Microsoft Is Planning a Modern Redesign of File Explorer for Windows 11

Though it’s an often uncelebrated workhorse, File Explorer is where real work gets done in Windows. It’s where we manage all our precious files and access all our beloved media. It’s been a mainstay of the Windows experience forever but hasn’t evolved at the same pace as the main UI. Now Microsoft is looking to change that this year, for better or worse, according to a new report. One of the goals is to allow for better integration with OneDrive and its Office suite. It will also be giving it a more modern look so it matches the rest of Windows 11’s appearance. The current version features a redesigned header with everything else left over from Windows 10.

News of Microsoft’s plans was first revealed two weeks ago by Windows Central. Now the site has several mock ups showing some of the changes. The overhaul includes a redesigned header with new options, a tweaked file directory box, a modern Search box, and a new Home button. Additionally, quick action keys for making a new folder and copying/pasting will be moved to the ribbon below the header. The new default File Explorer window will include more integration with Microsoft 365. As you can see below, it will highlight recent files with very large thumbnails, including emails from Outlook.

The new UI shows recommended files with huge thumbnails and includes who last modified the file if it’s in a shared directory. (Image: Windows Central)

The navigation box on the left will also be refreshed to look more modern. This update will be mostly cosmetic and will include rounded edges for icons. In addition, the file details pane will be more integrated with Office to include more information. Integration with Microsoft 365 will allow you to see recent activity in email threads and cloud documents. The changes are aimed at delivering a better experience for those with touch screens. Those changes will include finger-friendly hitboxes for the file directory.

Finally, Microsoft’s also going to be improving the experience of viewing photos. For now, it’s pretty miserable, as you can only see thumbnails and it has to open another app to display multiple images. It will reportedly let you hover your mouse over an image to see a bigger version of it. Microsoft is also reportedly considering allowing users to add tags to photos.

We’ll likely be seeing these changes arrive in preview builds in the coming months. Once they’ve been adequately tested, they’ll be launched to the public build. That will probably happen towards the end of the year. This is part of a long-running campaign by Microsoft to bring File Explorer into the current era. It’s been largely untouched since Windows 8, which came out a decade ago. The company most recently added tabs to File Explorer, which was a godsend.

It can be annoying when a company makes UI changes to promote its own products as opposed to changes that benefit all users instead. For example, we wonder if Dropbox files would appear in the Recommended Files section. It also seems doubtful that Gmail users would see anything new in File Explorer. It remains to be seen what the final version will allow, so we’ll hold our critique until it’s fully launched.

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