New Features in PowerToys 0.96: Command Palette, Light Switch, and More

Microsoft PowerToys Update: Version 0.96 Now Available

Microsoft has unveiled a significant update to its versatile utility suite, PowerToys, designed for Windows 10 and Windows 11 users. The newly released version 0.96 does not introduce any new tools; however, it brings noteworthy enhancements to existing functionalities. Among the key features improved in this update is the Advanced Paste module, which now connects to multiple AI model providers, as well as enhanced performance for the Command Palette.

Key Upgrade Highlights

Advanced Paste enhances its capabilities by supporting a range of online and on-device AI model providers, including Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, Google Gemini, Mistral, Foundry Local, and Ollama.
The Command Palette has received a comprehensive upgrade, featuring improved file search filters, enriched clipboard history metadata, revamped context-menu styles, and numerous bug fixes.
PowerRename now allows users to extract and utilize photo metadata, including EXIF and XMP data, in their renaming patterns with variables like %Camera, %Lens, and %ExposureTime.

Detailed Changelog Overview

Advanced Paste Improvements

Users can now connect to several AI providers in Advanced Paste, expanding functionality beyond a single OpenAI source. For specific usage guidelines, please refer to the Advanced Paste documentation.

Awake Functionality Enhancements

The Awake countdown timer has been optimized for improved accuracy over extended periods.
Context menu positioning in Awake has been corrected for better usability, using accurate screen coordinates to ensure the context menu displays appropriately.

Command Palette Enhancements

The search field in context menus now aligns aesthetically with the Command Palette, showcasing a smoke backdrop and enhanced padding.
Fall-back items like math calculations and the Run command are now displayed with increased speed in the results.
Command bar updates are now consistent following page navigation, ensuring a smooth user experience.
The settings page for the Command Palette has undergone reorganization, with better grouping of activation-key options for clarity.
Modifications made to commands will now instantaneously update related alias, hotkey, and tag information in the main list.
Users can easily open Command Palette settings from any location using the shortcut Ctrl +, .
Scroll through commands using Page Up and Page Down while focused in the search box for effortless navigation.
A bug that occasionally caused the search box to disappear when navigating pages has been resolved.
The search feature now ensures selected text appears when home and highlight activation options are both enabled.
Fixed an issue where the Command Palette window might appear on the taskbar under certain Windows configurations.
Visibility bugs regarding list filters have been addressed during content navigation.
A search function has been facilitated within the extensions list, along with a direct link to the Microsoft Store for easy access.
Options have been added to either reopen the Command Palette window at its last position or re-center it upon activation.
The Command Palette retains its previous window size after a restart, enhancing convenience.
A new global error handler has been implemented to log critical errors, aiding in troubleshooting when the Command Palette unexpectedly closes.
Restored the ranking of fallback commands for built-in extensions, including Sleep, Shutdown, and Web search.
Numerous enhancements have been made to unify labels and texts across the application for a more consistent user experience.
Maintenance updates have resolved various build warnings in Command Palette projects with no direct impact on user experience.
Logging mechanisms have been refined for better error reporting during exceptions.

Extensions Enhancements in Command Palette

Bookmarks: The Add/Edit Bookmark form now offers hints about placeholders for better user guidance.
Improved migration processes for bookmarks from earlier versions to preserve aliases and shortcuts.
Clipboard history items will now display enriched metadata, including image dimensions and text file sizes for quick reference.
File search functionality has introduced filter buttons to categorize between all items, files, or folders, enhancing search efficiency.
System commands now feature an actual red-circle emoji instead of a placeholder for better visual recognition.
WinGet’s search functionality has been boosted, yielding a more responsive user experience through refined input handling.
In Window Walker, UWP applications will no longer falsely indicate “not responding”when suspended.
Window Walker now showcases the accurate icons for each window, elevating the recognition for PWAs and Python GUIs.
A rare crash bug in the Windows Terminal extension, linked to missing the LOCALAPPDATA environment variable, has been addressed.

Further Improvements Across PowerToys

Find My Mouse: Activating this feature no longer disrupts cursor focus or changes the cursor to the busy icon.
Hosts File Editor: Users can now customize backup settings, adjusting frequency, location, and auto-deletion policies to fit their needs.
Image Resizer: Enhanced consistency in settings during batch resizing tasks.
Light Switch: Introduces a user-friendly interface for manually entering latitude and longitude, along with refactored service for improved stability.
Mouse Without Borders: Now includes support for horizontal scrolling functionality.
Peek: Fixes bugs related to media files becoming locked and introduces a command-line interface for file previews.
PowerRename: No crashes due to missing resource files and enhancements in photo metadata extraction for more comprehensive renaming patterns.
PowerToys Run: Implemented retry logic with exponential backoff to smooth theme changes and updated icons for OneNote in line with the current Microsoft 365 design.
Quick Accent: Now features a diameter symbol addition for a comprehensive character set.
ZoomIt: Zoom animations have been smoothed out and now support GIF files, with additional improvements for capturing fidelity and long-session usage.
Settings: Fixed overlapping title bar issues, refined design consistency, improved accessibility, and incorporated clickable notifications for swift access to update pages.

How to Update PowerToys

If you already have PowerToys installed, updates should download automatically in the background, prompting you when ready for installation. You can manually check for updates by navigating to Settings > General and clicking Check for updates. Alternatively, download PowerToys version 0.96 directly from the Microsoft Store, GitHub, or via winget.

Source & Images