PowerToys is a collection of utilities made by Microsoft itself. It's free to download on GitHub, or a myriad of other places, and unlike with Windows 11, Microsoft actually adds useful and interesting features to it every couple of weeks. You can download and install PowerToys from the GitHub page, the Microsoft Store, or using Windows Package Manager.
Here are a few of PowerToys utilities that have become a must for me (after installing the app, you really should browse all that it offers to see what strikes your fancy). If you took them away, I wouldn't be sure how to use my Windows PC anymore—this thing should really come pre-installed.
Command Palette
Credit: Khamosh PathakLike Spotlight Search, it’s light and fast, and you can assign any shortcut to it. I use it to quickly launch apps, search for files, and even search for open windows. Command Palette even has a really helpful Bookmarks feature that I use a lot. I’ve created bookmarks for quickly opening frequently used folders like Downloads and Screenshots, and even websites. A Bookmark can be triggered by searching for a keyword, or through its own dedicated keyboard shortcut (I’ve set one up for my Downloads folder, which is really handy). For more, I’ve got a detailed guide on setting up Command Palette that you should check out.
Light Switch
Credit: MicrosoftSo, of course, there's a PowerToys utility for that. The recently added Light Switch utility lets you create a global custom keyboard shortcut for turning on the dark theme. For the Schedule section in the Light Switch utility, you can set up an automated schedule based on fixed hours, or using the local sunset time, which is how I use it.
Peek
Credit: MicrosoftWindows has a built-in OCR (or text extractor) feature for images that can be accessed via the Snipping Tool. But it's really slow. When I'm in a pinch and I need to copy text from an image, I prefer to use the Text Extractor utility in PowerToys instead. It's much faster. Use the dedicated shortcut Windows + Shift + T to see an overlay on the screen. Use the mouse to highlight the area that you want to transcribe. Once you let go of the cursor, the text will be saved to your clipboard automatically.
Image Resizer
Credit: MicrosoftOnce enabled, it will show up in the right-click menu in File Explorer. Select one or multiple images, click Resize with Image Resizer, choose one of the size presets (you can add more presets from the PowerToys app) or create a custom resolution, click the Resize button, and that's it.
I can't imagine using Windows without PowerToys' Awake utility. It adds a handy little tray icon that I can click to keep my PC awake longer than the default sleep settings would allow for. I have a custom-built PC with a big honking power supply, so I take my auto-sleep settings quite seriously. But there are times when I'm downloading a large file in the background, or I have a long AI task running, when I want the PC to stay on. That's where the Awake utility really helps. You can choose to keep your PC awake indefinitely, or for 30 minutes, 1 hour, or any custom duration.
FancyZones
Credit: MicrosoftTo set this up for yourself, first go to the FancyZones section in PowerToys utilities. Here, open the Zones Editor and create a new custom layout. You can now use the mouse to move the zones around and to add a new zone. Once a layout is enabled, all you have to do is move a window around and hold down the Shift key. Dropping the window in any designated zone to instantly resize it.
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