For years, Microsoft has struggled to modernize the File Explorer app on Windows. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Microsoft slowly introduce modern UI elements to the File Explorer interface. Areas like the top of the app, the home page, and the details panel have been modernized with WinUI 3, but the rest of the app remains largely intact.
This means that the File Explorer experience right now is very fragmented and shared between the decades-old interface design and the modern WinUI design. Well, it looks like Microsoft is slowly moving towards fixing this issue, as evidence has now surfaced that the company is planning to modernize a pretty important aspect of File Explorer.
First seen by Phantomofearth on BlueskyThe latest preview version of Windows 11 includes a modernized, hidden File Properties window that appears when you open the properties of a file in the Recycle Bin. This is the only window that has been discovered so far, but it is clear that Microsoft plans to revamp the entire File Properties dialog box soon.
This move coincides with Microsoft’s commitment to bringing WinUI to more areas of the Windows Shell. The company confirmed plans to bring WinUI to the Start menu and built-in apps and experiences earlier this year, in an effort to optimize performance and design consistency across the Windows user interface.
One of the biggest user criticisms of Windows 11 is that the interface is very fragmented. In apps like File Explorer, it’s very easy to find a pop-up or window that hasn’t been revamped like the rest of Windows 11, and in some cases even lacks dark mode support. Moving these interfaces to WinUI should make them look more consistent and support dark mode.
Microsoft has also confirmed plans to improve the performance of WinUI itselfso we’re confident that moving more Windows Shell to WinUI should result in a faster overall experience. These improvements are part of the company’s ongoing effort on Windows K2, which focuses on fixing Windows 11’s biggest problems.
The modernized File Properties in Windows 11 has yet to be announced, but now that the first signs of this work are appearing in preview builds, it’s unlikely we’ll have to wait much longer before hearing more about Microsoft’s plans to modernize more areas of File Explorer.
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