Windows 11 Explorer will soon get Gallery View, a convenient way to view and find photos by chronological order. The kind of small improvement that will really simplify everyday life.
Since its release at the end of 2021, Windows 11 has continued to evolve – often in a confused way, alas… – by acquiring new functions and new modules. And while some changes are insignificant and incidental – like the video player which has discreetly replaced the Groove Music and Movies and TV application (see our article) – others are more innovative and, above all, more useful. This was the case with the arrival of tabs in Explorer, which allowed Windows to catch up with competing systems (macOS and Linux) by finally displaying the contents of several folders and disks in a single window, like in a browser. Web (see our article). And this is also the case of the photo gallery that Microsoft is about to introduce in Windows 11 Explorer, which will really improve the management of images on a daily basis on PC.
In a document accompanying the release of Preview Build 23435, an experimental version intended for members of the Windows Insider program (see our article), the publisher officially unveiled the operating principle of this new element, the existence of which had was mentioned in January 2023, among other future functions (see our article).
In practice, as Microsoft explains, Explorer is going to offer a new viewing mode called Gallery, directly accessible in the left pane, in the Home section, next to cloud storage options and favorite folders. Once activated, this view will display local and distance images – both those saved on the PC and those stored on OneDrive, if synchronization is activated – in the form of a grid, according to a chronological order – from the most recent to the most recent. old, by major periods – with the possibility of quickly consulting the photos by year, from a “time line” placed on the right of the window. A classic organization on a smartphone, and which in fact takes over the display in All photos mode in the Windows 11 Photos application. As on mobile, this view therefore presents the most recent photos first, which is practical for ‘use.
In addition, one can not only choose the folders to display in the Gallery via the Collection drop-down list, but also add subfolders from various sources to filter the contents. Even better, Gallery Mode will be usable in file pickers – dialogs for opening and saving files in software. An excellent idea that will finally allow you to see correctly the images that you want to integrate into a document!
No date has yet been given for the integration of this gallery in a final version of Windows – only members of the Insider program of the Dev channel can test it for the moment – we imagine that it will take place this year, in a few weeks at best, or with the big update to the Windows 11 23H2 version coming in fall 2023.