There's a new way to pin Windows 11 apps to the taskbar in the latest Canary builds

This past week was a rare one for members of the Windows Insider Program. Microsoft decided not to release any new Windows 11 builds for the Canary, Dev, Beta, or Release Preview channels. However, that doesn't mean that there wasn't anything new to discover in previous releases.

Windows Insider enthusiast "@PhantomofEarth" posted a small but interesting feature on his X account that was discovered to be available in the most recent Canary Channel builds of Windows 11. He found that when you search for a Windows 11 app in the taskbar's Search field, you can drag that app and pin it to the taskbar.

First, he shows that clicking on the Search field brings up the Suggested Apps list, and then he moves one of the apps on that list, Snipping Tool, onto the Windows 11 taskbar. He actively searches for the Notepad app, and when it appears in the search list, he drags it to be pinned in the search bar. This is reportedly live for all Canary Channel Windows 11 builds that have the "27xxx" in the build number.

While there were no full Windows 11 builds for Insiders this week, Microsoft did update last week's Canary Channel 27695 blog post with a new Wi-Fi setting change. It also updated the blog post for last week's Windows 11 Beta Channel build 22635.4145, which added a new virtual keyboard for Xbox and other game controllers.

On Friday, Microsoft released an updated version of the Photos app for all Windows 10 and 11 Insiders. It also released a new Windows Server 2025 Insider build with a new expiration date of Sept. 15, 2025.