Microsoft Windows 11 widget settings

Microsoft today announced the release of Windows 11 Preview Build 25211 for Dev Channel Insiders. This new build comes with new Widgets settings, improved Snipping Tool, new Outlook for Windows and more. Find the details below.

What’s new in Windows 11 Preview Build 25211:

Widgets settings

In this update, we have separated the widget picker and Widgets settings to make it easier for you to find and interact with each view. Now, the widget picker is opened by the “+” button and Widgets settings is opened by the “Me” button. We re-used the space the picker used to take in Widget settings to cover the highly requested taskbar settings based on Insider feedback to give you control over how the Widgets entry works on your taskbar.

The button that shows at the top right of the board to launch Widgets settings.
The button that shows at the top right of the board to launch Widgets settings.

When you open Widgets settings by clicking on the “Me” button shown above, you will see three taskbar behaviors that you can toggle on or off.

The Widgets settings page.
The Widgets settings page.

Please note the wording for the toggles in Widget settings is slightly different in this build over what’s shown in the above screenshot. In a future update, the text for the toggles in Widget settings will be updated to reflect what is in the (above) screenshot.

With the toggles in Widget settings, you can:

  • Control whether the Widgets board opens when you hover over the taskbar icon.
  • Control whether Widgets will show notification badging on the taskbar.
  • Control whether live Widget content on the taskbar shows more than weather.

[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Desktop Environment > Widgets.

Changes and Improvements

[Taskbar]

  • Based on your feedback, we’ve added a link to Task Manager when right-clicking on the taskbar. Let us know what you think!
Context menu when right-clicking on the taskbar shows link to Task Manager.
Context menu when right-clicking on the taskbar shows link to Task Manager.

[System Tray]

  • This build includes preliminary support to rearrange System Tray icons for Insiders who have the System Tray updates that began rolling out with Build 25197. Further improvements for this experience are coming soon. As a reminder, these System Tray updates are still rolling out and are not available to all Insiders just yet. If your PC does not have these changes, your System Tray experience will remain the same as before.

Microsoft recently rolled out the new Outlook for Windows for Office Insiders. The same experience will be made available for Windows Insiders in a similar toggle within the Windows Mail app.

Microsoft is also rolling out an updated Snipping Tool app that will automatically save the screenshots you take. The Snipping Tool version 11.2209.2.0 will store all your screenshots in the Screenshots folder inside Pictures. This feature is on by default, but you can change this behavior in app settings.

You can find the full list of bug fixes in the source link below.