Microsoft adds new Windows 11 File explorer, Start & Presence sensing features/changes in new build

Microsoft has released a new Window 11 version 23H2 build 23435 to insiders in the Dev channel. The new build brings new Windows 11 File explorer, Start & Presence sensing features/changes.

Coming to details now, the Build 23435 finally brings the Gallery feature in File explorer. We have extensively covered the leaks about the Windows 11 File explorer Gallery feature. The feature is now official and the gallery feature also works in the “file picking dialog” from different apps.

Microsoft is also exploring badging on the Start menu for users logging in with local user accounts. The badging with several new treatments highlights the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA). The Build 23435 also introduces new presence sensor privacy settings and APIs.

Read all the changes and new features in the Windows 11 Build 23435 in detailed changelog below.

What’s new in Build 23435

Gallery in File Explorer

We are introducing Gallery, a new feature in File Explorer designed to make it easy to access your photo collection. The set of content shown in Gallery is the same as what you’ll see in the All Photos view in the Photos app.

Gallery is optimized for accessing your most recently taken photos. If you have OneDrive Camera Roll Backup set up on your phone, photos you take will show up automatically at the top of the view. You can choose which folders are shown in Gallery through the Collection dropdown. You can also add subfolders of existing sources to filter to a subset of your content, such as desktop backgrounds and SD card/camera imports.

Gallery also works from the file picking dialog, bringing that same ease of use to situations such as inserting attachments, building a PowerPoint deck, or crafting social media posts.

[We are beginning to roll this out, so the experience isn’t available to all Insiders in the Dev Channel just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Changes and Improvements

[General]

• We are continuing the exploration of badging on the Start menu with several new treatments for users logging in with local user accounts to highlight the benefits of signing in with a Microsoft account (MSA). If you see one of these treatments, give us feedback on what you think. As a reminder, it is normal for us to try out different concepts in the Dev Channel to get feedback.

[File Explorer]

• Windows Insiders will begin noticing a “pizza” icon on the command bar in File Explorer. This icon denotes that an Insider is previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer. Functionality in File Explorer remains unchanged, it just switches from using WinUI 2 to using WinUI 3.

[Narrator]

• Narrator users who interact with Traditional Chinese characters are now able to do this with confidence while using Narrator and the IME candidate window in Windows. This was accomplished by creating a Traditional Chinese dictionary for detail reading. Narrator now consumes the dictionary to disambiguate each Traditional Chinese word. Users should be aware that Narrator detailed reading is only supported for the Taiwan language pack. The Hong-Kong language pack is not supported with Narrator.

[Settings]

• We are introducing new presence sensor privacy settings and APIs. If you have a device with compatible presence sensors, you can now manage your privacy and block/allow certain apps from accessing these sensors. No images or metadata is collected by Microsoft and all processing is done locally on the device hardware to maximize privacy. You will find these settings under Settings > Privacy & security > Presence sensing here if your device supports it. App developers with devices with compatible presence sensors can target apps to request and read user presence information after requesting a human presence capability. Learn more about the API here.

Fixes

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• Fixed a few explorer.exe crashes that were impacting taskbar reliability.

[Input]

• Updated the TextInput/EnableTouchKeyboardAutoInvokeInDesktopMode MDM policy to allow “2” as a valid value to enforce showing the touch keyboard on tapping an edit control even when the hardware keyboard is attached.

[Settings]

• Fixed an issue which was causing Settings crashes when navigating to various Windows Update related pages in the last couple flights.

[Live captions]

• Fixed the issue that caused enhanced speech recognition support installed through the Language & Region settings page to require restarting live captions if you switch languages in the live captions Caption language menu on Arm64 devices.
• Fixed the issue where you may not see install completion of “Enhanced speech recognition” (required by Live Captions) when adding a language through the Language & Region settings page, and language feature installation progress may become hidden.

[Task Manager]

• Improved the performance of the expand all / collapse all View options on the Processes page.

[Accessibility]

• Updated Narrator’s default for “Context level for buttons and controls” to “3 – Immediate content name and type.”

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.