According to a report from Windows Central, Microsoft is reportedly working on introducing tab support for apps like File Explorer, and other productivity apps like Office etc. The new tab experience codenamed “Tabbed Shell” internally will be somewhat similar to, say, multiple tabs open in a browser like the Microsoft Edge. The report goes on to say that any UWP app, Win32 or Centennial app will be able to accept this behaviour.
This will be pretty interesting to see as tabs are a solid solution for most of the daily multitasking, like inside the browser, for example. Microsoft has yet to spoke about any such feature lately, and neither there are any evidences of such a feature in the recent insider builds.
Moreover, the app developers will have nothing to do with their apps, since the feature is enabled at OS level and doesn’t require any changes at the code level. It is also believed that an API will be released for developers to enhance the tab experience in their apps, or create custom experiences with new tabs.
As per the report, it is still a work in progress and may not see the light until 2018 or the Redstone 4. Who knows, the development of Redstone 3 is underway and the company may change its plans, if such a feature existed, and release it to the public in the late 2017.
