PowerToys is a set of utilities Microsoft has created for Windows power users. This set of utilities allows users to streamline their Windows experience for even greater productivity.

What is PowerToys?

If you haven’t heard of the app before, it contains different utilities that allow users to customize their Windows PC to their needs and workflows. It is an open-source app that is currently only available from the GitHub page for Microsoft PowerToys.

With PowerToys, you get a lot of utilities like Awake, Color Picker, FancyZones, File Explorer Add-ons, Image Resizer, Keyboard Manager, PowerRename, PowerToys Run, and Shortcut Guide.

The experimental version also offers a global Video Conference Mute that might appear in the stable version in the future.

You can use PowerToys in both Windows 10 and 11.

Updating PowerToys

When it comes to using PowerToys, one question that arises the most is regarding its updates. True, there was a time when you had to manually install the latest versions from GitHub. It’s one of the aspects that put most users off; they would either stay on the old update or abandon the app altogether. But those days are long gone.

Updating PowerToys is now a piece of cake. Open the PowerToys Settings. To open it, either go to the Start Menu or search for PowerToys from the search option. You can also click the PowerToys icon from the system tray if it is running.

PowerToys Settings window will open. Go to the ‘General’ tab from the navigation pane on the left.

On recent older versions, scroll down to the very end of the General tab to the ‘Updates’ section. In the newest update, the Updates section is replaced by a ‘Version’ section that’s at the top of the ‘General’ tab. In both instances, the next steps will remain the same.

There, click the ‘Check for Updates’ button to see if an update is available.

Note: If you don’t see the ‘Check for Updates’ button, head to the GitHub page and download the latest version as older versions for PowerToys did not have this option. You’d be able to enjoy this feature in the future then.

You can also enable the toggle for ‘Download updates Automatically’ so PowerToys will automatically download any available updates.

If an update is available, it’ll download. Click the ‘Install Now’ button to install the update.

PowerToys is a great app if you’re looking to leverage your PC for extra productivity. And with the easiest way to update it, you don’t even have to stay stuck on older versions.