Microsoft is now testing a new version of Windows 11 that adds tabs to File Explorer. It’s been four years since the last tabbed test, but this time the company seems to be adding the tabs for good. This is what you want to know about the new feature.
On the Microsoft official website Read why tabs in Windows Explorer are so handy: you don’t have to open extra windows when you need something from another folder. Just like in browsers (such as Chrome, Edge and Safari), it is possible to open multiple tabs within one screen. Those tabs give access to – in this case – different folders. This way you may have a much better overview of open folders and tasks and you can work more efficiently.
Windows Explorer tabs: how do you get them?
For now, we only come across the tabs for the Windows Explorer on Windows 11 in the Dev channel of the Insider group. The Windows Insiders are people who test updates for Microsoft on their own hardware. Insiders can be divided into different groups, with the Dev channel being the most experimental. In this group it often happens that Windows does not work (anymore) properly. So you need to be knowledgeable when you sign up for that group.
It is currently not the case that everyone within that Dev channel can access the tabs. Within that group there is therefore a smaller group that tests the tabs. Microsoft is first looking for sufficient feedback before the next rollout round starts. But if you are interested, you can activate the tabs manually. You do have to jump through some hoops to do this, but you do get access to a feature that is quite exclusive.
Activate tabs within Windows Explorer
You need a few things for this. Of course you should make sure you have the most recent version of the Windows 11 Insider versions on your computer, and then of course the one from the Dev channel. Then you need a third party tool with which you activate the tabs. That’s the ViVeTool, which you downloads from GitHub†The tool was created by Rafael Rivera and a person named Lucas, on GitHub.
After downloading and extracting the file, proceed as follows.
- Copy the path to the folder you just created (after extracting).
- Open the Start menu and open the Command Prompt. For that you type cmd and select the top option with your right mouse button†In the context menu, choose the option Run as administrator from.
- Type in the following sentence: cd C:FOLDERPATHViveTool-v0.2.1†Make sure the words FLYER and PATH be replaced by the path of the folder on your own computer.
- Now type the following line: vivetool addconfig 37634385 2 and press Enterâ€
- Now you can also choose to add the new navigation panel to Windows Explorer, but that is optional and the changes are quite minor. Anyway, you do that by vivetool addconfig 36354489 2 typing and pressing Enter to push.
- Restart the computer.
If you want to reverse everything, that’s no problem. Open the Command Prompt again and follow the steps as described. But instead of the aforementioned commands, this time you use vivetool delconfig 34370472 2 and vivetool delconfig 36354489 2†Then you have to restart Windows 11 again.
Join Insider Program
Again, to do this you need at least Windows 11 build 25136. You can get that version very easily. Within the Windows Updatesection of the Settings app, simply select the option for Windows Insider†After logging in, press the button to check for updates. That’s when you get version 25136.
You do put an experimental Windows version on your system, which is not entirely without risk. Learn more about the Windows Insider program here.
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