Windows 11 hasn't been out for very long but we already have a second version of it.
It's called 22H2 for, you know, the second half of 2022.
And there's no time like the present to give you a quick rundown of the most important new
features. Let's start with how Microsoft is making the start menu work a little bit more
like your phone, but in a way that actually makes sense for desktop users. You can now put
application shortcuts in folders in the pin section of the start menu, similar to how grouping apps
on your phone works. Just drag a couple of apps you've already pinned together and give the resulting
folder a name. And if you still don't have enough space after leveraging the folder feature,
22H2 also allows you to expand the number of pins. Or if you don't really care about pinned
apps at all, you can instead choose to get more recommendations for frequently accessed files
and apps compared to the default view. Moving on from the start menu,
let's talk about a long-awaited feature that might be a source of confusion
if you don't see it on your system yet. Tabs in File Explorer. A separate window for each
folder on your system has been the Windows standard going all the way back to the operating
system's very early days. But it looks like web browser style tabs will finally become a reality.
If you don't have the feature yet, don't worry, it wasn't pushed out with the initial 22H2 release
but is available on the Release Preview channel as of the time we filmed this video.
Here's something that we used to have, but Microsoft took it away for some reason,
dragging and dropping to the taskbar. Windows 10 allowed users to drag files onto an app on the
taskbar to automatically open the file with that app. But for some reason, this functionality was
taken away as part of Windows 11's UI revamp. The good news, though, is that taskbar drag and
open has been restored in 22H2 thanks to community demand. Another controversial change Microsoft
made in the original release of Windows 11 was trimming down the default context menu that
appears when you right-click on a file or folder. Instead, they replaced it with a simplified menu
that gets rid of descriptions of common tasks and replaces them with icons requiring you to make
another click to reveal all the options actually available to you. In 22H2, that is still the
default behavior, but at least it's easier to bring up the classic menu. Just hold down Shift
while you right-click and you'll see it. It's hard to ignore this next new feature. Anytime you move
an application window around, you're going to see a small drop-down from the top of the screen.
If you drag the window up to that drop-down, you'll be able to snap that window to a certain
part of the screen using several presets, making it a bit easier to get all of your Windows arranged
exactly how you want them. But, lest you think all the changes in 22H2 are UI related,
there's a big one coming under the hood to help you save time. Suggested actions. If you copy a
phone number, a date, or a time, Windows will bring up a shortcuts menu that will prompt you to make
a call, create a calendar event, or send out invites. And there are other changes as well,
notably a volume slider that flies in and out to make the desktop experience feel more modern.
But we don't have time to cover all of them here, so if we missed one of your favorites,
let us know in the comments what new features we didn't mention that you enjoyed the most.
After all, the name of the channel isn't TechLengthy.