Microsoft PowerToys is a set of free Microsoft Windows utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. These utilities and shell enhancement tools are designed to help you customize Windows 10 and Windows 11 to suit your needs.

The currently available utilities include:

Advanced Paste

Advanced Paste is a tool that enables you to paste the text from your clipboard into any format needed. It can be enhanced with an AI-powered option that is 100% opt-in and requires an OpenAI key.

Always On Top

Always On Top enables you to pin windows above other windows with a quick key shortcut (⊞ Win+Ctrl+T).

PowerToys Awake

PowerToys Awake is designed to keep a computer awake without having to manage its power & sleep settings. This behavior can be helpful when running time-consuming tasks, ensuring that the computer doesn't go to sleep or turn off its displays.

Color Picker

Color Picker is a system-wide color picking utility activated with ⊞ Win+Shift+C. It allows you to pick colors from anywhere on the screen, and the picker automatically copies the color to your clipboard in a specified format. Color Picker contains an editor that shows a history of previously picked colors and allows you to fine-tune the selected color and to copy different string representations. The code for this utility is based on Martin Chrzan's Color Picker.

Command Not Found

Command Not Found is a PowerShell 7 module that detects an error thrown by a command and suggests a relevant WinGet package to install, if one is available.

Command Palette

Command Palette allows you to easily access all of your most frequently used commands, apps, and development tools - all from a single solution that is fast, customizable to your unique preferences, and extensible to include your favorite apps. The Command Palette is intended to be the successor of PowerToys Run.

Crop And Lock

Crop And Lock is a utility that creates a new, fully-interactive window that's a crop or a thumbnail of another window.

Environment Variables

Environment Variables offers an easy and convenient way to manage environment variables. You can create profiles to manage a set of variables together.

FancyZones

FancyZones is a window manager that makes it easy to create complex window layouts and quickly position windows into those layouts.

File Explorer add-ons

File Explorer add-ons enable Preview pane and thumbnail rendering in File Explorer to display a variety of file types. To open the Preview pane, go to View in File Explorer and select Preview Pane.

File Locksmith

File Locksmith is a Windows shell extension to check which files are in use and by which processes. Right-click on one or more selected files in File Explorer and select Unlock with File Locksmith.

Hosts File Editor

Hosts File Editor is a utility that provides a convenient way to edit the 'Hosts' file in Windows that contains domain names and matching IP addresses, acting as a map to identify and locate hosts on IP networks.

Image Resizer

Image Resizer is a Windows Shell extension for quickly resizing images. With a right-click in File Explorer, instantly resize one or many images. The code in this extension is based on Brice Lambson's Image Resizer.

Keyboard Manager

Keyboard Manager allows you to customize the keyboard to be more productive by remapping keys and creating your own keyboard shortcuts.

Light Switch

Light Switch allows you to automatically switch between light and dark themes in Windows based on the time of day.

Mouse utilities

Mouse utilities add functionality to enhance your mouse and cursor.

Find My Mouse: Quickly locate your mouse pointer with a spotlight that focuses on its current position. This feature is based on source code developed by Raymond Chen.

Mouse Highlighter: Displays visual indicators when basic mouse buttons are clicked.

Mouse Jump: Allows a quick jump on large displays.

Mouse Pointer Crosshairs: Draws crosshairs centered on the mouse pointer.

Mouse Without Borders

Use Mouse Without Borders to interact with multiple computers from the same keyboard and mouse, while seamlessly sharing clipboard contents and files between the machines.

New+

New+ enables you to create files and folders from a personalized set of templates in File Explorer.

Peek

Peek allows you to preview file content without the need to open multiple applications or interrupt your workflow. You can simply select a file and use the shortcut (Ctrl+Space).

PowerRename

Use PowerRename to perform bulk renaming; searching and replacing file names. It includes advanced features, such as using regular expressions, targeting specific file types, previewing expected results, and the ability to undo changes. The code in this utility is based on Chris Davis's SmartRename.

PowerToys Run

PowerToys Run can help you search and open your apps instantly. To open Run, use the shortcut Alt+Space and start typing. It's open source and modular, and it supports additional plugins.

Quick Accent

Quick Accent provides an alternative way to type accented characters. It's useful when a keyboard doesn't support a specific character with a quick key combo.

Registry Preview

Registry Preview is a utility to visualize and edit Windows Registry files.

Screen Ruler

Use Screen Ruler to quickly measure pixels on your screen based on image edge detection. To activate, use the shortcut ⊞ Win+Shift+M. This tool was inspired by Pete Blois's Rooler.

Shortcut Guide

Windows key shortcut guide appears when you press ⊞ Win+Shift+/ (or as we like to think, ⊞ Win+?) and shows the available shortcuts for the current state of the desktop. You can also use it by pressing and holding ⊞ Win.

Text Extractor

Text Extractor is a convenient way to copy text from anywhere on your screen. To activate, use the shortcut ⊞ Win+Shift+T. This code is based on Joe Finney's Text Grab.

Workspaces

Workspaces is a desktop manager utility for launching a set of applications to custom positions and configurations with a single click. Open the editor by selecting "Launch editor" from settings or by using the shortcut ⊞ Win+Ctrl+`.

ZoomIt

ZoomIt is a screen zoom, annotation, and recording tool for technical presentations and demos. It's one of the most popular Sysinternals utilities, and it's now available in PowerToys.