As part of the 22H1 update, Microsoft added a number of new features to Windows 11 earlier this year, such as the ability to directly select text in the Teams app. But File Explorer’s multi-tab functionality is still in the beta testing phase without an official push. The latest news is that Microsoft may officially provide File Explorer with the tabs that have been waiting for years, as well as a new Home view experience, after the next major update (22H2).
The newly introduced Home view will allow users to more easily view recently used files (including documents and images on OneDrive) than the multi-tab feature in File Explorer.
The good news is that this may be changing.
On the one hand, while third-party tools like ViveTool have been able to implement this feature, Microsoft has been slow to provide the public with access to this experience.
On the other hand, there are reports that the Windows 11 22H2 update will arrive in the last week of September and roll out more widely in October-November.
Microsoft is said to have started pushing this option to Windows Insider testers to get ready in time for the Windows 11 22H2 fall update. The bad news is that for any Windows 11 OS users in the production channel, this feature may not be included in the first 22H2 release.
In fact, the RTM version of Windows 11 22H2 still lacks multi-tab feature support for File Explorer.
More likely, Microsoft may intend to push this improvement to Windows 11 users in a phased manner through a subsequent ‘Cumulative Update’ (or until October-November).
Meanwhile, Dev Channel testers have now seen several fixes related to File Explorer (such as several folders suddenly duplicating), as well as a taskbar bug in the latest preview release.
In addition, users can now drag the left half of the File Explorer title bar via mouse or touch. And a bug was fixed where selecting folders and using the context menu might not open them smoothly.
