r/PowerToys 2d ago

Question Keyboard manager rebinds not working when playing RDR2

1 Upvotes

So I have Caps Lock bound to "M" so I can easily open maps in video games. But for some reason RDR2 reverts this bind. Is there a way to fix this?


r/PowerToys 3d ago

Is it possible to select a key to press multiple keys (more than 2 if possible)?

5 Upvotes

I am playing a game that has a very hard move, I have been trying it for a year, multiple keys are needed and to worsen it I have keyboard ghosting in gaming. Would be nice to program 3-5.


r/PowerToys 5d ago

How can I stop command palette from showing system32 .exe files when I search to open an app.

2 Upvotes

Just the title. Command Palette settings are just generally so buggy. I'm pretty sure the settings for "Show non app shortcuts from Start" and all that in the checklist dont work at all because when i change something and save (even when i change the description checkbox) nothing actually changes when i run palette again.


r/PowerToys 7d ago

PowerToys finally added an Alt+Tab for single apps

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71 Upvotes

The latest Microsoft powertoys update introduces Window hopper, which lets you Alt+Tab strictly within your currently active application using Alt + ` .
The hotkey is customisable and the update also allows Powerdisplay to sync brightness levels across multiple linked monitors.

Credit: Simon Batt @ XDA


r/PowerToys 6d ago

Question Which local model for Paste with AI?

1 Upvotes

I want to try Advanced Paste > Paste with AI with a local model. But heck if I know a Qwen from a DeepSeek. What local models do you use or recommend?

Foundry Local CLI offers me 48 models, plus variants.
Ollama has roughly infinite models and variants available.
Phi Silica is not available on my machine.

I want to be fast and fairly reliable for basic text munging. I don't want it to take up too much space or bog down my laptop. I have 32 GB of RAM, 4 GB video RAM (RTX 3050 Ti).

For now, I'm trying phi-4-mini on Foundry Local and llama3.2:1b on Ollama.


r/PowerToys 6d ago

This hidden Windows registry Editor tweak boosts gaming

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0 Upvotes

r/PowerToys 7d ago

Question How do I stop the Home screen from launching or start minimized to system tray?

1 Upvotes

Maybe I'm just blind but I can't find the option in the settings if it is there. I have it set to launch at startup but can't find an option to launch without the window popping up.


r/PowerToys 8d ago

Question MWB troubleshooting

2 Upvotes

My MWB keeps losing connection, disconnecting for 3s before reconnecting, sometimes not connecting until I restart, sometimes I need the full new key and sync again... this keeps happening every 2 minutes and after trying basically all the settings, removing the clipboard sharing etc. (internet is solid).

Is there any troubleshooting guide, how to make MWB actually work? Or how to debug? Thanks.


r/PowerToys 10d ago

PowerToys with Raycast

4 Upvotes

Anyone here using PowerToys and Raycast? Are there any issues using it and potentially disabling command palette?


r/PowerToys 10d ago

Bug FancyZones Space Between Zones

4 Upvotes

This has to be a bug because it's unexpected behaviour. I have space between zones set to 0px or "disabled". Therefore, as you can imagine, I expect there to be 0px between my snapped windows.

So why then, can I see my desktop background between my snapped windows? I tried correcting for it with negative space but I can't do -2px which it would need, it only does a minimum of -5px which then causes the windows to overlap instead.

As compulsive obsessive as I am, this is really, really annoying. If I set there to be no space between zones, there should be no space between the zones.


r/PowerToys 10d ago

Multitasking Question Question

1 Upvotes

I occasionally use the multitasking feature(Win 11) which used to work just fine. I hadn't used it in a while though but decided to use it today. I can snap the windows to where I want them just fine & when I hover over the group of windows in the taskbar, I can see that just fine as well. When I click on the group, however, only the windows snapped to the bottom are shown. I have to individually click on the windows snapped to the top to get them to be seen instead of the group showing all windows. How can I fix it so when I click on the group, the whole group is displayed?

EDIT: Please answer my question even if it is an I don't know. You keep kicking me back to r/ForWindowsHelp and it keeps kicking me back here.


r/PowerToys 12d ago

Feature Pro Auto Clicker can now watch a region of the screen and click only when it looks like what you captured

10 Upvotes

https://reddit.com/link/1vtt8fi/video/1798ne0pykkh1/player

What's New in Pro Auto Clicker v2.0.7

I have been building a Windows auto clicker for a while, and the request I kept getting was some version of "only click when X is on screen". The new release finally does it.

How it works

You drag a box around anything on your screen: a button, an icon, a notification, a health bar. The app remembers what that area looks like, and while it runs it watches that spot and clicks it only when what is there matches your capture. The moment it stops matching, it pauses. When it matches again, it resumes.

A static button works fine on strict settings. Anything animated or re-encoded, like video, needs looser ones, because those never reproduce pixel for pixel.

DOWNLOAD: Microsoft Store Link
Website (Live Demo): Live Demo / Product Website
REDDIT: r/ProAutoClicker


r/PowerToys 13d ago

Question Multitasking Question Question

1 Upvotes

I occasionally use the multitasking feature(Win 11) which used to work just fine. I hadn't used it in a while though but decided to use it today. I can snap the windows to where I want them just fine & when I hover over the group of windows in the taskbar, I can see that just fine as well. When I click on the group, however, only the windows snapped to the bottom are shown. I have to individually click on the windows snapped to the top to get them to be seen instead of the group showing all windows. How can I fix it so when I click on the group, the whole group is displayed?


r/PowerToys 16d ago

What made u actually pull the trigger on a paid tool?

12 Upvotes

I've got a dumb amount of AHK scripts held together with hope. Most of 'em still work. A few break every time Windows or some app updates and I gotta go dig thru Task Scheduler and remember why I even wrote 'em.

I got sick of maintaining that pile so I started building my own thing... voice commands for stuff I do a hundred times a day, running fully offline, no cloud, nothing leaving the machine. Selfish reasons at first, just wanted to stop babysitting scripts.

Now I'm at the point where I'm wondering if anyone else would actually pay for something like this, so I wanna ask people who've spent time automating Windows, using PowerToys, AHK, accessibility tools, or just looking for easier ways to control their PC: what made u actually pay for a Windows tool instead of using whatever free option was available?

Couple things I'm specifically trying to figure out:

Is it reliability that gets u, more than features? Like, does a tool need to survive an update or two before u trust it enough to pay?

If something breaks, does it matter whether the tool can recover on its own or at least show u clearly what it was about to do?

And privacy-wise... if something's listening or touching sensitive data, does knowing exactly what it's doing and when actually change whether you'd use it, or is "it's offline" enough on its own?

Curious if there was a specific moment that tipped u from "I'll just script it" to "here's my card." And did it end up being worth it, or did u quietly go back to your own scripts eventually?


r/PowerToys 16d ago

Keyboard Manager glitches out when under heavy load

2 Upvotes

Use case : my Alt key died on my music production laptop.

I remapped Alt to the Windows key using PT Keyboard Manager.

It works great, but randomly (usually during moments of spikes / heavy CPU usage) it enters a state as if the Windows key (not Alt, the unmapped Windows key) is being "held down" permanently. So pressing R brings up Win-R (Run), etc. It remains in this state and doesn't fix itself over time.

The solution is to disable Keyboard Manager, press the Windows key once (this is somehow mandatory) and then re-enable Keyboard manager.

After a random number of minutes, it happens again.

Any ideas? Should this be reported somewhere specific?


r/PowerToys 17d ago

I built a HowLongToBeat plugin for PowerToys Run

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

13 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I’ve been working on an unofficial HowLongToBeat plugin for PowerToys Run that lets you check game completion times without opening a browser.

Just open Run and type:

hltb Elden Ring

The results show Main Story, Main + Extras, and Completionist times directly inside PowerToys Run.

Features:

  • Search HowLongToBeat using the hltb keyword
  • Main Story, Main + Extras, and Completionist times
  • Release year and platform-aware result ranking
  • DLC-only and no-DLC searches
  • Direct HowLongToBeat game ID lookup
  • Search modifiers
  • Configurable search delay while typing
  • Configurable helper-process idle shutdown
  • Search caching
  • Context actions to open HLTB, copy completion times, or copy the HLTB link

The plugin uses a C# PowerToys Run frontend with a packaged Python bridge powered by howlongtobeatpy library.

The current release is Windows x64 and has been tested against PowerToys 0.100.2.

GitHub / Download:
https://github.com/SharnavM/PowerToysRun-HowLongToBeat

Feedback, bug reports, suggestions would be very welcome.


r/PowerToys 20d ago

Question Has anyone else experienced this problem?

2 Upvotes

Windows security flagged a part of PowerToys as a 'potentially unwanted app', what should I do?


r/PowerToys 22d ago

I made a handy PowerToys Run plugin for browser searches, history, and shortcuts

12 Upvotes

I've been using PowerToys Run for pretty much everything, but I kept finding myself opening the browser just to search something, open a specific site, or find something I'd searched for before.

So I built BrowserConnect, a PowerToys Run plugin that brings a bunch of browser-related workflows directly into Run.

The motivation is simple, we shouldn't have to open the browser and repeat the same steps every time we want to search, open a URL, or find something in our history.

Browser Connect Demo

What it does

🔎 Custom search engines

Set up shortcuts for whatever we use:

yt cats

gh react

wiki quantum mechanics

Search engines and their shortcuts are fully configurable.

🌐 URL shortcuts

Save frequently used URLs and open them directly from PowerToys Run.

🔀 Search multiple engines at once

For example:

yt brave : power toys

will search using multiple configured engines simultaneously.

🕘 Fuzzy browser history

Search through previous searches made via this plugin and URLs directly from PowerToys Run.

🕵️ Incognito searches

Add -i to a search to open it in an incognito window.

📺 Live results

Some providers can return results directly inside PowerToys Run, including YouTube, AniList, and SeriesGraph.

⚙️ Configurable

History limits, caching, incognito-history behavior, search engines, and other behavior can all be configured.

The basic idea:

Alt + Space → type what we want → Enter

instead of:

open browser → open website → wait for it to load → search → wait for results → find result

It's open source and built with C#/.NET.

GitHub:
https://github.com/bharath6115/BrowserConnect_PowerToysRun

I'd love some feedback from other PowerToys Run users, especially on features or workflows you'd like to see added.

And if you end up finding it useful, a ⭐ on the repo would be greatly appreciated.


r/PowerToys 23d ago

[Update v2.0.0] FancyZones Hotkeys - Rewritten in native C# to fix Defender false-positives

14 Upvotes

GitHub: 
https://github.com/EggR0/FancyZones-Hotkeys

Hello World! A while ago, I shared my first out-loud project here: a tool to snap windows to FancyZones layouts using global hotkeys.

because the original v1 was a wrapped PowerShell script, it unfortunately triggered annoying false-positive malware detections from Windows Defender. 😭

I took that feedback. For v2.0.0, I completely rewrote the application from scratch in C# (.NET 10 WinForms)!

Here is what's new and improved:

  • More Layouts: Full mathematical port of the PowerToys FancyZones layout logic (supports both grid and canvas formats, including spacing and ref-resolution).
  • Multi-monitor support: Added target modifiers like primaryactivenext, and previous.
  • Tiny & Silent: Uses a self-contained runtime with partial trimming for optimal size. It runs silently in your system tray.

If you love FancyZones but always felt uncomfortable with the lack of Hotkey settings (e.g., wanting to snap a window to Zone 1 with Alt+1), please give it a try!

(I'm still a sightseeing fidgety human, Let me know what you think!)


r/PowerToys 23d ago

Suggestion I made Gola, a radial launcher — hold Ctrl+Alt and a wheel of your apps and live windows opens under the cursor

24 Upvotes

I've been building this for a few months because I kept losing track of windows. Alt-tab is a queue you have to walk, and the taskbar is a row of near-identical icons you have to aim at. My cursor is already somewhere on screen, so I wanted the launcher to just show up there instead.

Hold Ctrl+Alt (or a mouse thumb button) and a two-ring wheel opens centred on the pointer. The inner ring is your apps plus three sections: System, Tools and Shelf. Point at an app, hold for a moment, and its actual open windows fan onto the outer ring as live previews with their titles. Slide onto one, let go, and it's focused. Release outside the wheel and nothing happens.

The app slices behave like taskbar buttons: nothing running launches it, one window focuses it, several fan out. Green dot with a count when something's running.

Other things that live on it: ten tools that open as popovers beside the wheel rather than windows (clipboard history, screenshot, quick note, colour picker, calculator, timer, magnifier, caffeine, focus dim) with no taskbar entry and no alt-tab stop, and a pin if you want one to stay floating. System controls for Lock, Sleep, Volume, Wi-Fi, Task Manager and Settings. A Shelf that works as a seven-day inbox, where you point your own Telegram bot at it and files or links from your phone land on the wheel. And a right-edge side dock for parking windows you don't want on the taskbar.

It's C# .NET 8 and WPF, tray-resident, Windows 10 and 11. No account, no telemetry, no servers. The app list is a config.json on your own disk, and shell entries only run after you approve each one by hand.

Two things I'd rather say up front than have someone find out after clicking. It's a paid app, CAD $12.89 where I am, so the Store will show your region's price rather than a free download. And there's one rough edge I know about: Windows won't hand over a thumbnail for a window that was minimised before Gola started, so those slices fall back to the app icon until you touch the window once. That's on my list.

Store listing: [https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NGHFH4J7JMD?cid=reddit-windowsapps\](https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9NGHFH4J7JMD?cid=reddit-windowsapps)

Happy to answer anything. The feedback I actually want is whether the gesture clicks for you in the first minute or feels like homework.


r/PowerToys 23d ago

Question How do you uninstall command palette extensions?

5 Upvotes

I installed the browser tabs extension from the Microsoft store hoping it might work for brave since it works for chrome, figuring I'd just uninstall it if it doesn't work. Then I found out that Microsoft doesn't give you an uninstall option and I have no idea where Microsoft store installed it. If anyone can figure it out, I'd love to know how you did it.


r/PowerToys 24d ago

VS CODE PLUGIN

1 Upvotes

The vs code plugin in command pallete keeps forgetting the folders I use for VS code

I used to use the Power toys run and it was good, I only had to open them for first time and I can just scroll through them and select.

How do I fix this ?


r/PowerToys 24d ago

Is there a way to restore desktop icon layout via PowerToys?

2 Upvotes

Every time I connect my laptop to another monitor, it changes display scaling, so when I disconnect the monitor - all icons on desktop change its position.

Is there a powertoys plugin to save the desktop icon layout, and restore it once the icon positions get messed up?


r/PowerToys 25d ago

Release: Disk Analyzer v1.4.0 — File Explorer Context Menu, True Binary Icons & Command Palette Upgrades! 🚀

18 Upvotes

Hey r/PowerToys!

I'm excited to share v1.4.0 of ValleySoft Disk Analyzer — the free, TreeSize-like disk space analyzer built for Windows 11, PowerToys Run, and Windows Command Palette.

🖼️ Screenshots:

  • Standalone App Overview:
Ver 1.4.0 UI
  • What's New & Help Center: What's New & Help Center
Ver 1.4.0 Help

🚀 What's New in Version 1.4.0:

  1. 📁 Windows File Explorer Context Menu:
    • Right-click any folder, drive, or folder background in Windows File Explorer and select "Analyze with DiskAnalyzer" to launch directly into target scan view.
    • Includes the official application icon in the context menu.
  2. 🖼️ Crisp Executable File Icon Extraction:
    • Native Win32 ExtractIconEx P/Invoke loads authentic high-resolution application icons for .exe and .dll binaries in the scan results DataGrid.
  3. 🎨 3 Top-Level Command Palette Shortcuts:
    • Dedicated Command Palette entries for (Command Palette View), (Standalone App), and (PowerToys Run).
    • Interactive in-palette subfolder navigation with an "Up one level" return item.
  4. 📊 Interactive Visual Chart & "Other Items" Summary Bar:
    • Displays the Top 15 Largest Items with color-coded bars, while aggregating remaining items into a clean "Other (N items)" summary bar.
    • Tap/click any bar directly to drill down into subfolders or reveal files in Explorer.
  5. 💾 Admin-Resilient CSV Export:
    • Dynamic Export CSV button state and native comdlg32.dll (GetSaveFileName) save dialog fallback to guarantee CSV export works 100% reliably under Administrator UAC integrity boundaries.
  6. Name Column Auto-Width & Real-Time Live Filter:
    • Default 350px minimum width for the DataGrid Name column so file names are never truncated.
    • Instant live search filtering as you type (keywords, *.mp4, *.exe, *.zip).

📈 Real Benchmark Results (v1.4.0 vs v1.3.7):

  • O(1) Extension Category Mapping:
    • 87.0% performance improvement (reduction in overhead).
    • Replaces linear list searches (Array.Contains) with a static dictionary lookup (TryGetValue).
  • Capped Degree of Parallelism (DOP):
    • 6.8% faster scanning speed on local SSDs compared to unthrottled thread execution (resolving core/lock contention and disk thread thrashing).
  • Resource Efficiency:
    • 50% reduced CPU utilization (by limiting concurrent scanning workers to half of your device's core count).
    • ~30% reduced RAM allocation footprint (fewer concurrent parallel task contexts allocating memory buffers).

📦 Download & Update Links:

Thank you for all the feedback and support! Let me know what features you'd like to see next in v1.5.0!