PowerToys adds a ton of must-have functionality to Windows 11, including bulk file renaming, window pinning, and multi-device clipboard sharing. Now, with the v0.89 update, PowerToys is kicking it to the next level with a new Advanced Paste media transcoding feature.

Media Transcoding in Advanced Paste

For those unfamiliar, Advanced Paste is a tool that lets you paste content from your clipboard in nearly any format. Advanced Paste can convert markdown to plain text, change an HTML file to TXT, turn a JPEG image into a PNG, or even extract the text from an image you’ve copied to your clipboard.

Now, with Enhanced Advanced Paste, Powertoys can transcode video and audio file formats through your clipboard. If you download a song in the AAC format and want to convert it to something more universal, such as MP3 or WAV, PowerToys can do so without the need for any additional apps. The same goes for video files.

I can already see a lot of utility in this media transcoding function. Publications like How-To Geek often enforce file size or codec limitations for video uploads in order to keep their web pages lightweight, fast, and SEO-friendly. With PowerToys in hand, the process of converting a large or otherwise unfavorable video file down to something more useful should be trivial. Of course, we’ll need some time to test the tool before we can make a final judgement.

Other improvements in the v0.89 update aim to improve PowerToys accessibility and address longstanding bugs. FancyZones and Image Resizer should work a lot better with screen readers, while PowerToys Run shouldn’t crash as often when using dark mode or loading image thumbnails. A bug that broke angle unit conversions in the PowerToys Run calculator has also been patched. And ZoomIt, a very recent addition to PowerToys, no longer shows error warnings during build.

WinGet Integration Is Coming Soon

Back in February, Microsoft senior product manager Kayla Cinnamon showed off a work-in-progress WinGet integration for PowerToys. The integration, which allows you to install app packages through the PowerToys Run tool, greatly increases WinGet’s accessibility by freeing it from the command line.

Of course, WinGetUI (now called UniGetUI) is still a great option for those who want to access multiple package managers through an app store-like GUI. The PowerToys WinGet utility (which may extend to other package managers) simply provides a different, more integrated experience.

I should clarify that WinGet isn’t some weird third-party app store. Rather, it’s a tool for fetching packages. If you want to install Firefox, for example, WinGet will grab the installer from the Microsoft Store or the Mozilla website. All Windows users can benefit from WinGet, which is why it’s so important to broaden accessibility and serve users who aren’t comfortable in the command line.

Microsoft hasn’t provided a timeline for the launch of this new package management tool. However, PowerToys development is fairly rapid. We usually get a new release every month, so the WinGet integration is, presumably, right around the corner.

You can find the full PowerToys v0.89 changelog, plus installers, at GitHub. Alternatively, you may download PowerToys from the Microsoft Store. If you’re already using PowerToys, open its control panel to perform a manual update.

Source: Microsoft