This week, Windows 11 marked its second anniversary and the end of the initial release, version 21H2, which was infamous for its lack of polish and certain features. However, Windows 11 also introduced new things, such as a redesigned File Explorer, which later received tabs support and plenty of modernized UI elements and features.
The Windows 11 Moment 4 update
Microsoft released to the general public in late September brought one of the biggest updates to File Explorer since the initial release. In February, we published an article detailing
the top 10 features and changes Windows 11 users want Microsoft to add to File Explorer. Now, it is time to compare the requests with what Microsoft delivered.
Request | Changes |
---|
Make File Explorer faster when performing common actions. |
Made it worse.
Intentionally or not, Microsoft did the opposite. Although the redesigned File Explorer looks better, it suffers from severe performance issues even on the latest and powerful hardware.
|
Revamp the Properties window and add dark mode support. | Unchanged. |
Support more archive formats. |
Delivered.
File Explorer in the Windows 11 Moment 4 update supports many different archive formats, such as RAR, 7Z, TAR, and more. Many think this is the best change in the update. However, those frequently working with archives may still prefer dedicated software. Our tests showed that File Explorer is much slower than WinRAR and 7Zip.
|
Improve design consistency. |
Delivered (partially).
The Moment 4 update introduces more modern UI bits for File Explorer, such as the address and search bar, toolbar, and more. In addition to looking better, they work better with touchscreen devices. There is a catch: the updated address bar no longer supports drag and drop.
|
Redesign the disk storage usage indicators. | Unchanged. |
Make File Explorer display how much space each folder takes. | Unchanged. |
Allow dragging tabs between different File Explorer windows. |
Delivered.
|
Merge context menus and remove the "Show more options" button. | Unchanged. |
Add a "Refresh" option to the context menu. | Unchanged. |
Let users set the "Show more options" view as the default. | Unchanged. |
Now, here are the File Explorer changes Microsoft introduced in the Moment 4 update: