What you need to know
- We go hands-on with the latest Windows 11 build.
- It features lots of new things, including app folders in Start, new touch gestures, and more.
- This new preview is rolling out now in the Insider Dev Channel.
Microsoft shipped a huge new Windows 11 preview build yesterday with lots of new features and changes, which means it's time we did another build video walkthrough to show you everything that's new on video! There's a lot to like here, including new app folders in Start, drag & drop on the Taskbar, improvements to the Notification Center, new gestures for tablets, and more.
It's all demoed in our latest hands-on video, which is available on YouTube now. Alternatively, you can watch the embedded video above!
The new touch gestures for tablet users should make using Windows 11 with a finger easier than before. You can now swipe up from the very bottom of the screen to access the Start menu, or swipe up from the System Tray area to access Quick Settings. Microsoft has also updated the Notification Center with new behavior that will follow your finger when using touch, rather than playing a preset animation when swiping out from the right.
There's also a new Live Captions feature that will analyse the audio you're playing on your device and attempt to display text subtitles if there's speech it can detect. It's pretty awesome, as it enables any content to have subtitles, even if the content creator didn't provide any.
My favorite feature in this new build is the new app folders. You can finally better organize your Start menu with folders for specific kinds of apps. I've set mine up to have Office all in one folder, which just makes sense. You can create folders by simple dragging one app icon over the other, just like on any other platform in existence. It works well, though I would like to see an option to name the folders down the line.
Overall, this new build is huge, and I suspect some of the features introduced in it will make their way back to the shipping build of Windows 11 before the next major OS release is made available. For now, what are you most excited about in 22557? Let us know in the comments.
