Microsoft Starts Testing File Explorer With Tabs in Windows 11

Microsoft has started testing a new File Explorer in Windows 11 with tabs to let users easily access multiple locations on their PC simultaneously. The Redmond company tested tabs on File Explorer in Windows 10 back in 2018, though it eventually deserted that plan. In addition to testing the new navigation experience, Microsoft has accidentally made the next big update of Windows 11 available on PCs that are not officially supporting the latest operating system. The software giant has acknowledged the mistake and called it a bug.

The Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25136 has been introduced with the File Explorer carrying tabs, Microsoft said in a blog post.

Initially, Microsoft announced the experience in April and is now testing it with Windows Insiders. It lets users easily move from one location to another on File Explorer, without requiring them to open different windows.

Alongside tabbed support, File Explorer has received a refreshed layout of the left navigation pane to provide easy access to your pinned and frequently used folders. The left-side pane also includes your OneDrive cloud profiles — reflecting your name associated with the account.

Microsoft said that in the testing it is not displaying Known Windows folders under This PC section "to keep that view focussed for your PC's drives."

It is important to note that while Microsoft has announced the updated File Explorer, it is not yet available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel, which is meant to receive the most active updates. This is to monitor feedback from early testers and see how the experience is available before pushing to all testers at once.

The latest Windows 11 testing build also comes with dynamic widgets where you will see live updates beyond the weather widget. Microsoft said that it is bringing live updates from the sports and finance widgets, as well as breaking news alerts.

Windows 11 users may soon be able to use dynamic widgets for live updates
Photo Credit: Microsoft

Just like the new File Explorer experience, the additional dynamic widgets are not yet available to all Windows Insiders in the Dev Channel.

The new Windows 11 Insider Preview release also includes fixes for some known issues and carries the ability to let users report inappropriate GIFs from the emoji panel. There are, however, still some known issues that would be introduced if you install the testing build on your system.

Microsoft has also started testing an updated Notepad app that includes native support for ARM64 devices as well as brings performance and accessibility improvements. Similarly, there is an updated Media Player with performance improvements and the ability to sort songs and albums in your collection by date added.

The updated Media Player includes support for DC playback and improvements to better adapt to theme changes and to media content drag and drop experience.

Both updated Notepad and Media Player are rolled out to Windows Insiders on Windows 11.

Separately, Microsoft released the Windows 11 update (22H2) to its Release Preview testers earlier this week that has reached PCs which are not officially supported.

As spotted by Neowin, users on Twitter and Reddit reported that a large number of Windows Insiders on Windows 10 systems with older CPUs were able to upgrade to Windows 11 as a result of the accidental update.

Shortly after the issue came into notice on the Web, Microsoft acknowledged that it happened due to a bug.

"It's a bug and the right team is investigating it," the official Windows Insider account on Twitter said while responding to a user. It also confirmed that the minimum requirements announced last year will remain the same.