Microsoft is making Nearby Share easier to use in Windows 11
A tweak in the latest Windows 11 Dev Channel build is making it easier to use Nearby Share
Key Takeaways
- Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23545 brings a tweak to Nearby Share, allowing users to easily give their device a friendly name for sharing.
- The update also allows Microsoft Teams contacts to be seen in Windows Share, enabling files to be sent directly from the Share pane when using AAD accounts.
- Other changes include improvements to the search box in the taskbar and bug fixes for File Explorer, addressing issues such as crashes and incorrect icons.
Microsoft today rolled out a new Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 23545 to the Dev Channel. This build is yet again a small one, but it comes with a few changes and one improvement in it is notable. The best example is a tweak to Nearby Share, which makes it easier to quickly give your device a friendly name for sharing. Other than that, it's the usual bug fixes.
In this new build, you should see this new option in Nearby Share when you go to Settings choose System and then Nearby Sharing. From there, you'll be able to rename your device, helping set it apart from others on your network. Along with this change, Microsoft is also rolling out an option to see Microsoft Teams (work or school) contacts in Windows Share and send them files directly from the Share pane when using an Azure Active Directory account. Finally, Microsoft is tweaking the experience of the search box in the taskbar. In some cases, clicking on the gleam will take you to a Bing.com page for the search highlight. A tooltip will always be shown for the search highlight gleam when hovering over the search box. Other changes in this release are below.
- Fixed an issue which could cause explorer.exe to crash when closing File Explorer.
- Fixed an issue where when switching between dark and light mode (or a contrast theme) File Explorer’s address bar, command bar, and context menu could get stuck in the wrong colors, making it difficult to see.
- Fixed an issue where if you launched File Explorer in dark theme you could see a bright white flash as content loaded.
- Fixed an issue where rapidly opening two File Explorer windows might make explorer.exe crash.
- Made a few more fixes to help improve File Explorer launch performance, including fixing a leak which would impact performance over time.
- Fixed an issue which could make explorer.exe crash when navigating away from Home.
- Fixed an issue where trying to open Gallery after new images had been added might result in a crash.
- Fixed an issue where the progress wheel in the tab would get stuck showing that File Explorer was loading a folder when the loading had actually already finished.
- Fixed an issue where File Explorer sorting changes wouldn’t persist in folders after you navigated away and back.
- Fixed an issue which could cause the icons in File Explorer tabs to be incorrect.
- Fixed an issue which was causing icons on the desktop to turn into white generic icons until you refreshed the desktop.
- Fixed a high hitting explorer.exe crash in the latest builds impacting taskbar reliability.
- Fixed an issue that was causing search to not launch sometimes in the latest Dev Channel builds.
- We fixed the issue causing Unicode Emoji 15support which began rolling out with Build 23475 and the updated color font format with COLRv1 support that began rolling out with Build 23506 to no longer appear. These experiences should again be working with this build.
- Did some work to help address an issue that could cause the Japanese and Chinese IME candidate windows to not appear after using connected standby, due to a crash.
- Fixed a high hitting tabtip.exe crash that may have impacted the ability to type in the last couple flights.
- Fixed an issue where Settings wasn’t launching in safe mode for some Insiders.
- Fixed an issue where trying to take window mode screenshots was taking screenshots of the entire screen instead of the app in focus for some Insiders.
There are just three known issues in today's new build. You might notice that some apps under All Apps in the Start Menu might show up as a system component, particularly apps that are PWAs. Also, Microsoft is working to enable Windows Copilot for users who saw it missing in some regions. Microsoft also released a Canary Channel build today, too, but as usual, change logs are light. There's just new SMB NTML Blocking, SMD Dialect management, and improvements for the network flyout on the Lock Screen, so it matches the one you see in the Taskbar.
