity in #45551
  • Updated release note generation skill to quote co-authors in #45819
  • Enhanced bug report template with file upload option in #46015 by @noraa-junker
  • Properly localized "View on GitHub" link and release date in What's New OOBE page in #45847 by @PesBandi
  • Fixed WinUIEx crash issue in #45443