Microsoft Teases a New File Explorer App in Windows 11

Windows 11 is official, and there are lots of big visual changes in the new operating system. One of those changes coming soon could be a new File Explorer app, which looks to be a bit more modern and more focused on touch.

Though it wasn’t specifically mentioned during Microsoft’s June 24 event, a separate video about the design process of Windows 11 teased the new File Explorer. You can see it at around the 2 minute and 12-second mark, where a person is running their hands along the top of the screen. We included the screenshot for you below in case you missed it.

New File Explorer app teased in Windows 11.

While not the clearest view, it looks as though this new File Explorer app is largely based on the one in Windows 10. It still has a sidebar to access the most frequented locations, but it also has some new touch controls up top. Instead of sporting a ribbon and large buttons and icons, you can see new simplified and slimmer buttons for creating a new folder, copying and pasting files, deleting files, and changing the view option. Presumably, you’ll see this when touching the screen, as the video teases.

We’ll need to wait for Microsoft to talk more about this File Explorer, but for now, it offers an interesting little tease. As usual, Windows 11 will evolve based on feedbaxk from fans and and those testing it in the Windows Insider Program, so don’t take this design as final just yet. It could come in a future build of the operating system once Microsoft beings official testing latest next week.

The new File Explorer would just be one change in Windows 11. Along with a visual redesign with more rounded corners, Microsoft is also improving the Start Menu, as well as the Action Center. Even the Tablet Mode is seeing changes, too. Now, when you use a device as a tablet, buttons and other areas of the user interface will be easier for you to touch. There’s even a new inking menu and touch keyboard. The changes help bring Windows out of its desktop-based past and into a modern era dominated by the simplicity of iPads and Chromebooks.