The most recent Insider build comes with File Explorer news

Aug 4, 2022 09:45 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft’s most recent Windows 11 preview build comes with a lot of improvements for File Explorer, the default file manager that’s offered as native in the OS.

File Explorer has evolved a lot lately, and the living proof is the addition of support for tabs, a feature that users have long been asking for in the file manager.

However, the software giant keeps refining the experience with File Explorer, obviously as part of the Windows Insider program.

The most recent preview build, for example, comes with a new middle-click option, allowing users to quickly open a folder in a new tab. This is precisely the behavior that browsers also use for new websites, as a middle-click on a link opens it in a new tab.

“Middle clicking a folder in the navigation pane of File Explorer will now open it in a new tab, like clicking a folder in the body of File Explorer already does. Please note that this requires tabbed File Explorer, which hasn’t rolled out to everyone in the Dev Channel yet,” the company explains in the changelog.

At the same time, the software giant has also introduced several other File Explorer fixes in the latest build, including for crashes occurring when opening new windows of the app.  

  • Fixed an issue where launching File Explorer in certain ways when using dark mode (for example, from the command line) was showing the body of File Explorer unexpectedly in light mode.
  • Fixed an issue where the left/right arrows in File Explorer were in light mode when you were using dark mode, causing them to not have enough contrast to show when they were enabled.
  • Fixed an issue where the dividers in the navigation pane were overlapping / drawing too close to text sometimes.
  • Fixed an issue where if you drag and drop a folder into the navigation pane was sometimes unexpectedly putting the folder at the bottom of the list rather than where you’d dropped it.
  • Fixed an issue causing UI issues in File Explorer when using F11 to put File Explorer in full screen mode.

Keep in mind that the tabbed File Explorer continues to be exclusive to a certain set of Dev insiders running Windows 11 preview builds.