Automate Windows with Microsoft PowerToys

In today’s email:

1. PowerTools Overview

2. My Favorite Tools

3. How is this free?

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MAIN ARTICLE

Unlock Hidden Windows Features with PowerToys

I’ve been a Windows user my whole life, but I’ve coveted some of the quality-of-life things that Apple does well.

Well, I stumbled on this set of tools a few weeks ago, and I’m honestly blown away.

I would pay for this.

But I don’t have to because it’s all open-sourced and freely available…

Microsoft PowerToys is a free, open-source toolkit that lets power users customize, automate, and enhance their Windows experience.

It’s just a little extra sauce that you need to try, especially if you’re a keyboard shortcut and productivity nerd like me.

Think of PowerToys as Windows’ hidden upgrade pack—a Swiss Army knife for productivity, organization, and efficiency. Whether you’re a developer, designer, or just someone who loves efficiency, these tools will save you time and frustration.

I found it because of the zoom and screen drawing tool, Zoomit, but let’s dive into all the most useful PowerToys features you should start using today.

🚀 1. Work Smarter, Not Harder

PowerToys Run – Like macOS Spotlight but for Windows. Hit Alt + Space, type anything, and instantly open apps, files, or even do quick calculations. (I also use the Windows key itself for this)

FancyZones – Take Windows’ snap layouts to the next level by creating custom window grids for ultimate multitasking. Perfect for large monitors or ultra-wide setups.

This is awesome👇

Always On Top – Keep critical windows pinned above others with a quick shortcut (Ctrl + Win + T). No more losing that Zoom window mid-meeting.
I activated this accidentally the first time and had to Google around for why there was a blue border around my application all of a sudden. 😅

🎨 2. Design, Edit, and Preview with Ease

Color Picker – Delete that browser extension like I just did! Now you’ve got a system-wide color picker (Win + Shift + C) that helps designers grab and save colors from anywhere on the screen.

Peek – Press Ctrl + Space on any file in Explorer for an instant preview. It’s like macOS Quick Look but for Windows. Ahhhh, this is so nice to have.

Image Resizer – Right-click any image and resize it instantly. No need to open Photoshop just to make a quick adjustment.

Text Extractor – Like OCR on steroids. Grab text from any image, PDF, or screen area with Win + Shift + T.

🛠️ 3. Automate and Optimize Your Workflow

PowerRename – Bulk rename files with advanced search and replace features. Essential for photographers, coders, or anyone managing large file sets.

Keyboard Manager – Remap keys and create custom shortcuts to match your workflow. Want Caps Lock to be Ctrl? Done.

File Locksmith – Ever tried to delete a file, only to get the “file is in use” error? This tool shows which process is locking the file and lets you unlock it instantly.

Hosts File Editor – Modify your Windows Hosts file without digging through system directories. Great for developers and network admins.

🔎 4. Zoom and Utilities

ZoomIt - This one steals the show for me. It’s what I found first and I installed the rest of these stuff when I found out it came in one big package deal. ZoomIt let’s you effortlessly zoom in anywhere on your screen and draw on it.

There is a blackboard and whiteboard built in, you can draw arrows, circles, and boxes as well as type text and take screenshots. You can even record a quick video clip.

As a presenter, I love this tool. It has already saved me a lot of video editing time. Get good at this and all those fancy zooms and highlights you used to do in post-production are no longer necessary.

Shortcuts - Pop open the shortcut overlay (I’ve set mine to Win + Shift + /) to remind yourself how to use all these blessed shortcuts.

Mouse Utilities - I’ve been using the highlighter and crosshair features already too. I’m very happy to have something that highlights wherever a click. And all the settings are completely customizable.

Screen Ruler – Incredibly cool. This measure pixels on the screen with edge detection. Wherever you hover, it can automatically give you the width, height and/or position of the element you’re interacting with.

More Tools

And yes, there are a ton more:

• Advanced Paste – Customizable paste options with AI enhancements.

• Awake – Keeps your computer awake during long tasks without changing power settings.

• Command Not Found – Suggests relevant WinGet packages when a command fails in the terminal.

• Crop And Lock – Creates a new window from a cropped area of another window.

• Environment Variables – Manage environment variables with profiles.

• File Explorer Add-ons – Adds preview pane and thumbnail rendering for additional file types.

• New+ – Create files and folders from templates in File Explorer.

• Quick Accent – Type accented characters easily.

• Registry Preview – Visualize and edit Windows Registry files.

• Workspaces – Launch and configure applications to custom positions.

🔥 The Best Part? It’s Free & Open-Source

PowerToys is completely free and constantly updated with new features. It’s built for power users by the Windows community, with contributions from developers worldwide.

Contribute to the GitHub repo here.

📥 Download Microsoft PowerToys Here and take your Windows experience to the next level.

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