The Ultimate Guide to Windows 11's Touchpad Gestures, Start Menu Folders and Much More

Microsoft is bringing new touch gestures, Start menu folders, a redesigned Task Manager, and lots more improvements to Windows 11. The update, known as Build 22557, is now accessible to Windows Insiders. It will enhance Windows 11 with new touch gestures, Start menu folders, a revamped Task Manager, and many more changes. Testers have access to a new build of Windows 11 at this time.

A new build of Windows 11 is available to testers today, and it’s full of new features that look like they will significantly improve the usability of Windows 11 overall.

The new Start menu folders will allow Windows 11 users to customize the pinned section of the Start menu into folders. You drag an app on top of another to create a folder, and you can rearrange apps within folders and remove them. The ability to rename folders is coming in future test builds, but it’s good to see more customization on the Start menu, given Windows 11 launched without many ways to tweak the menu design.

New Features of Windows 11

If you’ve always been a fan of the gestures in Windows 8, Microsoft is bringing five new touch gestures to Windows 11 soon that will make using tablets a little easier. The first is the ability to swipe up on the taskbar to bring up the Start menu and swipe down to dismiss it again. You’ll also be able to swipe between pinned, all apps, and recommended / more on the Start menu.

The third new touch gesture lets you swipe from the bottom right of the taskbar to show the Quick Settings menu — useful if you need to toggle airplane mode quickly or access Bluetooth settings. The animations for bringing up the Notification Center have also been improved, and there’s a new full-screen gripper in touch-oriented apps that will stop you from accidentally swiping from the edges of a tablet screen. Microsoft also says rotating your device between portrait and landscape orientation is getting “snapper” and “more responsive.”

New Start menu

The option to create folders in the Start menu is one of the significant new additions. A redesigned Start menu that now allows folders is included in the upgrade. Now, you may create a new folder by dragging and dropping the icon of one program over another. This will make it simple to quickly access various apps on the list of pinned apps without having to scroll through pages or access the apps list. This function works similarly to how you would do it on the home screen of your smartphone.

Then, users can add or remove Programs from the directories and reorganize the apps as needed. The folders still cannot be renamed, although that functionality is anticipated to appear in the next releases.

Touch signals

With the new build, Windows is introducing five new touch gestures to the operating system. The taskbar can be swiped up the first to display the Start menu. After that, you can swipe down to reject it. On the Start menu, you can swipe between pinned, all apps, and recommended / more.

The third brand-new touch action enables you to swipe up from the taskbar’s bottom right corner to see the Quick Settings panel. If you need to rapidly activate airplane mode or access Bluetooth settings, it can be helpful.

Additionally, users may now rapidly access the Quick Settings by swiping from the bottom right of the Taskbar, and a full-screen gripper will reduce unintentional swipes in touch-based applications. Microsoft claims that the ability to switch between portrait and landscape configurations has improved.

Live Captions

With the Win+Ctrl+L keyboard shortcut, Windows 11 users will now be able to use Live captions on compatible builds. Any audio that is being played back on any window will now have live subtitles.

Live captions will be generated automatically on the device from any content that includes audio, which will be very helpful for those who are deaf or hard of hearing but are also available to everyone. Captions might be shown at the top or bottom of a screen or floating in a window. This appears to be an excellent accessibility enhancement for Windows 11.

Improved Snap layouts

With the new Snap layouts, you may drag an application to the top of a window to see all of the available layouts. Microsoft is also adding a Do Not Disturb setting to its Focus function. It makes it much simpler to swiftly turn off alerts so that only important or alarm-related ones are displayed.