📢 Microsoft PowerToys 0.45.0 released

What's new and improved in PowerToys v0.45

Changelog

• Removed ModuleImageLink.
• Replaced theme radiobuttons settings with combobox.
• Consolidated to one testing framework for C# components of the project.
• StyleCop and warnings fix.
• Removed unused namespace alias.
• Standardized .NET JSON on System.Text.Json.
• Fixed various .xaml broken links and icons.
• Updated name property in "Edit layout" and "Create custom layout" controls to not include private Unicode characters.
• Changed bitmask variable from size_t to uint64_t which will enable PowerToys to support more than 40 zones per layout.
• Adjusted telemetry to better disambiguate when PowerToys Run launches at startup.
• Plugins "Direct activation phrase" setting renamed to "Direct activation string".
• Updated environment variables when changed.

General

• Settings and OOBE windows updated with Fluent UX!
• Added button to settings which displays version history.
• Signed PowerToysSetupCustomActions.dll.
• Improved Update available & Update ready message severity visual.
• Improved auto-update experience.
• Aligned OOBE theme color with Settings theme color.
• Adjusted labeling of "Restart as Administrator" button to "Restart PowerToys as Administrator" to avoid ambiguity in meaning.
• Added colored icons to settings sidebar.
• Fixed accessibility issue in OOBE where Microsoft Docs and PowerToys release notes links could not be navigated to via keyboard.
• Fixed settings header alignment.
• Fixed updates text next being visible when in light mode.
• Updated "Learn More" text to be more descriptive.
• Updated "Read more" text on updates to be more descriptive.
• Added link to documentation in system tray.
• Fixed error caused by file in use issues when installing PowerToys.
• Fixed issue where opening settings from start menu didn't work when PowerToys was run as admin.

Awake

• Added Awake as option in translation bug template.
• Adjusted description of inactive setting to improve distinguishing between the utility being disabled vs inactive.

Color Picker

• Fixed bug where changing RGB values doesn't update color's HEX value.
• Fixed accessibility issue with screen reader not announcing when "Copied to Clipboard" is activated.
• Fixed accessibility issue where user could not hover the content of the info icon using a mouse.
• Fixed color picker format order not being accessible via keyboard.
• Fixed accessibility issue where screen reader announces incorrect name for "Editor color format" button and not announcint "Toggle switch" button at all.

FancyZones

• Adjusted "Save and apply" editor button to adjust with text size for localizations.
• Fixed "Create new layout" button visibility when in high contrast mode.
• Fixed scaling quirks related to editor UI.
• Fixed editor crashing when double clicking the "edit layout" button.
• Fixed issue with editor crashing immediately after displaying zones.
• Fixed bug when navigating editor options via keyboard where pressing enter on unselected Canvas option launches Grid editor instead.
• Fixed issue where FancyZones would not restore Console Applications.
• Fixed Canvas editor and Grid editor window heights.
• Fixed crash due to KERNELBASE.dll.
• Fixed FancyZone icons to be smoother at higher DPI settings.
• Fixed crash when changing between zone layouts.
• Fixed regression where FancyZones does not resize windows on layout change.
• Adjusted layout settings to reset shortcut key after canceling changes on a particular layout.

File Explorer add-ons

• Fixed issue where markdown files were still previewed even when "Enable Markdown" was unselected.

Image Resizer

• Added warning that GIF files with animations may no correctly resize if the encoding used for the files is incompatible.

Keyboard Manager

• Improved UI for KBM re-mappings list.

PowerRename

• Expanding a plugin option in settings can now be toggled.
• Fixed race condition causing PowerRename to crash File Explorer.

PowerToys Run

• Fixed lag caused from PowerToys running in background and invoking Alt-Tab.
• Resolved file not found exception when loading "System.Windows.Controls.Ribbon".
• Fixed null reference exception crash.
• Fixed registry plugin load crash.
• Fixed unauthorized access exception crash when setting registry keys for the utility.
• Improved visibility of warnings when plugin properties are collapsed.
• Added search for Plugin Manager.
• Fixed VSCode workspace plugin not working.

Video Conference Mute

• Fixed toolbar top right vertical offset to allow users to close other app windows.
• Fixed compatibility issues for certain systems when compiling from source.
• Fixed toolbox from persisting on screen.
• Fixed microphone unmuting when changing Video Conference Mute toolbar position.
• Added Video Conference Mute to OOBE.