14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 preview build comes with big improvements, including a new feature called Spotlight collection for the desktop.
Windows Spotlight, which until now was exclusive to the lock screen, allowed users to get high-quality wallpapers on the lock screen.
With today’s announcement, Microsoft brings this feature to the desktop and therefore allows users to use the high-quality images it offers as backgrounds.
The first wallpaper available today shows Whitehaven Beach, with Microsoft explaining that it’ll slowly start pushing new photos in the coming hours and days.
Exclusive to certain countries
Users can simply hover a new Spotlight icon on the desktop to see more information about the image and also provide feedback on the wallpaper. There’s also an option to switch to the next picture.
“Later in the day, we will replace Whitehaven Beach with a collection of up to five background pictures from around the world. This could take up to 24 hours. If you hover over the Spotlight icon, you can learn more about each picture. Right-clicking on the Spotlight icon on the desktop opens a context menu where you can switch to a different background picture as well as tell us whether you like or don’t like one of the pictures. Double-clicking on the Spotlight icon launches the landing page where you can learn even more about any of the Spotlight collection pictures you saw throughout the day,” Microsoft explains.
At this point, Spotlight on the desktop uses English exclusively, so if you’re running Windows 11 preview builds on a localized version of the operating system, this is the only language supported at this point.
Furthermore, this feature is currently exclusive to a series of countries, namely Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S., though Microsoft says it’s already working on adding more regions in the coming updates.