8 Hidden Windows Tools That You Probably Didn't Know

you're using your Windows computer every day but I guess you did not know about those eight super helpful Windows features for more productivity that everyone could at only very few people actually use so let me show you how you can access and customize these features to shorten long office hours or make them a lot more convenient feature number one is there to help relax your eyes and reduce eye stream I really like that feature in particular when I start to work early or need to work late so when my surrounding is not as bright as my screen night light filters the aggressive blue light and helps to adjust the Windows screen color and its intensity to a changing environment based on the time of the day so by having night light activated your eyes will feel a lot more relaxed and you will feel less tired after a day in the office that's because your eyes do not have to deal with a huge difference in saturation and colors pairing your screen and your surroundings to turn this feature on just look for night light when going to the start menu and click the button to turn it on first you can choose its intensity and second you can also schedule NightLight you can either let night light automatically adjust itself based on your location if you enable location settings or you can set hours manually another great feature that you probably did not know about is the windows timeline this is basically like a browser history but for your desktop and helps to keep an overview of your work history or reconcile anything that you have done in the past maybe you can remember that you had worked on an important document on a specific day but you're missing its name then you could just scroll through timeline and find it there to access the timeline you can either click the task view button on your taskbar or press Windows tab on your keyboard on top you will see the windows that you have currently opened and underneath the timeline view that shows all files that you had opened on that respective Day by right clicking on any document you can either choose to open remove or clear the history of that specific day another great Windows feature is your ability to set up several virtual desktops at once this helps to segregate your desktop by task software or project for example it might be the case that you want to keep your entertainment software like Discord or some games away from your productivity work setup with office rules or coding software you could also use the different desktops for different projects such that each one gets its own desktop so if you want to try it out click on the task view button or press Windows tap on your keyboard at the very top buff your timeline you can click on new desktop and use it right away alternatively you can use the shortcut Windows control D to directly set up a new virtual desk I mean naturally it will be empty with no windows open but it's now up to you to make use of it to switch desktops you can open the task view again and click on the other desktop or you can do that without your mouse by hitting windows control left or right let's come to another great feature that will boost your productivity as it helps you to focus on the most important tasks and mute any other distractions that might pop up so by having this feature activated you will only be left with the topics and alerts you choose important to get more done in less time I'm talking about Focus assist a feature that you can access by searching it via the start menu on top you can first choose if you want to have it turned off turned on but only for priority or if you just want to receive alarms but no other notifications if you choose priority only you can customize your priority list and Define which information and notifications you would like to receive when having Focus assist turned on at the bottom you can set some automatic rules such as certain times or situations during which Focus assists should be active the next Windows feature solves the problem of capturing and editing screenshots quick and easy for example if you're listening to a virtual presentation and would like to capture a screenshot of an interesting slide or if you want to show a colleague how something is done in a specific tool in those cases a simple screenshot is the best and windows has a very lightweight solution to this called snip and sketch maybe you know the predecessor Snipping Tool although this is still available the pin sketch is the far better option you can access it either via the start menu or by pressing Windows shift s having taken a screenshot you can use different tools such as pen pencil highlighter or image crop to edit the screenshot and save or share it thereafter another super helpful Windows feature lets you share documents photos links or other files with nearby devices by using Bluetooth or Wi-Fi this is quite convenient if you collaborate with other people nearby or if you just want to quickly share your own documents across different devices for example I have been using this feature to send documents from my tablet on my phone to my desktop PC without having to connect with a cable or pendant email to access nearby share dirt Point via the start menu and turn it on alternatively you can turn it on Via the windows notification or by just clicking on the respective icon now you can choose the devices that can share or receive from you and where the files should be stored to share documents the nearby share function needs to be activated on both devices the one that is sharing and the one that is receiving now the one who wants to share something needs to click on the file in the file explorer and select share from the tool toolbar at the top or by right clicking and going to share now you can select the device you want to share with and the receiving person just needs to accept the notification by clicking save and open another unknown or very rarely used Windows feature helps you to never forget anything anymore and keeps your desk clutter free it's simply the digital sticky notes that I mean and love to use for quick notes or to Do's just open the sticky notes app by a start menu again and you will be able to create as many notes as you would like to you can change the color of the individual notes they are sized and location format the text and you can even insert pictures if you would like to if you close a node you will still see them in the list overview where you can delete individual nodes or open them again by double clicking on the respective node if you close the notes list and reopen it next time again your notes will still be there and finally a very simple tip that helps you to better organize your open windows in particular when you're working with several monitors at home for example I'm working with an ultra wide Monitor and a specific tool that helps me to organize all my windows but in the office I have two monitors side by side but still want my windows to be organized or have the ability to quickly move one window from left to the right monitor you can do that by using the windows snapping feature which is activated with the shortcut Windows right or left if you click right the application you're currently working on will be moved to the right and you can choose which other application should be allocated to the left screen and vice versa now you know those hidden Windows features you should watch this video next where I show you the best way to organize your files and folders to become even more productive and never worry about finding a document anymore

Channel: Lea David

Views: 138,159

Keywords: windows 10, windows 11, microsoft windows, hidden features, windows 10 tricks, windows 10 tips, windows 10 secrets, windows tools you must have, windows tools, best windows tools, must-have windows tools, must have windows tools, windows apps, must have windows apps, hidden windows features, productivity, productivity tools, windows productivitiy tools, windows productivity apps

Id: bL71_QyWF_4

Length: 7min 57sec (477 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 11 2023