Also, expect more toys to be added in the future – possibly for things you didn’t even know you wanted. You might not use all the tools, but they are free and worth checking out. PowerToys are great for power users who want to do things that Windows doesn’t do natively (or quickly). This can be a lot more helpful than memorizing Windows Key shortcuts or having to look them up. With Shortcut Guide, you hold down the Windows key for one second to get an overlay shortcut key. And other third-party apps for bulk renaming photos, this is an incredible tool for the job.

There are tricks to rename files natively in Windows. In its description, it says the following: “PowerRename is a Windows Shell Context Menu Extension for advanced bulk renaming using simple search and replace or more powerful regular expression matching.” The PowerRename toy allows you to rename a large number of files in batches. It’s best suited to power users who want to take multitasking to the next level. It’s a fairly complex tool and can be managed from inside the PowerToys app. Once you have it configured, you can drag and snap apps into a zone without resizing the window each time. This one lets you set up preconfigured window layouts for apps on your desktop.

Here’s a quick look at what each one does. There are three available at the time of this writing, including PowerRename, FancyZones, and Shortcut Guide. You can also choose individual app settings and more. Here you can flip on the Powertoy you want to have running on your system. Then you needed to install each one you wanted to use individually. This is different than the PowerToys of old. That will open up the app, and you can choose which ones you want to enable. Once you go through the basic install wizard, click the PowerToys logo in the notification area on the taskbar. To get started, you need to head to PowerToys from GitHub and download and install the MSI setup file near the bottom of the page.

Microsoft is now offering PowerToys for Windows 10 as an Open Source app. The project was dead for several years, but it’s back in a new form.

Powertoys windows 11