10 Amazing PowerToys Gadgets That Will Change Your Windows Experience
Certainly, Microsoft PowerToys is a well-known program that provides a set of assistance features to increase productivity or add more customization to the Windows user interface . In the world of computers, we consider it one of the most powerful and best Microsoft tools as a "means" to improve the way we use Windows every day, as the program includes a large set of functions and more are constantly being added and are really useful and you should definitely use them. Many of the tools on it will increase your productivity and save you time. We talked about most of these tools separately in previous articles, and today we have collected for you in one place the best and most important tools, so if you have not tried PowerToys before, you can download it from the Microsoft Store for free to benefit from the mentioned tools.
Best Microsoft PowerToys
1- Keyboard Manager
The first program allows you to change the functions of the keyboard keys or switch between them as you wish. For example, you can change the function of the Caps Lock key from writing English words in capital letters to a key to mute and play the sound or play and pause videos, etc. All keyboard keys are changeable, even the "Copilot" key found in Microsoft's new "Copilot+ PCs". In short, you can change the functions of the keyboard keys by going to the PowerToys settings window, then selecting the "Keyboard Manager" tool and clicking on "Remap a key". For more details, you can read our article dedicated to this feature, which is changing the functions of keyboard buttons .
2- Always On Top
Or the always-on display feature, which allows you to display any window on top of other windows so that it always appears even if you click the mouse anywhere else on the screen. We explained everything in detail in the article Pin any window in Windows to display it permanently , but if you get the idea and want to benefit from it directly, press the "Windows + Ctrl + T" keys after installing PowerToys on any window and it will be pinned to the front; above all other windows. Note that you can take advantage of the first feature and change the shortcut to activate this feature.
3- PowerToys Run
PowerToys Run is an alternative to the regular Windows Start menu, offering a simple interface with really useful and practical features such as searching the internet using your preferred search engine, unlike the Start Menu that forces you to use its Bing engine and Edge browser, accessing files and programs faster, containing a calculator and various tools for measuring and converting units, and many other features. To view this alternative menu, press the "Alt + Space" keys after installing PowerToys and explore all its features.
4- Image Resizer
Want to quickly and easily resize a bunch of images at once? Then Image Resizer is what you're looking for. To use it: After making sure you have PowerToys installed, go to File Explorer and select the group of images you want to resize, then right-click and choose "Resize with Image Resizer" directly if you're using Windows 10 or "Show more options" first if you're using Windows 11. A box will appear with the settings you need, the most important of which are the "Height" and "Width" boxes. Type the dimensions you think are appropriate and then click "Resize".
5- PowerRename
This feature also works with a group of files, but this time to change their names. If you want to change the name of more than one file, you can use " PowerRename " to do it all at once instead of dealing with each file individually. To use the feature, select the target files, then right-click and choose "Rename with PowerRename". The files will appear in a large box, and on the left you will see the details of these files. Make sure that all the files are marked, then click one of the "aa" or "AA" or "Aa" or "Aa Aa" buttons on the left to change the name. Put the new name in the "Replace with" box so that all the files are named with the new name and next to it a distinctive number "1" then "2" then "3", etc.
6- Video Conference Mute
For all applications that need to use the camera and/or microphone, this feature will be very useful, as it gives you more options to control them so that you can disable or enable them directly from keyboard shortcuts, which will be useful in your meetings or while playing online, for example. We have already explained the importance of this tool and how to activate and use it in the article Create a keyboard shortcut in Windows to mute the microphone , but in brief, to use Video Conference Mute, go to PowerToys settings, then to "Video Conference Mute" and activate it by switching the switch from "Off" to "On", and below it, you will find a set of shortcuts; the first to disable the microphone and camera, the second to mute the microphone only, and the third to disable the camera only.
7- Awake
It is similar to the "Caffeine" feature on Mac devices, as it prevents the computer from entering sleep mode or automatically shutting down, which will be very useful if you are downloading large files from the Internet or installing a large program or game. As for how to use it, we explained how in the article Ways to prevent automatic start-up of Sleep mode in Windows , but you will find a vending machine icon in the notification box on the taskbar; right-click on it and choose "Keep awake indefinitely" so that the computer remains active until you disable the feature by clicking "Off (keep using the selected power plan)" or choose "Keep awake on interval" so that the computer remains active for a period of time that you specify.
8- Text Extractor
Although the feature of extracting texts from images is available in the Snipping tool on Windows 11, and we had talked about it in detail previously, the "Text Extractor" tool or feature in the PowerToys program allows you this option on Windows 10 as well, and we explained how in a topic about extracting any text from images on Windows, not to mention that the method of using it is easier and supports all languages, including Arabic; Just open the image and press the "Windows + Shift + T" keys so that the texts in it are visually recognized and thus extracted or copied easily.
9- Advanced Paste
The ninth tool in PowerToys gives you more formatting options when pasting texts , specifically allowing you to paste any copied text in any format you want, which will benefit you in many areas, such as programming. For example, you will be able to copy any text written in XML and paste it in JSON format, by pressing the keys "Windows + Ctrl + Alt + V" to paste and then choosing the format.
While some apps already offer this option, PowerToys makes it available to all apps. Recently, the tool has been powered by AI to easily format clipboard content, but you’ll need an OpenAI API key to use it. This may eventually be available for free using the NPU on new Copilot+ PCs.
10- FancyZones
Windows 10 and Windows 11 offer options for splitting the screen, but they are somewhat limited. However, thanks to the " FancyZones " tool in PowerToys, you will be able to split your computer screen into different windows in a flexible and effective way, as you will be able to determine their shape and size and navigate between them easily using keyboard shortcuts. Most importantly, you can make Windows remember the order of the windows as you opened them last time, which will save you a lot of time in the future.
Finally, PowerToys has a lot of other tools and features waiting for you to explore. Download the program if you haven't done so yet and take a look at its features that will definitely benefit you.