The must-have software updates from Microsoft, always to improve productivity in Windows. While previous versions mainly contained improvements to existing tools, PowerToys 0.68.0 adds two new toys for its users.
Windows Toybox just got better! On Wednesday, March 1, the PowerToys software developed by Microsoft and designed to improve user productivity was updated to version 0.68.0.
Yet another beta version that isn’t content with improvements to existing tools and bug fixes. Two new utilities are here dedicated to improving copy-paste and multi-screen usage.
Copy and paste without trace
First toy added to this version: “Paste as plain text“, translated by “Paste as plain text“. It’s all in the name, because once enabled in PowerToys, this option allows you to keep only the content of text you copy from a site or document. Even selected text is bold underlined in a 27-point serif font , pasting this snippet into an email will only display the text.
If modern web browsers already integrate this option via the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V, “Paste as plain textit promises to apply it to all of its software, as well as allowing users to choose their key combination. The default is Ctrl+Win+V.
Mouse jump between screens
Second new tool:mouse jump“, either “mouse jump“. Added in the mouse utilities section, this feature allows you to quickly move the cursor over long distances.
Once activated, you can use the Win + Shift + D keys to open a window with a thumbnail copy of all your screens. Clicking anywhere in this window will teleport the cursor there. Convenient in everyday life if you use a very large screen or multiple monitors.
An essential toy box
Details of these two new features and all fixes and improvements included in this update are listed on the PowerToys GitHub page. As we remember, this set of productivity tools has been open source since 2019, after a first life in Windows 95 and XP.
This new version notably brought a tool to easily locate the mouse cursor on the screen, an omniscient search bar modeled on the macOS Spotlight model, and, more recently, the ability to type specific characters (like É and Ç dear to the French language). ) without looking them up in the character table.
PowerToys 0.68.0 is available on Windows 10 and 11, both in its desktop version and in its Microsoft Store software application.
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