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?
File Explorer tabs are back! (Windows 11 22572, feature 34370472) pic.twitter.com/U3t10Affdq
— Rafael Rivera (@WithinRafael) March 9, 2022
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.”