Windows 11 Insider Beta Builds 22621.2048 and 22631.2048 adds Gallery in File Explorer

Microsoft has released the latest Windows 11 build for members of the Insider program on the Beta channel. The blog post states:

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22621.2048 and Build 22631.2048 (KB5028247) to the Beta Channel.

• Build 22631.2048 = New features rolling out.
• Build 22621.2048 = New features off by default.

The new version include the Gallery photo feature in File Explorer, along with a number of improvements and bug fixes. It also includes a new version of the Microsoft Store that went into testing for all Insider channels earlier this week.

Here is the changelog:

What’s new in Build 22631.2048

Gallery in File Explorer

We are introducing Gallery, a new feature in File Explorer designed to make it easy to access your photo collection. The set of content shown in Gallery is the same as what you’ll see in the All Photos view in the Photos app.

Gallery is optimized for accessing your most recently taken photos. If you have OneDrive Camera Roll Backup set up on your phone, photos you take will show up automatically at the top of the view. You can choose which folders are shown in Gallery through the Collection dropdown. You can also add subfolders of existing sources to filter to a subset of your content, such as desktop backgrounds and SD card/camera imports.

Gallery also works from the file picking dialog, bringing that same ease of use to situations such as inserting attachments, building a PowerPoint deck, or crafting social media posts.

There is also a new button in the Command Bar titled “Add Phone Photos” that will help with setting up your PC to be ready to show these photos in Gallery. Clicking this button today will open a URL with a QR code that you can scan with your phone to get started.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Changes and Improvements in Build 22631.2048

[General]

Windows Insiders on Build 22631 will see the versioning updated under Settings > System > About (and winver) to version 23H2. This denotes that Windows 11, version 23H2 will be this year’s annual feature update which will be delivered to customers similar to the most recent Windows 10 feature updates. As mentioned here, Windows 11 will have an annual feature update cadence that releases in the second half of the calendar year. For more information, see this blog post here.

[Taskbar & System Tray]

After updating to this build, the ability to end task when right-clicking an app on the taskbar may appear, however this feature currently does not work correctly and will be fixed in a future flight in the Beta Channel. The setting for it under Settings > System > For developers also currently does not show.

[File Explorer]

We have added the ability to tear out and merge tabs in File Explorer.

[For Developers]

We are moving the “For Developers” settings page from Settings > Privacy & security to now be under Settings > System.

Fixes in Build 22631.2048

[Taskbar]

Fixed an issue which could cause the taskbar to hang during initialization and not complete loading.

[File Explorer]

Fixed an issue which could lead to explorer.exe crashes when opening a folder containing .WEBP files.

Did some work to help address an issue where File Explorer might hang when browsing network shares.

[Notification]

Fixed an issue where you might unexpectedly see a suggestion to turn off notifications that you regularly interacted with.

You can check out the full blog post here.