Microsoft releases PowerToys v0.75.0 with new Environment Variables module, Settings Dashboard and more

It is always an exciting time when a PowerToys release cycle is described as being "focused on new features, stability and improvements". And the release of PowerToys v0.75.0 does not disappoint.

To start with, there is a new arrival in the form of the Environment Variables module, and there's also a completely new Dashboard home page for Settings. Additionally, there is the usual raft of tweaks and bug fixes as well as a new previewer for the Peek module.

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The addition of Environment Variables is the main news with this release, making it easy to configure profiles that can be enabled or disabled. The new previewer for Peek extends the capabailities of this existing models for that File Explorer previewer to support every file type that a machine is currently able to preview. Microsoft explains that "this means that if Microsoft Office handlers are installed, Peek can preview Office files".

In a support document for Environment Variables, Microsoft describes the new module:

Environment Variables offers an easy and convenient way to manage environment variables. It also allows you to create profiles for managing a set of variables together. Profile variables have precedence over User and System variables. Applying the profile adds variables to User environment variables in the background. When a profile is applied, if there is an existing User variable with the same name, a backup variable is created in User variables which will be reverted to the original value on profile un-apply.

The full, extensive, changelog for PowerToys v0.75.0 is as follows:

Highlights

• New utility: An environment variables editor with the functionality to configure profiles that can be enabled/disabled. Thanks @niels9001 for the design and UI work that made this possible!
• Settings has a new Dashboard home page, with quick access for enabling modules, short descriptions and activation methods. Thanks @niels9001 for the design and UI work that made this possible!
• Added a previewer to Peek that hosts File Explorer previewers to support every file type that a machine is currently able to preview. For example, this means that if Microsoft Office handlers are installed, Peek can preview Office files. Thanks @dillydylann!

General

• Many typo fixes through the projects and documentation. Thanks @brianteeman!
• Refactored and improved the logic across utilities for bringing a window to the foreground after activation.

Color Picker

• After activating Color Picker, it's now possible to cancel the session by clicking the right mouse button. Thanks @fredso90!

Environment Variables

• Added a new utility: An environment variables editor that has the functionality to configure profiles that can be enabled/disabled. Thanks @niels9001 for the design and UI work that made this possible!
• Shows in the title bar if it's running as an administrator. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

FancyZones

• Fixed an issue causing context menu pop-ups from some apps to automatically snap to a zone. (This was a hotfix for 0.74)
• Applied the fix for the context menu pop-ups to the logic that decides which windows can be snapped.
• Reworked the "Keep windows in their zones" option to include the work area and turn it on by default, fixing an incompatibility with the Copilot flyout.
• Fixed an issue causing windows to be snapped while moving to a different virtual desktop.

File Explorer add-ons

• Fixed an issue blocking some SVG files from being previewed correctly. (This was a hotfix for 0.74)
• Fixed crashes on invalid files in the STL Thumbnail generator.

GPO

• Added a global GPO rule that applies for all utilities unless it's overridden. Thanks @htcfreek!
• Added GPO rules to control which PowerToys Run plugins should be enabled/disabled by policy. Thanks @htcfreek!
  • All plugins have to provide its plugin ID as static property in its Main method.

Image Resizer

• Fixed wrong .bmp file association in the registry. Thanks @meitinger!

Keyboard Manager

• Visually distinguish between the Numpad and regular period characters in the UI.
• This utility is now disabled by default on new installations, since it requires user configuration to affect keyboard behavior.
• Fixed a typo in the Numpad Subtract key in the editor.

Mouse Highlighter

• Removed the lower limit of fade delay and duration, to allow better signaling of doing a double click. Thanks @fredso90!

Mouse Jump

• The process now runs in the background, for a faster activation time. Thanks @mikeclayton!

Peek

• Reported file sizes will now more closely match what's reported by File Explorer. Thanks @Deepak-Sangle!
• Added a previewer that hosts File Explorer previewers to support every file type that a machine is currently able to preview. Thanks @dillydylann!
• Fixed an issue causing the preview of the first file to be stuck loading. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Fixed showing the previously previewed video file when invoking Peek with a new file. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Added the wrap and file formatting options to the Monaco previewer. Thanks @davidegiacometti!

PowerRename

• Save data from the last run in a different file to avoid conflicting with changing settings in the Settings application.

PowerToys Run

• Fixed a case where the query wasn't being cleared after invoking a result action through the keyboard. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Improved the shell selection option for Windows Terminal in the Shell plugin and improved the backend code for adding combo box options to plugins. Thanks @htcfreek!
  • The implementation of the combo box items has changed amd isn't backward compatible. (Old plugins won't crash, but the combo box setting isn't shown in settings ui anymore.)
• Added Unix time in milliseconds, fixed negative unix time input and improved error messages in the TimeDate plugin. Thanks @htcfreek!
• The PowerToys plugin allows calling the new Environment Variables utility. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Refactored and added support to VSCodium Stable, VSCodium Insider and Remote Tunnels workspaces. Thanks @eternalphane!

Quick Accent

• Fixed characters that were removed from "All languages" because they were not in any single language. (This was a hotfix for 0.74)
• Added Asturian characters to the Spanish character set. Thanks @blakestack!
• Added Greek characters with tonos. Thanks @PesBandi!

Registry Preview

• Fixed a parsing error that crashed the Application. (This was a hotfix for 0.74)
• Fixed opening file names with non-ASCII characters. Thanks @randyrants!
• Fixed wrong parsing when the file contained an assignment with spaces around the equals sign. Thanks @randyrants!
• Fixed key transversal issues when a key was a substring of a parent key. Thanks @randyrants!

Runner

• Fixed the update notification toast to show an Unicode arrow. Thanks @TheJoeFin!

Settings

• Added a new Dashboard home page, with quick access for enabling modules, short descriptions and activation methods. Thanks @niels9001 for the design and UI work that made this possible!
• Fixed a typo in the Hosts File Editor page. Thanks @Deepak-Sangle!
• Added a lock icon to the flyout listing of all modules when its enabled state is controlled by policy.
• The "All apps" list in the flyout will now list all apps even if their enabled state is controlled by policy.

Video Conference Mute

• Added an option to allow for the toolbar to hide after some time passed. Thanks @quyenvsp!
• Added an option to select to mute or unmute at startup. Thanks @quyenvsp!
• Fixed an issue causing a cascade of mute/unmute triggers.

Documentation

• Updated the Group Policy documentation on learn.microsoft.com, removed the Group Policy documentation from the repository and linked to the published documentation on learn.microsoft.com instead.

Development

• Added project dependencies to the version project and headers to avoid building errors. Thanks @johnterickson!
• Enabled Control Flow Guard in the C++ projects. Thanks @DHowett!
• Switched the release pipeline to the 1ES governed template. Thanks @DHowett!
• Styled XAML files and added a XAML Style checker to the solution, with a CI action to check if code being contributed is compliant. Thanks @davidegiacometti!
• Suppressed redundant midl file warnings in PowerRename.
• Add unit tests to FancyZones Editor. Thanks @garv5014, @andrewbengordon and @Cwighty!
• Improved the Default Layouts internal structure in FancyZones Editor. Thanks @garv5014!
• Fixed code issues to allow building in Visual Studio 17.8 Preview 4.

You can download PowerToys v0.75.0 from GitHub, from the Microsoft Store, or by updating your currently installed version.