Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.29 as the last build of 2020

We might be in the middle of the holiday season, but that doesn't mean that software developers stop working. As we approach the end of 2020, Microsoft has pushed out one final version of PowerToys for the year.

PowerToys v0.29 lays the groundwork for big changes and additions that are planned for 2021. There are quite a lot of fixes and improvements in this releases, but it is the promise of what's to come that is arguably of greater interest.

See also:

• Microsoft is making big changes to Settings in Windows 10
• Microsoft releases an off-schedule update to PowerToys
• PowerToys v0.28 has a great new utility for Windows 10

While there are no major new features with his particular release, there are important bug fixes and performance improvements. Writing about the release on GitHub, Microsoft promises that "larger work items will show up next releases such as FZ editor improvements and three new plug-ins for PowerToys Run". In the meantime, there is this bug-fixing release to enjoy.

Here's the full changelog for PowerToys v0.29:

General

• Bug report tool and improved logging.
• Various localization improvements.
• CodeQL added. Triggered via a cron timer twice a day.
• "How to use" docs moved to https://docs.microsoft.com/windows/powertoys/
  • This will allow the community to do direct PRs against those documents

ARM64 Progress

• .NET Core upgrade for code bases the PowerToys team controls is complete. We still have two external dependencies that are .NET Framework that need to be updated.

Color Picker

• General bug fixes
• Added ability to provide the name of the color at parity with Office and WinUI Color Picker.

FancyZones

• Allows to use Windows Snap on desktops that don't have a layout applied and for apps that are in the excluded list.
• Bug fixes

PowerToys Run

• Improved performance
• PT Run now supports accented characters.

Installer

• Option to extract the MSI from the .exe for enterprise scenarios and more options to do unattended installations.
• Removed toast notifications during installation.

You can grab the latest version of PowerToys here.