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Microsoft PowerToys

learn.microsoft.com

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Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#21

Post by AnonC »

akudlacek wrote: post #2

Found this to keep my computer awake temporarily but there's a lot more useful stuff here, and it's available on the Microsoft store. Favorites so far: PowerToys Awake - keep a computer awake without having to manage its power & sleep settings File Locksmith - check which files are in use and by which processes PowerRename - bulk file renaming Text Extractor - copy text anywhere on screen

> PowerToys Awake - keep a computer awake without having to manage its power & sleep settings

I prefer another application called Caffeine [1], which also prevents Windows from automatically locking and keeps it such that the status on some applications doesn’t automatically change to “Away” after sometime. For some reason I couldn’t get PowerToys Awake to do this. Some Windows policies are controlled by the company I work at. But I use this only when I’m in a secure location where I’m the only person around or I remember (from muscle memory) to hit Windows L to lock the system when I step away.

[1]: https://zhornsoftware.co.uk/caffeine/

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#22

Post by WithinReason »

porridgeraisin wrote: post #20

Wow. It's been a while since I used it. It's come a long way, this is excellent. At the time I chose fluent search with everything.exe file indexing and quicklook previews (all integrated), and it was really good. If powertoys can replace all that with one tool I'll be really happy. However, everything.exe will always be the only search indexer I ever use, the thing is just orders of magnitude better than anything el…

PowerToys has and Everything plugin

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#23

Post by zparky »

I can't believe I've never seen this before - I was scrolling through the list of tools and almost every one of them is something I've either wished I had or went out of my way to download some software. Thanks!

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#24

Post by AnonC »

porridgeraisin wrote: post #20

Wow. It's been a while since I used it. It's come a long way, this is excellent. At the time I chose fluent search with everything.exe file indexing and quicklook previews (all integrated), and it was really good. If powertoys can replace all that with one tool I'll be really happy. However, everything.exe will always be the only search indexer I ever use, the thing is just orders of magnitude better than anything el…

I’ve been a user of Everything along with Keypirinha for a long time. The latter is very convenient for calculations, as a launcher, for currency conversions, and more. I even disabled Windows Search because it’s slow and not as good as Everything.

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#25

Post by AnonC »

One annoying thing (among others) I realized after upgrading to Windows 11 recently is the ability to position the taskbar on the right or left is gone. Microsoft and its all knowing Windows 11 team decided that having the taskbar anywhere except at the bottom doesn’t work well and removed this positioning feature that has existed for decades.

I doubt that PowerToys would add a feature for this, but it’d be cool if it happened.

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#27

Post by dole »

lucasban wrote: post #15

The new PowerToys command palette is looking promising as well, still very worthy of the beta label but I like where it’s going

Command Palette is the Mac/Linux style app picker that's nice and bloated and does what hitting the Windows key and Start Menu search should've done in 98SE. I've got it bound to Win+Shift+Space but it's laggy and dumb enough (doesn't learn what I'm always searching for and running??) to where I don't bother. My money's still on it eventually replacing the Windows key binding.

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#28

Post by Redster »

nereye wrote: post #11
akudlacek wrote: post #2

Found this to keep my computer awake temporarily but there's a lot more useful stuff here, and it's available on the Microsoft store. Favorites so far: PowerToys Awake - keep a computer awake without having to manage its power & sleep settings File Locksmith - check which files are in use and by which processes PowerRename - bulk file renaming Text Extractor - copy text anywhere on screen

About PowerToys’ Text Extractor, there’s equivalent functionality in Windows now, from [1]: It's recommended to use the Snipping Tool instead of the Text Extractor for capturing screenshots. [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/text-ext...

Since switching to Linux in 2023, Text Extractor is actually the thing I miss most. Text Extractor was a joy to use. While I have found equivalents for most of the PowerToys on Linux, the PowerToys did a great job and it was one of my favorite pieces of software.

For any Linux users reading this, is there a Text Extractor equivalent that I'm missing? I've tried Normcap, Frog, textsnatch...

Re: Microsoft PowerToys

#29

Post by ddejohn »

cryzinger wrote: post #9

FancyZones is a must-have if you use an ultrawide monitor! I set mine up with two zones, where one takes up about 1/3 of the screen and the other takes up about 2/3.

I use 12 columns so I can still do this 1/3 - 2/3 split, but other proportions as well. I tend to have a chat app on the left quarter, browser in the middle half, and a music app on the right quarter. Lots more freedom than only two zones!
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