Microsoft is currently testing a new ‘Shared’ section Windows 11’s File Explorerwhich aims to make it easier to find everything shared with you through Microsoft services.
Windows Latest has indicated that the new addition is part of the latest preview of Windows 11 (24H2) in the Dev channel (build 26120).
The Shared section is located next to the ‘Recent’ and ‘Favorites’ tabs and shows every file shared with your Microsoft account (whether that’s a document from OneDrivean email, etc.). This makes it easy to view these files directly in File Explorer, instead of having to search for them.
While the feature isn’t currently working properly in preview – at least not according to testing done by Windows Latest – the theory is that files will be marked with their origin, and something shared in cloud storage, for example, will open in OneDrive (obviously in the Edge browser).
If you use Microsoft products in a work or school environment, your Shared section also includes files shared within your organization or school.
Place this under ‘sufficient’
Microsoft further notes in the blog post for build 26120, you’ll also see more file types in the Recent and Favorites tabs, as well as the new Shared section, and will include files you’ve recently interacted with in Power BI or Microsoft Forms, or Designer, for example. In short, you can expect a wider selection of apps to appear in these parts of the File Explorer UI.
The preview build also brings a number of other developments, such as new flyout menus for pinned apps in the Start menu for easier access to certain features, the ability to more easily share files that appear in Windows search, and a move from media controls to the bottom center of the lock screen when media is playing in the background.
All of this should be wrapped up in the next big one Windows 11 24H2 updatewhich we now expect to arrive every week. But as always with testing, we don’t know if all features are suitable for the release version of the update.
However, it seems likely that most of these proposed changes will end up in Windows 11, including the Shared tab – assuming the current bugs can be fixed by Microsoft as the feature continues through its testing channels.
