The PowerToys app, by Microsoft, is perhaps a Windows 11 power user’s best friend, unlocking tons of capabilities and party tricks normally not available in your Windows 11 install. Now, the latest version is adding a new quick app launcher, and it might become your favorite way of firing up apps.

PowerToys 0.90 is now available for downloading, and it’s packing a lot of improvements. As is usually the case, most of the changes are bug fixes for existing features, but we do have a new module called the Command Palette. The Command Palette can be quickly accessed with a keyboard shortcut—Windows + Alt + Space—and lets you quickly type and launch any app on your computer.

The feature itself reminds us a lot of Spotlight on macOS. It’s kind of like the Run window that you can launch by pressing down Windows + R, but this one is way more user-friendly, showing you app suggestions as you type and letting you click any of the suggestions shown. It’s also similar to the Search bar on your Windows taskbar, but with less steps. It also lets you look for specific actions within apps, as well as specific commands on Windows’ PowerShell. It’s pretty cool, and a tool that can greatly improve your productivity if you have to frequently juggle between multiple apps for your workflow.

The full changelog for this release, as shown on Microsoft’s official GitHub page for PowerToys, goes as follows.

Color Picker

• Replaced WPF UI with .NET WPF for the Color Picker, enhancing compatibility and improving theme support. Thanks @mantaionut! Thanks @Jay-o-Way and @niels9001 for helping with the review!

Command Palette

• Introduced the Windows Command Palette (“CmdPal”), the next iteration of PowerToys Run, designed with extensibility at its core. CmdPal includes features such as searching for installed apps, shell commands, files and WinGet package installation. This module aims to provide a more powerful and flexible launcher experience. Thanks @zadjii-msft, @niels9001, @joadoumie, @plante-msft, and the whole team!

FancyZones

• Fixed a bug where deleting a layout resulted in incorrect data being written to the JSON file.
• Fixed a bug where layout hotkeys were displayed incorrectly, ensuring the hotkey list does not include invalid entries.
• Fixed an issue where the “None” option was missing in the editor layout.

Image Resizer

• Fixed warnings in ImageResizer regarding the use of variables “shellItem” and “itemName” without being initialized.

Mouse Without Borders

• Enhanced the logger to properly track the file path for easier debugging.
• Refactored the “Common” class into distinct individual classes to enhance maintainability, and updated all references and unit tests to reflect these changes. Thanks @mikeclayton for this!

New+

• Added support for variables in template filenames, including date/time components, parent folder name, and environment variables. Thanks @cgaarden!

Peek

• Added the ability to delete the file currently being previewed in Peek, including navigation updates and handling for deleted items. Thanks @daverayment and thanks @htcfreek for your help reviewing this!

PowerToys Run

• Fixed an issue where duplicated applications were shown by ensuring the shell link helper opens .ink files non-exclusively and correctly retrieves the “FullPath”. Thanks @htcfreek and @davidegiacometti for review!
• Fixed an issue where applying round corners on Windows 11 build 22000 caused crashes.
• Async the OnRename method to unblock the thread. Thanks @davidegiacometti for review!
• Added support for using sq instead of ^2 in the Unit Converter. Thanks @PesBandi!

Settings

• Disabled the spell check feature in the text boxes of plugin settings for PowerToys Run. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Fixed an issue where InfoBars for release notes errors were not displayed properly, and added a retry button. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

Workspaces

• Fixed an issue where some minimized packaged apps (e.g., Microsoft ToDo, Settings) were not snapshotted.

Documentation

• Added the FirefoxBookmark plugin to the list of Third-Party plugins for PowerToys Run. Thanks @8LWXpg!
• Added the SVGL third-party plugin to PowerToys Run, enabling users to search, browse, and copy SVG logos. Thanks @SameerJS6!
• Added Monaco usage for the Registry Preview.

Development

• Updated WinGet configuration file location and extension. Thanks @mdanish-kh!
• Removed the Markdown file bypass to ensure CI runs for commits that only update Markdown files.
• Fixed an issue where the default generated file path exceeded the length limit of 260 characters for EnvironmentVariablesUILib.csproj, causing build failures.
• Upgraded WindowsAppSDK to 1.6.250205002 and CsWinRT to 2.2.0. Thanks @htcfreek for review!
• Upgraded XamlStyler to 3.2501.8 and dotnet-consolidate to 4.2.0. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Updated .NET Packages from 9.0.2 to 9.0.3.
• Optimized the UI Test Automation Framework and added UI test cases for the Hosts File Editor module.
• Added fuzz testing for RegistryPreview.
• Added new UI tests for the FancyZones editor, including tests for creating, duplicating, editing, and deleting layouts.
• Added telemetry code to measure the module editor open time and evaluate the benefits of applying AOT.

If you want to check this out on your system, make sure to download the update now.

Source: Microsoft (GitHub)