Microsoft Is Finally Adding Tabs to File Explorer

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Image: Microsoft

After what seems like decades of pleading, Microsoft is finally adding tabs to File Explorer, a revolutionary concept that will allow Windows users to open multiple directories in the application under a single window. The feature was initially spotted by app developer Rafael Rivera, who discovered the tabbed interface hidden inside Microsoft’s latest test build of Windows 11 for Insiders, an indication that the feature will eventually make its way to the OS as part of an official update. But with superior alternatives such as XYPlorer and Directory Opus, why is anyone even still using File Explorer?

Microsoft is finally bringing tabs to File Explorer on Windows 11 (Windows Central)

  • First spotted by Windows Insider Rafael Rivera on Twitter, once enabled, tabs will appear along the top of the File Explorer app, allowing users to have multiple folders open in one window.
  • Tabs in File Explorer has been a highly requested feature among the Windows community for years at this point. Microsoft almost delivered the feature via its canceled “Sets” UX, which saw the introduction of tabs in every app window, including File Explorer. But when Sets was killed off, so was the idea of tabs in File Explorer.
  • Microsoft’s next major feature update for Windows 11 is expected to ship in the second half of this year as “version 22H2.”

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DrezKill

This sh1t needs to be added to Win10. Tabbed File Explorer is nice, but when are they gonna f*cking make Task Manager reflect Dark Mode? Been waiting for that for ages. Also with older Task Manager in OSes like Win7, it was much easier to tell the logical threads apart from the physical cores. Win10/11's Task Manager CPU graph is shiza.

Brian_B

Could always go third party with any of those utilities - so long as the OS allows it I haven't complained too loudly about what they include in the box.

The best thing an OS can do is get out of the way, in my opinion.

Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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