Level up your Windows game with Microsoft PowerToys! Explore these free, powerful tools that boost productivity, streamline your workflow, and make Windows 10 & 11 faster, smarter, and more efficient. Completely free to download and use!
Get PowerToys from the Microsoft Store
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/xp89dcgq3k6vld?hl=en-US&gl=BD
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https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys
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Get PowerToys from the Microsoft Store
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/xp89dcgq3k6vld?hl=en-US&gl=BD
Get PowerToys from GitHub
https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys
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TechTranscript
00:00Windows has some hidden superpowers, but here's the thing, Microsoft doesn't really tell you
00:05about them. Imagine snapping your Windows into perfect layouts, searching your entire PC in a
00:11blink, resizing dozens of images at once, or even grabbing the exact color from anything on your
00:17screen instantly. And that's just scratching the surface. There's so much more waiting to be
00:22unlocked. And the best part? It's 100% free, official, and built by Microsoft. In this video,
00:29I'll show you how to install it, explore its best features, and share some pro tips to help you get
00:34the most out of it. We're talking about Microsoft PowerToys, a free collection of powerful utilities
00:40designed to supercharge Windows. Originally launched back in the Windows 95 days, it's been completely
00:46rebuilt for modern Windows 10 and 11. And now, it's better than ever, giving you tools to make your
00:53PC faster, smarter, and honestly, a lot more fun to use. So, let's get PowerToys installed. You've got
01:00two easy ways, and I'll walk you through both. First up, the Microsoft Store. Just type Microsoft
01:06Store in your Windows search bar and launch it. Once you're inside, type PowerToys into the search bar
01:19and hit Enter. Look for the official Microsoft listing. It should be the first result. Click on
01:27it. Hit Install. And within moments, you're ready to go. Now, let's install PowerToys using the Windows
01:47executable file from GitHub. First, open your browser and head to the official Microsoft PowerToys GitHub
01:54page. I'll leave the link in the video description. Once you're there, scroll down to the latest release
01:59section and click on it. Scroll down again to the assets section and look for the installer named
02:07something like PowerToys setupversion.exe. Download that file. And once it's done, run it. Just follow the
02:22setup prompts, and you're good to go. After installation, you can search for PowerToys in the start menu.
02:43Or find its icon in the system tray near the clock to launch the app. Clicking the PowerToys icon brings up
02:57a quick menu with shortcuts to some of the tools. But remember, not every tool shows up here. If you want
03:03to see all of them, just hit the More button. From there, you can enable or disable any tools you want
03:10right from that menu. When you double-click the PowerToys icon, you'll go straight to the dashboard,
03:22your full overview of every available utility. From here, you can enable or disable tools and
03:29customize them however you like. Now that PowerToys is installed and running, let's jump in and explore
03:35its powerful features. Alright, first up, let's start with Advanced Paste. This tool takes your
03:41regular copy and paste game to the next level by letting you choose how your copied content is
03:46pasted. It gives you more control, saves you time, and honestly, it feels like a hidden superpower.
03:53One of the most useful features here is Paste as plain text. Normally, when you copy text from a
03:58website or a document, it drags along all the formatting, fonts, colors, sizes, even background
04:05highlights. But sometimes, all you want is the raw text without all that extra stuff, clean and simple.
04:12Here's an example. I've copied this paragraph from a web page. If I paste it normally into Word,
04:17it brings all that messy formatting with it. See all the styles, bold headings, different fonts,
04:23maybe some colors. But if I use Paste as plain text, this is where the magic happens. Press Windows
04:29plus shift plus V, and this sleek menu appears, your clipboard's command center. From here,
04:36just click on Paste as plain text, and boom. It pastes only the words. No fonts, no colors,
04:42no chaos. Just clean text that I can style however I want. No more wrestling with stubborn formatting.
04:48It's done in a click. And the best part? Advanced Paste isn't limited to plain text. It's got a few
04:55more tricks up its sleeve that can save you tons of time, which we'll explore next. Now, let's look
05:00at Paste as .txt file. Super useful if you want to turn whatever you've copied into a ready-to-use text
05:06file. I'm on a website, and I see some text I want to save. So I just select it. Right-click, and hit
05:13Copy, or press Ctrl plus C. Next, I go to the folder where I want the text file to appear. Then I press
05:20Windows plus shift plus V to open the Advanced Paste menu. From here, I select Paste as .txt file.
05:27Instantly, you'll see a new file appear, usually named something like PowerToysPaste. When I open it,
05:34everything I copied is right there in plain text. No formatting, no images, just clean text.
05:40This is perfect for saving code snippets, quick notes, or bits of text you want to store without
05:45the hassle of manually creating and naming a file first. Now, let's try Paste as .png file. A super
05:53quick way to turn anything you copy into an actual .png image file, without needing to open any extra apps.
06:00First, copy an image. This can be from any file type or source. For example, right-click a picture on a
06:07website and select Copy Image. Next, open the folder where you want the file to be saved,
06:13and press Windows plus shift plus V to open up the Advanced Paste menu. From the list, select Paste
06:19as .png file. And just like that, a brand new .png file appears instantly in the folder.
06:26Opening it shows the exact image that was copied, saved, and ready to use. This is perfect for quickly
06:32grabbing a logo, meme, or screenshot, without having to go through the usual save as process in another
06:38program. Here's one of my favorite tricks inside Advanced Paste, Image to Text. Imagine you've got a
06:44picture or a screenshot that has text in it. Normally, you can't just highlight and copy the words, they are
06:50locked inside the image. But with Power Toys, you can pull the text straight out of the image in seconds.
06:56First, right-click the image and select Copy or press Ctrl plus C. You can even copy an image directly
07:04from a website, like this one. Just right-click and choose Copy Image. Now, open Notepad, Word, or anywhere
07:13you want the text to appear. Press Windows plus Shift plus V to bring up the Advanced Paste menu. From the menu,
07:20click Image to Text. Then Paste. And there it is, text that was locked inside an image is now fully
07:29editable. No retyping, no extra apps, no hassle. This is a total game-changer for copying quotes,
07:36grabbing info from PDFs, or pulling text from screenshots instantly. Next, let's explore one of the coolest
07:44hidden gems in Advanced Paste. Transcode to MP3. This lets you instantly convert any audio or even
07:52a video file you've copied into an MP3 without needing separate converter software. Here's how it
07:58works. First, find the audio or video file you want to convert. Let's say I have a video clip and I only
08:04need its audio for a podcast or background music. I'll guide you step-by-step through the entire
08:12process of downloading a Windows ISO file, creating a bootable USB drive, and installing Windows on
08:18your PC. Whether you're setting up a new system or fixing your current one, this tutorial has got you
08:23covered. Right-click the file and choose Copy or just press Ctrl plus C. Now go to any folder where you
08:33want the converted file saved. Press Windows plus Shift plus V to open the Advanced Paste menu. From
08:40here, choose Transcode to MP3.
08:46And that's it. Within seconds, you'll see a new MP3 file appears in the folder. When I play it, I get
08:53just the audio from my original file, clean and ready to use. This is perfect for pulling sound from
08:59lectures, interviews, or music videos without messing with big editing tools. Here's a tip. Even if the
09:07audio file is in an uncommon format, like .wav, .flac, or .og, you can still copy it and use this feature to
09:15instantly convert it to MP3, making it much easier to share and play on almost any device.
09:22Another powerful feature in Advanced Paste is Transcode to MP4. This lets you instantly convert
09:28videos to MP4 format. Super handy, because MP4 works almost everywhere. Here's how it works.
09:36First, find a video file. Maybe it's in an older format like .avi or .mov. Right-click it and choose Copy.
09:47Or just press Ctrl plus C. Next, navigate to the folder where you want the new video to appear.
09:54Press Windows plus Shift plus V to bring up the Advanced Paste menu. This time, select Transcode to MP4.
10:04Within moments, a new MP4 version of your video appears in the folder. You can open it, play it,
10:10and share it anywhere. No complicated converters needed. It's perfect for making sure your videos
10:16play smoothly on all devices, or for compressing large files into a more compatible format.
10:23Next up is the super handy Always On Top feature. This lets you keep any window visible on top of all
10:29other windows, no matter what you're doing. Imagine watching a tutorial video while taking notes,
10:35or referencing a document while working on a spreadsheet. This feature makes multitasking way
10:40easier. Here's how it works. First, open the window you want to keep visible. Let's say I have few
10:46calculations to make and note them down at the same time. I have my word open where you can
10:51see the calculations, and I have to open the calculator and write down the answers.
10:56Now, with the calculator active, I'll press Windows plus Ctrl plus T. That's the default
11:01shortcut to toggle Always On Top for the active window. You'll see a subtle colored border appear
11:07around the window. That border means the window is now pinned on top. Now you can calculate and note
11:13it down without the calculator disappearing behind. Now, no matter what other windows you open or click,
11:34this window will stay visible. When I'm done, I can turn it off with the same shortcut, Windows plus
11:50Ctrl plus T. The border will disappear, and the window will behave normally. If you want, you can customize
11:57how that border looks and sounds. Head to PowerToys dashboard, select Always On Top, and scroll down to
12:05the Appearance section. Here in the Appearance section, you can choose whether the border color
12:11uses your Windows accent color or a solid custom color of your choice. You can adjust the opacity to
12:17make the border more or less transparent, and change the thickness to make it thinner or thicker.
12:22There's even an option to play a sound when you pin or unpin a window, giving you audible feedback.
12:30These options help you personalize your experience so the feature fits perfectly with how you work.
12:36This one simple shortcut makes multitasking so much easier, especially when you're working
12:41across multiple windows and need something to stay visible at all times.
12:46Now let's look at a really useful PowerToys tool, Awake. This feature keeps your PC awake without you
12:52having to mess with Windows power or sleep settings. Imagine you're running a long file download,
12:58rendering a video, or doing a big update, and you don't want your PC to go to sleep
13:03or your screen to turn off halfway through. Awake makes sure that doesn't happen. The great thing is,
13:09Awake doesn't change your Windows power plan permanently. Instead, it just tells Windows to
13:14stay awake while it's running, and the moment you close it, your PC goes back to its normal power settings.
13:20Let's open PowerToys dashboard. Click on Awake, and see the modes Awake offers.
13:25First, we have Keep using the selected power plan. This means Awake is active, but it won't actually
13:31change anything. Your PC will follow its usual power and sleep settings. If you're curious what those are,
13:37just type Edit Power Plan in the Windows search bar, and you'll see your current default plan. Awake will
13:47simply use these exact settings when this mode is selected. Next, we have Keep Awake indefinitely. This
13:55mode keeps your PC awake continuously until you turn off Awake. It's perfect for long downloads,
14:01video rendering, or maintenance tasks. Keep Awake for a time interval lets you set your PC to stay awake
14:09for a specific period, like 30 minutes, 1 hour, or any duration you choose. After the timer ends,
14:17your PC automatically returns to its normal power settings. Next is Keep Awake until expiration.
14:24This mode keeps your PC awake until a specific date and time you set. Perfect if you know exactly when
14:30your task will finish. You can adjust the end date and time according to your needs. And if you change
14:36the timer while it's running, it automatically resets from your latest input.
14:42By default, Awake only prevents your PC from sleeping, but still allows your screen to turn off. If you want
14:48the display to stay visible, for example, during a live presentation or while monitoring something,
14:54just enable Keep Screen On. This will keep your displays active as long as Awake is running in a
15:00custom mode. Awake also lives in your system tray for quick control. Just right-click the Awake icon,
15:06and you can change its mode instantly. The icon even changes depending on what mode you've selected.
15:12If you hover your mouse over the tray icon, the tooltip will also tell you exactly what mode it's in.
15:18This is one of those small but powerful tools that can save you a lot of frustration.
15:23Next up, let's explore Color Picker, one of the most useful tools inside Power Toys.
15:28Color Picker is a simple yet powerful utility that lets you grab colors from anywhere on your screen
15:34and copy them directly to your clipboard in the format you want. Whether you're a designer,
15:39developer, or just someone working with colors, this tool makes life so much easier.
15:45Here's how it works. To activate it, just press Windows plus Shift plus C. Immediately,
15:51your cursor turns into a Color Picker. Now hover over any part of your screen. It could be an image,
15:57some text, a button, or even the background. If you want more precision, scroll your mouse wheel up.
16:03This zooms in and freezes the image so you can pick the exact pixel color you want.
16:08Once you click, that exact color is instantly copied to your clipboard in HEX format,
16:13ready to paste wherever you need. But that's not all. After picking a color,
16:17an editor window pops up. Inside this editor, you can view the color in multiple formats like HEX,
16:23RGB, HSL. You can also copy any of these values with a single click,
16:29or fine-tune the color to create a variation. Right here using the color bar, you can. Click
16:34the center to precisely adjust values like HSV, RGB, or HEX. Or click on the edges of the bar to
16:45quickly pick a similar shade. Every color you pick gets saved into your color history. If the history
16:51gets too full, you can right-click any color to remove it, or even export the entire history for later use.
16:59Let's pick a nice shade of blue.
17:05I'll copy the HEX code. Open word. Go to font color. More colors. Custom. Paste the code.
17:26And boom! My text instantly turns that exact shade. Pretty cool, right? Here are a few quick tips you
17:35should know after activating the color picker shortcut. If you press the left click of the mouse,
17:41it will pick a color, copy it to clipboard, save it to history, and open the editor. If you click
17:47scroll wheel, it will pick a color in close. And the right click closes color picker without copying
17:54anything. Now, if you want more control over how the color picker works, just open the PowerToys dashboard.
18:01Click on Color Picker and explore the customization options. Here, you can tweak the behavior, adjust
18:07settings, and personalize it to match your workflow. In short, Color Picker is more than just a quick
18:13hex grabber. It's a full-featured, customizable tool that lets you pick, fine-tune, manage, and export
18:19colors with ease. Ever wish you could crop part of an app and keep it floating on your screen?
18:25With PowerToys Crop and Lock, you can focus only on what matters, whether it's a YouTube video,
18:31a chat window, or just part of a dashboard. Let me show you how it works. First, open PowerToys.
18:38Go to the Crop and Lock section and make sure it's enabled. Once it's on, you'll unlock two crop modes,
18:46Thumbnail and Reparent. Now, let's break down the two modes. Let's start with Thumbnail mode.
18:53Press Windows plus Ctrl plus Shift plus T and your screen will dim. Now, just drag to select the part
19:00of the window you want. As soon as you let go, a brand new window appears showing only that cropped
19:07region. This new window is live, meaning if the original window updates, your thumbnail updates too.
19:14But here's the catch. The thumbnail is only a viewer. You can't click or interact with it.
19:32It's more like a floating preview. This is super useful if you need to keep an eye on part of an
19:37application, like a video, chat, or data feed, without having the full app blocking your workspace.
19:44To close it, simply hit the Close button and the thumbnail disappears.
19:49Now let's talk about Reparent mode. Press Windows plus Ctrl plus Shift plus R.
19:54Select the area you want, and this time the original app is replaced with just the cropped portion.
20:00Unlike Thumbnail mode, you can actually interact with this cropped window. Click, type, scroll, just like a
20:07normal application window. Hello everyone. In today's video, I'll guide you step-by-step through
20:14the entire process of downloading a Windows ISO file. And when you're done, closing the cropped version
20:21restores the original full window. And that's crop and lock. A simple but powerful way to keep only what
20:28you need on your screen and save valuable space. Ever feel like your desktop is a digital disaster
20:35zone? Tabs everywhere, windows overlapping, and you spend half your day just arranging
20:40your screen instead of actually getting work done. What if I told you there's a free, power user tool
20:46from Microsoft that can completely transform your workflow? Next up is we're diving deep into fancy
20:52zones, the ultimate window manager utility hidden inside Microsoft's power toys. Fancy zones is a
20:59window manager that lets you create custom, efficient layouts for your windows. You define zones on your
21:05screen, and with a simple drag or a keyboard shortcut, your windows snap perfectly into place. It's about
21:12working smarter, not harder, and restoring your perfect layout in a flash. Here's how it works. Hold the
21:19shift key and drag any window. You'll see these zones light up. Drop the window into a zone, and boom,
21:27it snaps right into place. That's how simple it is to get started. But the real power is in the
21:33customization. This is where the magic happens. You can see all sorts of customization here. The zone
21:39appearance. The opacity. Here you can customize the window behavior. I mean, there is fine tuning to exact
21:46likings that you want inside of here. You can do windows switching with page up and page down with
21:51the windows key. Now let's go to the most important section, the layout editor. When you open it, you'll
21:58see a list of layouts that adjust based on how many windows your monitor can handle. Clicking on a layout
22:04shows a live preview. The selected layout is applied automatically. Double-clicking a layout will apply it
22:11and close the editor. By default, layouts have spacing between zones. Some people like that,
22:17others don't. So hit that edit button. And you'll be able to toggle that on and off.
22:24You can also adjust the spacing size. The default is 16 pixels.
22:31Need more zones or fewer zones? You can change that too.
22:41Now, templates are great, but they don't give you full control. So here's where it gets fun.
22:48You can duplicate a template or create your own custom layout. At the bottom, select create new
22:53layout. You'll see two styles, grid and canvas. Let's choose grid and hit create.
23:04Now, this is a little floating box. That's important information, but definitely leave that open. If you
23:10save and apply, it's going to come back to this screen. And what you will need to do is right-click
23:15the custom layout and click Edit Zones. The grid model starts with a three-column grid and allows
23:23zones to be created by splitting and merging zones, moving the gutter between zones as desired. You can
23:29edit the layout using mouse or keyboard. To divide a zone, just click your mouse.
23:34To rotate a divider, hold Shift and click. To move dividers, click and drag the gutter.
23:57To merge or delete zones, select a zone, hold the left mouse button and drag the mouse until multiple zones are
24:04selected. Release the button and a pop-up menu will show up. Select Merge and they will become one zone.
24:11This is how a zone should be deleted, by merging it into another zone. That's pretty cool. And just
24:16like that I've created my own fancy zone. Hit save and apply.
24:24Now, when I exit out of here and I bring backup applications, I can snap them to all of my windows.
24:30And this is a thing of beauty, especially when you're developing, using a lot of tools, doing
24:36anything inside of your machine.
24:50Now, of course, there's tons of options inside of fancy zones. So be sure to come in and really look
24:56around at all of the little options that you have available. Fancy zones turns window chaos into a
25:02thing of beauty. And once you start using it, you'll never want to go back.
25:06The next tool in Power Toys is called File Locksmith, and it solves a really common problem.
25:12Have you ever tried to delete or move a folder or a file, only for Windows to say this file or folder
25:18is in use? Sometimes it tells you what program is locking it, but other times, it doesn't. That's where
25:24File Locksmith comes in. For example, if I right-click on this folder and choose Unlock
25:29with File Locksmith, it instantly checks whether any files inside are being used.
25:36Here you can see I've got a Word document open, an Excel file, a PDF in Adobe Reader,
25:41and even File Explorer itself. If you click on the dropdown, you can expand the details for each
25:47process. That way, you not only see which app is using the file, but also the exact file path it's
25:53holding. Now here's the powerful part. From inside File Locksmith, you can end the task directly.
26:01You can also end all related tasks, which will close every instance of those apps, release the lock,
26:08and let you delete, move, or rename the file. But be careful, ending a task will close everything in
26:15that program. So if you have multiple documents open in Word, ending the task will close them all.
26:21And that's File Locksmith, a straightforward but extremely handy PowerToys tool for unlocking your
26:26files. No more guessing, no more random errors, just right-click, check, and take action.
26:33Mouse Utilities is another one of my favorite PowerToys in the suite. It's a collection of features
26:39that enhance the mouse and cursor experience in Windows. The first feature is Find My Mouse.
26:45Ever lose your cursor on a busy screen? This feature is a lifesaver. Just press the CTRL key twice,
26:51and a spotlight instantly appears around your mouse pointer, making it easy to spot. It's especially
26:57handy when giving demos or screen recordings, since it directs viewers exactly where you're pointing.
27:03To dismiss the spotlight, just click the mouse or press any key. If you don't interact, it will
27:11disappear automatically a few moments after the mouse stops moving. From the Mouse Utilities Settings
27:17page, you can fully customize this. Don't like pressing CTRL twice? No problem, you can set it,
27:24so simply shaking the mouse activates the spotlight instead. You can also tweak the appearance and
27:33behavior of the spotlight to suit your preference. The next feature is Mouse Highlighter. This one
27:42adds visual indicators whenever you click the left or right mouse buttons. Activate it by pressing Windows
27:48key plus Shift plus H. By default, left-click show as yellow, and right-click show as blue. Perfect for
27:56tutorials, demos, or presentations where the audience needs to follow your clicks. And of course, you can
28:02customize the colors, sizes, and effects inside the settings. If you don't want to use it, just press
28:08Windows plus Shift plus H again to turn it off. The last feature I want to show is Mouse Pointer Crosshairs.
28:16Activate it with Windows plus Alt plus P, and crosshairs appear centered on your pointer. This
28:21is especially helpful if you're doing precision work, giving demos, or recording tutorials where
28:27viewers need to follow the pointer exactly. Just like the other tools, you can customize everything
28:33color, opacity, thickness, so the crosshairs perfectly fit your setup.
28:37And if you're done with it, press 1 plus Alt plus P again to disable. Together, these mouse utilities
28:49make it easier to track your cursor, highlight your actions for viewers, and boost your productivity,
28:55whether you're working, presenting, or recording tutorials.
28:59Have you ever needed to resize a bunch of photos at once? But Windows doesn't really give
29:04you a simple option? Well, with PowerToys Image Resizer, you can bulk resize images in just a few
29:10clicks, directly from File Explorer. Let me show you how it works. First, let's look at a single image.
29:17Now, if I right-click on it, you'll notice there's a resize image option. That works fine for one picture.
29:25But the problem comes when I select multiple photos. If I right-click, there's no option to resize
29:30them all together. And that's exactly where PowerToys comes to the rescue. So, let's open the PowerToys
29:37dashboard and enable the Image Resizer feature. Here I've got a folder of images, each one between
29:501MB and 3MB in size. After enabling Image Resizer, I can now select all my images. Right-click,
29:58and this time there's a new option, Resize with Image Resizer. When I click it,
30:04a new window opens with a set of presets. By default, PowerToys gives you four quick options,
30:10small, medium, large, and phone size. But the real power is in the custom option. With this,
30:16you can set an exact width and height, for example, 800x600 pixels, or even define your own
30:23preset if you often need a certain resolution. For this demo, I'll pick large.
30:28And then hit Resize. In just a few seconds, Image Resizer creates copies of all the photos,
30:38right in the same folder, while keeping the originals untouched. Let's compare.
30:43This photo was 3MB, and the resized version is only 322KB. That's less than a quarter of the original
30:51size. And if I open them side by side, you'll see the quality is still really good. So you get a huge
30:57storage savings with almost no noticeable loss in quality. And if you head into the settings,
31:03you'll find extra options to fine-tune everything just the way you need.
31:07And that's PowerToys Image Resizer, a quick and easy way to batch resize images without installing
31:14any extra software. Whether you're preparing photos for email, uploading to social media,
31:19or just saving disk space, this tool makes the job effortless.
31:24Now let's talk about another great tool in PowerToys, Keyboard Manager. This utility lets you
31:30remap keys, create custom shortcuts, and even assign a single key to type out full words or phrases.
31:37It's perfect if you want to speed up your workflow, fix broken keys, or just customize your
31:42keyboard to work the way you like. To get started, open PowerToys Settings,
31:46and head over to the Keyboard Manager tab. Here, you'll see two main options. Remap a key,
31:53which changes what a single key does. Remap a shortcut, which lets you create or customize
31:59keyboard shortcuts. Let's remap a key. When I open it, I see the remapping window. At first,
32:06it's empty. So I'll click Add Key Remapping. Select the input key to send the output or the action I want.
32:14For example, I can set it up like this. In Select, I'll type the letter A.
32:22And in to Send, I'll type the letter B.
32:28Now whenever I press the A, Windows will type B. But pressing B still types B.
32:32I'll add a new key remap. In Select, I'll type the letter B. And in to Send, I'll type the letter A.
32:46Hit OK to save the changes. Now the two keys are completely swapped. Pressing A gives me B,
32:53and pressing B gives me A. This is super useful if you're used to a different keyboard layout,
32:58or if you want to fix a broken or worn out key. And the best part is, you can remove any mapping at
33:04any time. Go to Remap a key. And if I just delete the mappings and hit OK, the keys simply go back to
33:12normal. But here's where things get really interesting. You can map a key to text. Let's try it. Click on
33:19Remap a key. I'll add a new key remap. In, to Send, I'll select Send Text.
33:29For example, I can map the H key to output the text Hello.
33:37Hit OK to save. And that's it. So now, every time I press H, Windows instantly types Hello.
33:45Think about it. You could set up one key to type your email signature, your phone number,
33:50or even a quick code snippet. And just like before, you can remove it any time.
33:55So that's Keyboard Manager in PowerToys, turning your keyboard into a fully custom productivity tool
34:01that works exactly the way you want. Opening files just to see what's inside can be a real workflow
34:07killer. You double-click, wait for an app to open, then close it again just to check the contents.
34:14Well, with PowerToys Peak, you can preview almost any file instantly, without opening separate apps,
34:20and without interrupting your work. Peak is a system-wide tool that gives you quick previews
34:25of all kinds of files, images, office documents, videos, markdown, text files, developer formats,
34:33even web pages. It's basically like a universal quick-look feature built right into Windows.
34:38Using Peak is super simple. Just select a file in File Explorer, and press the shortcut Control plus
34:44space. A preview window instantly pops up showing you the contents of that file. From there, you can
34:51use the arrow keys, left and right, or up and down, to scroll through all the files in that folder.
34:58And if you only want to cycle through specific files, just select them in
35:02Explorer before you hit the shortcut. Peak will then only preview those selected ones.
35:12By default, the Peak window automatically resizes itself depending on what file you're looking at.
35:18But sometimes you might want the preview to stay the same size and position on your screen.
35:23That's where the pinning feature comes in. Click the pin icon, and Peak will lock the window to its
35:28current size and position.
35:42Click it again to unpin, and the window will go back to resizing automatically with each new file.
35:48And that's PowerToys Peak, a simple but powerful utility that saves you tons of time
35:54by letting you preview files instantly, without ever leaving File Explorer.
35:59Renaming files one by one is a pain, and even Windows' built-in bulk rename tool is pretty limited.
36:05That's why PowerToys Power Rename is so powerful. It lets you batch rename files with advanced options,
36:12while still keeping part of the original file name if you want.
36:15Windows does have a bulk rename option, but it's very basic.
36:19Normally, if I select multiple files and right-click Rename,
36:26whatever name I type is applied to every file, with just a number added at the end.
36:31So if I type Demo, I'll end up with Demo 1, Demo 2, Demo 3.
36:36Not very flexible if I want meaningful names or want to keep part of the original file name.
36:41This is where PowerRename comes in. It gives you much more control.
36:45First, make sure the feature is enabled in the PowerToys dashboard.
36:53Let's try it with a real example. Here, I've got a bunch of photos from my vacation in New York City.
36:58When I import photos from my SD card, they come in with names like DSC001 or IMG002.
37:06They all have generic file names, but I want to rename them to include a description,
37:10the year, and still keep the camera's original naming style.
37:14Now, of course, you can select the files individually.
37:18If the files are all lined up together, just hold down the Shift key, click the first one,
37:23then the last one, and Windows will select everything in between.
37:27If the files are scattered in different spots, hold down the Ctrl key, and click them one by one to
37:33select only the ones you want. But in my case, I want to rename all of the files in this folder.
37:40So instead of selecting them individually, I'll just right-click the folder itself,
37:44and choose Rename with PowerRename.
37:46The window opens up, on the left, I see my original file names, and on the right,
37:52I'll get a live preview of what the new names will look like as I make changes.
37:56First, I want to add the description NYC Summer Vacation to these file names.
38:01Now, looking at my files, I notice something. Some photos start with DSC, those came from one
38:07device. Others start with IMG, those are from a different device, so I'll handle them separately.
38:13I'll start with the DSC files. I'll search for everything that has DSC in the name.
38:19And now we're going to replace it with NYC Summer Vacation.
38:23But I also want to put the DSC back into the file name.
38:26So I keep and retain the original camera reference.
38:29Instantly, the preview updates to show me exactly what the new names will look like.
38:34I'll hit Apply, and those changes are locked in.
38:38Next, I'll do the same for the IMG files. I'll clear the fields,
38:44search for IMG, and replace it with NYC Summer Vacation IMG.
38:52Apply again.
38:58And if I go back to the folder and double-click, I can see that all of the files have now been renamed,
39:04while still keeping part of the original file name.
39:07Now I want to add the year the photos were taken.
39:09So I'll select the files, right-click, and open Power Rename again.
39:13The first view can be a little confusing, because it still remembers the last search and replace.
39:21As you can see, it's showing NYC Summer Vacation twice.
39:25And the reason for that is because it still thinks we're replacing IMG with NYC Summer Vacation IMG.
39:32So the very first thing I usually do here is clear the fields.
39:35That way, I'm starting with a clean slate and working directly with the current file names.
39:40Next, I want to search for all of the files that have NYC in their names.
39:45As soon as I type NYC, it picks them up.
39:48Now, notice something.
39:50NYC disappears in the preview.
39:52That's because the system thinks I'm replacing the word NYC with nothing.
39:56But that's not what I want.
39:58Instead, I want to add the 4-digit year in front of NYC.
40:01If I click the little info icon, Power Rename shows me the syntax.
40:06Everything starts with a dollar sign.
40:08If you want a 4-digit year, type Y four times.
40:11If you want a 2-digit year, type Y two times.
40:14And there are other options you can choose from the list, but I usually just type them in manually.
40:19So I'll replace NYC with 4-digit year.
40:21The letters need to be capitalized.
40:23As I type, the preview updates in real-time.
40:26Now it's missing the letter NYC, so I'm going to type that back in.
40:30And I think you get the idea now, right?
40:32Perfect.
40:32I'll hit apply, and the year is added to all file names.
40:36Even if the preview looks like it's duplicating text sometimes, don't worry.
40:40When you go back to File Explorer, the names are clean and correct.
40:44Now I can see that this picture was taken in 2025.
40:48It's labeled NYC Summer Vacation, and I still have the original file name from the camera.
40:53So I know exactly which device took the photo.
40:56Pretty straightforward.
40:57There's a lot more you can do within Power Rename.
41:00For example, you can change the text formatting.
41:03Make all file names uppercase.
41:04Make all file names lowercase.
41:06Or use sentence case.
41:08There's a lot to explore, but for most of us, what we've covered here is more than enough.
41:13And that's Power Rename.
41:15A simple, powerful tool for bulk renaming files while keeping parts of the original file name intact.
41:21It makes organizing files, whether it's photos, documents, or project files, so much faster and cleaner than Windows default option.
41:30Next up, let's look at Power Toys Run, a quick launcher for Windows Power users.
41:35This tool gives you instant access to applications, files, system commands, calculator functions, and even web searches, all without slowing you down.
41:44To open it, just press Alt plus space.
41:47From here, you can start typing, and it's much faster than using the start menu.
41:52For example, if I want to launch Chrome, I just type Chrome and hit Enter.
41:58If I want to run a quick calculation, I can simply type the expression, and it immediately shows me the result.
42:07Need that result in your clipboard?
42:08Just press Enter, and it copies automatically.
42:14You can also search for files, system settings, or even the web right from here.
42:19And here's where it gets even more powerful.
42:21Power Toys Run is modular, so it supports plugins.
42:25That means you can enable advanced searches, toggle extra features, or even disable plugins you don't need.
42:31If you plan to use this feature regularly, it's worth checking out the available settings.
42:35You'll be surprised by how customizable it is.
42:38Super powerful, super fast, and honestly, super cool.
42:43Next up, let's look at Quick Accent, a handy little utility inside Power Toys that makes it super easy
42:49to type accented characters, even if your keyboard doesn't support them.
42:53This is especially useful if you type in multiple languages, or if you just want to add accents
42:58for names and words without memorizing complicated shortcuts.
43:02Here's how it works.
43:03Hold down the key for the character you want.
43:05While still holding it, press the activation key.
43:07By default, that's the spacebar where you can use the left or right arrow keys.
43:11An overlay will appear at the top showing all the accented variations of that character.
43:17Keep pressing the activation key to cycle through the options.
43:20Release the key when you see the one you want.
43:23Let's try it with the letter E.
43:25I'll hold down E, press the right arrow key, and now I see accented characters across the top.
43:30If I stop at A and release, I can type the word café, just like in French.
43:36Here's another example with the letter N.
43:38I'll hold down N, press space, and I get the accented versions of N.
43:43I'll pick N, and now I can type mañana, which is Spanish for tomorrow.
43:47See how easy that is. Instead of memorizing tricky alt codes,
43:51you can instantly add the right accent and type words naturally.
43:55Another great tool in power toys is the screen ruler.
43:59This lets you quickly measure pixels on your screen using advanced edge detection technology.
44:04It's super helpful for developers, designers, or really anyone who needs accurate measurements
44:10of distances, spacing, or dimensions on their desktop. And honestly, it's also just fun to use.
44:16To activate it, press Windows key plus Ctrl plus Shift plus M.
44:21You'll see the screen ruler controls pop up at the top of your screen, where you can choose
44:25different measurement styles. Bounding box the dashed square icon. Click and drag to measure the width
44:31and height of any area. Here I'll drag over a box, and instantly I can see its exact width and height in pixels.
44:41Hold Shift to keep multiple boxes visible until you cancel the interaction.
44:45You can cancel any measurement at any time by pressing Esc or clicking the mouse.
45:00The spacing tool measures both vertical and horizontal pixels at the same time
45:05as you move your cursor around the screen. I can hover between two shapes,
45:09and screen ruler will display the spacing between them. Perfect for checking alignment.
45:16The horizontal option lets you measure only left to right spacing.
45:20I can measure the width of a shape without vertical numbers cluttering the view.
45:29And the vertical option does the same, but top to bottom.
45:33I can move from top to bottom of a box to see the vertical pixels.
45:39There are a handful of options you can configure in settings.
45:42So whether you're designing a UI, adjusting layouts, or just curious about pixel spacing,
45:48Screen Ruler is a quick, precise, and surprisingly fun tool to have.
45:53Now let's move on to the PowerToy shortcut guide. This one is super helpful, especially if like me.
45:59You sometimes forget what certain Windows shortcuts are. Here's what it does.
46:03It displays a full list of common keyboard shortcuts that use the Windows key.
46:07These include things like window management, taskbar navigation, and system commands.
46:12To activate it, you can press Windows plus shift plus forward slash.
46:17Or, if you set the option to trigger when you hold down the Windows key, here's what happens.
46:23I'll just hold the Windows key for a couple of seconds, and this pop-up appears.
46:27Now I get a clean overlay showing all the available Windows key shortcuts.
46:32It's like having a built-in cheat sheet right on your screen. For example, I can see here that the
46:37Emoji panel can be opened by pressing Windows key plus period or Windows key plus semicolon.
46:42So, I'll try it. Hold Windows and press period, and boom, the Emoji panel pops up.
46:49You're free to explore the other shortcuts shown on the screen too. It's a simple way to discover or
46:54remind yourself of the many Windows shortcuts without having to Google them.
46:58The next cool utility inside PowerToys is called TextExtractor. This tool lets you copy text from
47:05anywhere on your Windows screen, even from places where you normally can't, like inside images or videos.
47:11It works using OCR technology, which means it recognizes text and visuals and turns it into
47:17something you can edit. Super handy if you want to quickly grab text without retyping.
47:21Here's an example. Say you're watching a video and notice some text you'd like to save.
47:26Instead of pausing and typing it all out, you can use TextExtractor.
47:30To activate it, press Windows plus Shift plus T. Your mouse will turn into crosshairs,
47:36and then you just drag over the area that has the text. As soon as you let go, the text is
47:41automatically copied to your clipboard. Then you can go to Word, Notepad, or any app,
47:46press Ctrl plus V, and paste it right in. It's that simple. Of course, you might want to double
47:52check the text because OCR isn't always 100% perfect, but in most cases, it does an excellent job.
47:59Here is an image, and I want to copy text from this image. I'll press Windows plus Shift plus T,
48:05drag over the text,
48:06and paste it. Cool, right? So whenever you need to copy text from a picture, a scan document,
48:15or even subtitles in a video, TextExtractor makes it quick and effortless.
48:21Next up, let's check out PowerToys Workspaces, a really powerful desktop manager that helps you
48:26launch applications into your perfect layout with just one click. Instead of manually opening apps
48:33and dragging them around every single time, you can save your ideal setup as a workspace
48:38and instantly relaunch it whenever you need. Here's how it works. First, enable workspaces in
48:44the PowerToys settings. Then open the editor either by clicking Open Editor or by using the shortcut
48:54Windows plus Control plus Backtick. From here, click Create Workspace. This opens the Capture
49:03experience, which looks like your normal desktop, but in Capture mode. Keep this tab open. Now
49:08arrange your apps exactly the way you want. For example, I'll snap Excel over to the left,
49:16put PowerPoint on the right, and maybe open Calculator at the bottom. Once I'm happy with the layout,
49:32I just hit Capture. That takes me into the editor, where I can give my workspace a name. Let's call
49:38this one my workspace. I can also create a desktop shortcut for quick access later. If I decide I
49:49don't want certain apps in the workspace, I can just click Remove next to the app.
50:00There's also a preview window at the top showing me exactly which apps are part of the workspace.
50:04Once everything looks good, I hit Save. Now watch this. I'll close all of those apps.
50:16When I want to relaunch the workspace, I can either click Launch from the Workspaces editor,
50:20or just use the desktop shortcut. And just like that, Excel, PowerPoint, and Calculator all reopen
50:27and snap back into the exact positions I saved. The best part is, you can create multiple workspaces,
50:34maybe one for work, one for studying, and another for entertainment. No matter what you're doing,
50:39you can get into your perfect setup in seconds. The last tool we'll look at is ZoomIt. A screen zoom,
50:46annotation, and recording tool that's perfect for technical presentations and demos.
50:51ZoomIt runs quietly in your system tray, and you activate its features with simple, customizable hotkeys.
50:58To use it, I'll head over to the ZoomIt icon in the system tray. For this demo, I'll focus on the three
51:04essentials, Draw, Zoom, and Record. But before that, there's also a handy break timer feature. If you need
51:11to give your audience a short break during a presentation, you can activate the timer. Use the
51:16up or down arrow keys to change hours, and the left or right arrows to adjust minutes. When you're done,
51:25just hit Escape to exit. Alright, let's move on to the essentials. First up, Draw.
51:34As the name suggests, this lets you annotate directly on your screen. Perfect for circling
51:40important details or highlighting specific areas. And when you're finished,
51:49just press Escape to clear the annotations. Next, Zoom.
51:57This is incredibly useful for presentations. You can zoom in on any part of your screen,
52:03then move around to focus on different details. Scroll your mouse wheel up to zoom in further.
52:09Scroll down to zoom out. While zoomed in, left-click to start drawing on the screen.
52:14Right-click to exit draw mode, then move around freely. If you want to draw again,
52:29just left-click once more.
52:30And when you're finished, just press Escape. It's a super handy way to keep your audience's
52:40attention on exactly what you want them to see. Finally, Record.
52:48When you activate this, a yellow border appears around your screen,
52:51showing that recording has started. ZoomIt is now capturing everything you do.
52:55Once you stop the recording, ZoomIt automatically prompts you to save the recording as an MP4 file
53:04on your drive. It's quick, simple, and perfect for tutorials, walkthrough, or even just sharing a
53:11fast demo later. So that's ZoomIt, a lightweight but powerful tool that combines zooming, drawing,
53:17and recording into one neat package, making presentations much more interactive and engaging.
53:23And that's a wrap on our deep dive into Microsoft PowerToys. The best part? They're completely
53:29free and built right into Windows once you install PowerToys. So if you've ever wished Windows could
53:34do just a little bit more, now you know it can. Try out these utilities, find the ones that fit your
53:40workflow, and watch how much smoother your day-to-day gets.
53:43Thanks for watching. And if you found this helpful, don't forget to like,
53:47share, and subscribe for more tips and hacks. Until next time, happy tweaking with PowerToys.
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