With the next Windows 10 update, the Windows Explorer feature will be enhanced and made more useful. Here are the main new features
We are now a few weeks away from the release of Windows 10 version 2004, also called 20H1 because it represents the first "major update" of the operating system for 2020. As the acronym says (2004 stands for 20-04) this update should be available in Windows Update starting in April and will bring several new features. The main ones are about File Explorer.
The novelty might appeal to many users, but also scare many others since it's basically about integrating Windows Search within File Explorer. The same Windows Search that, with the latest Windows 10 updates, showed more than one problem until Microsoft released an update that, at least in theory, fixed everything. Fears and fears aside, here's how File Explorer will change after the update to Windows 10 2004 version, coming starting in April on all computers running Windows 10.
Windows 10 File Explorer: how it changes
With the update to Windows 10 2004 when we type something in the File Explorer search box we'll see a new drop-down menu with suggested files inside. We will be able to click directly on one of these results to open the corresponding file or, if we prefer, we can right click to open the folder where it is contained.
The first results that will be displayed are those related to the files indexed on our hard drive, so their quantity (and the quality of this "on the fly" search) will depend directly on the disk indexing options we choose. If the file we're looking for isn't among those initially displayed, however, we can always press enter and launch the full search, the results of which will be shown inside the File Explorer window in a similar way to what we already do today.
Windows 10: tablet mode arrives
The 20H1 version of Windows 10 will also bring a new tablet mode, optimized for 2-in-1 devices and touch screens. This mode includes a larger space between icons (so you won't touch two icons at once when you tap, instead of clicking) and a specific layout for File Explorer. This layout will be particularly convenient when we do a search in File Explorer. Tablet mode also hides the icons of the taskbar to leave more space on the screen. This way, the ability to do a search via Cortana remains, but only via a small icon in the bottom left corner. Microsoft says that "convertible" PCs will no longer automatically enter Tablet Mode when we remove the keyboard but, instead, will automatically enter this new touch screen optimized experience.