Microsoft makes Tabbed File Explorer, additional Windows 11 22H2 features available in preview
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When Microsoft rolled out Windows 11 22H2 in September, officials said the annual feature update would be coming in two parts.
The first set of features began rolling out to mainstream users in September, but a second set of features wouldn't arrive until October or November.
On Oct. 18, Microsoft made this second grouping of Windows 11 22H2 features available via its regularly scheduled non-security, optional preview (aka "Week C") releases.
Officials reiterated that mainstream users would get these missing Windows 11 22H2 features on Nov. 8, as part of Patch Tuesday.
Also: Microsoft starts rolling out the annual Windows 10 feature update, Windows 10 22H2
Included in this second batch of features are:
- Tabbed File Explorer
- Suggested Actions (click to dial or schedule an appointment)
- Taskbar Overflow Menu
- Right-click on Taskbar to jump to Task Manager (Update: It seems like this may be a "coming soon" Windows 11 22H2 feature and not something that is there yet, based on the experiences of those installing this update.)
- Share to more devices
- Access to more Android apps in more countries via the Microsoft-Amazon Appstore partnership
The redesigned Photos app for Windows 11, with the recently announced iCloud photo library integration, is coming later. The Photos app will be available at the end of October and iCloud integration in November, officials said.
Officials said that Windows 11 users should expect Microsoft to roll out new features for Windows 11 outside of the annual feature update in the second half of the year. Microsoft plans to handle these feature updates the same way it is doing with this set of additional Windows 11 22H2 features. It will first preview them as part of the monthly non-security optional updates for Windows 11 and then roll out gradually to all in "a subsequently monthly security update" (Patch Tuesday).
After November, Windows 11 Enterprise and Education customers will have these additional new features set to off by default. Microsoft will allow enterprise customers to turn them on as a set (not individually) using a single Group Policy/MDM. (The set of features going out this week and on Nov. 8 will NOT be off by default.) The new features delivered outside of the annual feature update will be turned on by default when the next annual feature update is delivered.
Update (October 21): I managed to get a few additional details on Windows 11 22H2 Part 2. Microsoft officials said that the "Jump to Task Manager" feature actually is in this set of updates, with timing based on device and region. I still have not heard from anyone who got this feature without manipulating the Windows 11 registry as of today.