What you need to know
- Third-party file explorer Files has received an update to version 2.3.
- The update adds a compact spacing feature, a new bulk actions experience, and a double-click gesture to navigate through a directory.
- The app also has a redesigned tab control experience and the option to display tags on the sidebar.
Files is a popular third-party file explorer for Windows 11. It delivers a modern experience that's optimized for touch or a mouse and keyboard. Today, the app received an upgrade to version 2.3, which adds a new bulk action experience and a compact spacing feature.
As the name suggests, compact spacing allows people to view more content on a screen at once by resizing elements of the app.
Following the update, Files has a redesigned conflicts dialog that allows users to apply the same action to all conflicts. Previously, clicking a dropdown box for each item was required. This interface is also more versatile than the similar feature in the built-in File Explorer for Windows 11.
Here are all of the other changes that come with Files v2.3:
- Improved the reliability and speed of drag and drop
- Added a pull to refresh gesture
- Removed the minimize and maximize buttons from the properties window
- Added an animation when clicking on the setting and search buttons
- Added an option to always show icons instead of thumbnails
- Improved the spacing in the pathbar
- Added a chevron to the pathbar to better indicate that there is a flyout menu
- Reduced the spacing between widgets on the home page
- Double clicking the grid splitter will now reset panes in the dual pane layout to the default width
- More file types are now displayed in the “new” item context menu
- Double clicking in a blank space will now go up one directory in the file tree
- Adding a tag to a file no longer changes the date modified property
- Added a shortcut to open folders in the default terminal
ctrl+shift+' - Added a shortcut to play and pause media in the preview pane
ctrl+space - Reduced the height of items in the sidebar to allow more items to be displayed at once
- Invalid favorites and network shares are no longer removed the sidebar
- Added a context menu to hide sections when right clicking on the sidebar
- Added support for renaming items in the conflicts dialog
- Network shares will automatically refresh when their content changes
- Auto select first item in user list for permissions
- Auto select the primary button in the empty recycle bin dialog
- Deleting an item will automatically move the focus to the next item in the list
- Resizing the window no longer changes the width of columns in the details layout
- Added examples to the date format setting
- Improved behavior when trying to name an item with invalid characters
- Added a notification when copying or moving an item fails
- Added the archive name to the extract archive dialog
- Added support for adding tags to items in the search results page
- Show which process is locking a file
Version 2.3 of Files became avaialble today, July 6, 2022.
