- There’s a new version of PowerToys out
- The suite of tools has a new utility called Window Hopper
- This allows you to easily cycle through open instances of the same app, and it’s a nifty trick for multi-tasking in certain situations
Microsoft has released a new version of PowerToys, its suite of tools for Windows 11 (and 10), and it packs a smart new addition.
This is PowerToys v0.101.2362.0, and as flagged by XDA Developers, the release notes on GitHub introduce us to Window Hopper.
As the name suggests, this utility lets you easily hop between windows in Microsoft’s OS with a shortcut that defaults to Alt + backtick (the ` symbol top-left of your keyboard, usually under the Escape key, or on the left of the number 1 key).
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At this point you may be thinking: can’t you switch between the windows of running apps by using Alt + Tab? Yes, you can, but there’s a key difference between that shortcut and this new ability.
With Window Hopper, you are switching between the open instances of the same app, in the case that you’re running multiple windows of said app. For example, like me, you might commonly have three or four browser sessions running in different windows, and pressing Alt + backtick will cycle between just those.
That’s handy because it means all the other apps you may have open won’t get in the way if you specifically just want to ‘hop’ between multiple instances of Chrome, say, or a clutch of Word documents you’re working with (or folders in File Explorer).
If you don’t like the default key combination to invoke Window Hopper, that can be changed.
On top of this new PowerToy, the existing Command Palette tool now has a compact mode, so it opens as a tiny window (and then expands with results when you start typing). This offering has also been tweaked to be more responsive and stable in general.
The new version of PowerToys also features some general interface polishing and tweaks to some other tools, including PowerDisplay, which is now capable of controlling the brightness of multiple monitors simultaneously. The Mouse Highlighter feature, which draws attention to the cursor when you left or right click (with a color to differentiate between both clicks), now has a smart new ripple effect.
Analysis: more power, fewer problems
I’m a big fan of PowerToys, and I think there are some highly useful tools here. Granted, some of these bits of software are for power-users only, but some are very handy for everyday users – and the good thing with this suite is that you can install it and only turn on a small handful of utilities that you really want, leaving the rest aside.
However, PowerToys is still not all that well known, and many average Windows users are missing out on nifty bits of functionality because they simply don’t know about them. This is why I’ve argued in the past that certain PowerToys features should just be ported over to Windows 11 directly, where Microsoft could have them as options in the Settings app, removing the hurdle of having to find and install this suite of utilities (which, in overall terms, still remains somewhat obscure).
I think the Window Hopper is a prime example of something that could be easily ported over to Windows 11, where it would be useful for some folks to have as a native ability. Power Display, which just got a smart tweak with this new release of PowerToys, is another utility that I’ve said in the past would be great to have in the full version of Windows 11.
Would these tools be adding to system bloat, arguably? Well, some people may feel that way, but remember, they would be disabled by default and therefore wouldn’t be eating any system resources (save for a small bit of drive space) unless you turned them on. Microsoft could also focus on very lightweight additions, too, as a starting point (simple tricks like Window Hopper, or partial ports of pieces of the beefier utilities).
For some people, PowerToys could even reduce bloat, as it might mean they can uninstall other third-party software that they’ve set up to achieve certain ends.
Hopefully Microsoft will at least be considering picking some choice pieces of functionality from PowerToys for inclusion in its desktop OS – and I note that there is a modernized mouse-finding ability inbound for Windows 11 (as Windows Latest spotted), which is good to see.
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