Product test

Microsoft Windows Explorer with tabs – works like a charm

20/10/2022

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

Microsoft has released the Windows 11 update KB5019509. It’s given Explorer a tab interface among a few other things. I tried out the feature and am taken.

What was previously only available in the Insider Preview version is now available to everyone. Windows Explorer’s been equipped with tabs like those you have in web browsers. At the top of Explorer, you can now open a tab by clicking on the + symbol or by pressing the shortcut Ctrl+T. To close a tab, you click on X or press Ctrl+W, just as you would in other Windows program.

I haven’t properly got used to this new feature yet. So I keep catching myself pressing the Windows key and E to open a new window in Explorer. Nevertheless, it’s super handy. Especially if you’re working on a small laptop with little space to open multiple Explorer windows side by side. Instead of lining the tabs up behind each other and switching back and forth by pressing Alt+Tab, you can now just click on the tab you want to open or switch through them with the shortcut Ctrl+Tab. What doesn’t work yet but is expected to be added later is the ability to move tabs from one Explorer window to another – or detach a tab. Moving tabs within one Explorer is already possible.

Microsoft’s new Explorer tabs are a long overdue feature that I like. What took so long to implement them is a mystery to me. On the other hand, I can also understand the company in a way. After all, my employer still hasn’t managed to provide us editors with an image gallery either.

128 people like this article

Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

Product test

Our experts test products and their applications. Independently and neutrally.

Show all

These articles might also interest you

Product test
Testing Windows 11: little to praise, little to criticise
by Philipp Rüegg
Product test
Test: Windows 11 on M1 Macs
by David Lee
Opinion
Can’t we just let the desktop die?
by Philipp Rüegg