PowerToys: The Windows Utility Belt for Developers

If you spend your days coding on Windows, you've probably had that moment where you think, "I wish the OS could just do this." Maybe it's quickly previewing a JSON file without opening an IDE, or instantly resizing an image, or finding that one window buried under a dozen others. For years, Windows power users have had to hunt down a scattered collection of third-party tools to fill these gaps. That's where Microsoft's PowerToys come in.

Think of PowerToys as an open-source playground for Windows utilities. It's a suite of tools designed to squeeze more productivity out of your developer workflow, straight from the team at Microsoft.

What It Does

PowerToys is a collection of over a dozen standalone utilities. You install the main PowerToys application, and then you can toggle each individual tool on or off based on your needs. It's not one monolithic app; it's a modular toolkit. Some of the highlights include:

• FancyZones: A window manager that lets you create complex window layouts and snap applications into them with a simple drag-and-drop.
• PowerToys Run: A quick launcher (think Spotlight or Alfred for macOS) that lets you search for apps, files, and even perform calculations without touching your mouse.
• Text Extractor: Use OCR (Optical Character Recognition) to grab text from anywhere on your screen—even from images or videos.
• File Locksmith: Finally see which processes are holding a lock on a file you're trying to delete or modify.
• Peek: Select a file and press a hotkey to get a quick preview of its contents—works for images, videos, Markdown, and source code files.

Why It's Cool

The cool factor isn't just in the individual features, but in the philosophy behind the project. First, it's completely open source. You can see how each utility is built, contribute to it, or even fork it. For a developer, that's a fantastic learning resource.

Second, it's incredibly pragmatic. The tools solve real, daily annoyances. FancyZones alone can revolutionize how you manage multiple terminal windows, browser tabs, and code editors. PowerToys Run can shave seconds off countless tasks throughout your day, and those seconds add up.

Finally, it's constantly evolving. Since it's an active project on GitHub, new utilities are added regularly, and existing ones are refined based on community feedback. It feels like a living, breathing part of the Windows ecosystem.

How to Try It

Getting started with PowerToys is straightforward. The easiest way is to install it from the Microsoft Store or via the winget package manager.

Using Winget (from a command line or terminal):

winget install Microsoft.PowerToys

Using the Microsoft Store: Just search for "PowerToys" in the Store app and click install.

You can also grab the latest release directly from the PowerToys GitHub releases page if you prefer to manually install the .exe.

After installation, you'll find a PowerToys icon in your system tray. Click it to open the settings dashboard where you can configure every utility, set your own keyboard shortcuts, and enable the tools you want to use.

Final Thoughts

As a developer, your environment is your workshop. Any tool that helps you keep it organized and reduces friction is worth a look. PowerToys isn't a magic bullet, but it's a genuinely useful set of utilities that feel like they should have been part of Windows all along. It's one of the first things I install on a new Windows machine. It's free, it's open source, and if you only find one tool in the suite that saves you time, it's worth the download.

What's your favorite PowerToys utility? Let us know @githubprojects.