Windows 11 widgets — everything you need to know

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Windows 11 widgets — everything you lot need to know

(Image credit: Microsoft)

One of the many new and updated features in Windows 11 is the widgets menu, an assortment of seize with teeth-sized info boxes accessible from the redesigned taskbar.

Only what exactly are the Windows xi widgets, and how can yous use them now that the OS is available to endeavour through the Windows Insider plan? We'll explicate everything in this guide — though if you've used previous versions of Windows, you may detect Windows 11'south widgets seem rather familiar.

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Widgets are essentially a group of small graphical apps, quickly accessible directly from the Windows 11 taskbar and designed to provide at-a-glance information about news, conditions, sports results, stocks and the like. The widgets menu can exist customized to only show the widgets you want, and includes a Bing search bar that will open results in a new browser window.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

The look and general content delivery style of Windows 11's widgets might be instantly familiar to anyone who used the Alive Tiles function in Windows 10, or more recently, its News and Interests menu.

But widgets also appear to share some similarities with the "gadgets" feature in Windows Vista and 7: these let yous add small icons, again showing info like news headlines and weather condition, before Microsoft axed them over security fears posed past third-party gadgets.

In dissimilarity, Widgets — at least for now — is powered purely by Microsoft-endemic services such every bit MSN and the Border browser.

While there are no tertiary-party widgets, there are a handful that you can choice and choose to display on your menu. Here are all the widgets currently available in the Windows 11 Insider Preview build:

Calendar shows you the electric current date and lists whatsoever upcoming events you've added.

Entertainment lists films and Television set shows that have recently released on the Microsoft Store.

Esports displays recent Esports matches and results.

Photos cycles through photos and images saved to your Microsoft account.

Sports displays current sports scores and recent results. You lot can adjust which leagues and teams are shown.

Tips provides brief advice for using diverse Microsoft software, including Windows 11 and Edge.

To Practise lets you create a list of tasks and displays information technology in the widgets menu. You can mark individual tasks as completed.

Traffic displays a minor map and describes the traffic weather in your area.

Watchlist shows stock values. Similarly to the Sports widget, yous can choose which stocks appear.

Weather shows current weather conditions in your expanse, as well as the forecast for the following three days.

At that place'southward also a larger "Top Stories" box towards the lesser of the widgets menu, which pulls headlines from a range of news sources.

Simply accessing the widgets menu in Windows xi is easy; you just need to click the widgets icon in the taskbar. You will need an active internet connection, though, to get any meaningful use out of the whole feature.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Much like the new Windows 11 Starting time menu, a big strength of widgets is personalization. For example, you can click the "Add widgets" button in the menu (betwixt the primary widgets and the Top Stories department) to bring upward the widget settings card. From here, yous can simply click on any widgets to add together them.

Lower downwards in the widget settings menu is a "Manage your news and interests" link; click this and you'll be presented with options for choosing the topics you want to come across, peculiarly in the Peak Stories section.

Back in the main widget menu, you'll notice each widget has a small iii-dot icon in its height-correct corner. Clicking on this will bring up more than customization selection for that particular widget: yous tin can adjust its size, specify which stocks or sports teams to testify, or remove the widget entirely.

(Prototype credit: Microsoft)

Remember that the Windows 11 Insider Preview build isn't meant to exist final, and the entire widgets feature is discipline to change: there could exist more or fewer widgets to choose from in the full release, or the UI could alter, or Microsoft may even open up up widgets to tertiary-political party developers. Presumably it would only practice the latter with protections, to avoid a repeat of the gadgets issues.

For at present, though, this is everything you need to know about Windows eleven widgets. If you want to try out Microsoft's next OS for yourself, kickoff check you accept a compatible CPU, then follow our guide on how to install Windows 11.

• More: Windows xi requirements — cease lament and embrace them

James is currently Hardware Editor at Rock Newspaper Shotgun, but before that was Audio Editor at Tom'southward Guide, where he covered headphones, speakers, soundbars and anything else that intentionally makes dissonance. A PC enthusiast, he too wrote computing and gaming news for TG, usually relating to how difficult it is to observe graphics card stock.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/windows-11-widgets-everything-you-need-to-know

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