Microsoft is putting the final touches on the Windows 10 spring feature update, but development for the next feature update, codenamed Redstone 5, is well underway. Today, the company released Windows 10 build 17643 to Insiders that chose the Skip Ahead subset of the Fast ring.
We"re still a long way off from the Redstone 5 update being done; after all Redstone 4 isn"t even in the hands of non-Insiders yet. The update is expected to arrive this fall, but Microsoft has already included lots of new features like Sets, which allows users to group apps into tabs, similar to webpages in a browser.
One of the Sets improvements today is Office 365 integration, which allows for tabbed documents. Here"s the full changelog:
Sets + Office = Awesome
Sets with Office 365 makes it easy to group, recall, and refresh data sources for all your projects. Whether updating your Excel budget each month with stock prices and credit card expenses, incorporating data from multiple reports and websites into a PowerPoint, or managing citations for your book report in Word, Sets with Office 365 helps you get more done, faster.
With today’s build – Windows Insiders who are also Office Insiders can try out Sets with Office. You must be an Office 365 subscriber running the latest version of the Office 365 desktop apps for the Sets experience to light up. If you’re not already an Office Insider, you can sign-up here. Additionally, if you’re not an Office 365 subscriber, you can sign-up for a trial here.
Sets Improvements
- Sets is now enabled for most desktop (Win32) apps that use a default and non-customized title bar. Apps that customize their title bar will not have Sets (e.g. Paint.exe).
- If you’ve opened a Microsoft Edge window within Sets, you can now drag that tab around within the set, as well as drop it in another Sets window. Dragging between a Sets window and a standalone Microsoft Edge window does not yet work.
NOTE: Some Insiders may see Sets disappear temporarily after installing this build. Sets should return in 1-2 days or upon the next reboot of your PC.
Microsoft Edge Improvements
Microsoft WebDriver is now a Feature on Demand: We’ve made Microsoft WebDriver a Feature on Demand (FoD) Feature-on-Demand) to make it easier to get the right version for your device. You can install WebDriver by turning on Developer Mode, or by going to Settings > Apps > Apps & features > Manage optional features and installing it standalone.
This should address one of the biggest pain points we see from customers around binary mismatches, as FoD’s match the build/branch/flavor automatically. This also means that the standalone download will no longer be made available for insiders or future stable versions of Windows, as installation is now built into Windows.
Microsoft WebDriver now gets installed to C:\Windows\System32\ and will automatically be on the PATH for the machine once installed. We are now shipping 64-bit Microsoft WebDriver to x64 machines. Note, there is a known issue for x64 machines building in Visual Studio with Selenium, where by default Visual Studio builds 32bit and will only check the C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ folder for PATH variables. To work around this issue, target and build 64bit from Visual Studio. In a future build, we plan to publish both 32bit and 64bit binaries in our FoD for 64bit machines, which should address this issue.
Data Sense Improvements
Roaming Usage: Does your device have a SIM? We’ve updated Data Usage Settings to let you know how much data you are using while roaming! The roaming usage info will appear once you start using roaming data. As a reminder, if you’d like to enable or disable roaming altogether, you can find the option under Cellular Settings.
Magnifier Improvements
Choose where to keep the mouse cursor: We’ve heard your feedback asking us for a way to keep your mouse centered on the screen in Full-Screen mode, and with this build, we’re making it happen! This new option under Settings > Ease of Access > Magnifier > “Keep your mouse…” > “centered on the screen” enables easier tracking and use of the mouse, especially helpful at higher magnification levels.
More options for increments: You’ve also been asking for even more control of your zoom level increments, so we’ve taken a moment to add two new increments to the list: 5% and 10%.
We love feedback! In case you haven’t noticed it already, we have a new Magnifier node in the Feedback Hub under Ease of Access > Magnifier. We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts about using Magnifier – click this link to open our section in the Feedback Hub.
Obviously, the biggest feature that we"ve seen so far in Redstone 5 is Sets, although there have been more minor improvements across the board. There"s certainly more in store for this development cycle, and we"ll likely learn more about the future of Windows 10 in a few weeks at Microsoft"s Build 2018 developer conference.