File Explorer (24H2)

File Explorer is the Windows 11 file management app, and it looks and works much like its predecessors in earlier Windows versions.

But there have been some improvements and other changes since Windows 10 and the initial versions of Windows 11, too. In addition to its simpler and more modern appearance, File Explorer features a tabbed user interface similar to that found in Microsoft Edge and other web browsers, an updated home page with new customization choices, an updated navigation pane, a new Gallery view for your photo collection, a Details pane with file thumbnails and other contextual information, and more. This chapter focuses largely on these new and unfamiliar features.
Access multiple file system views with tabs
The tabbed user interface is the most obvious change to File Explorer in Windows 11. As with the similar feature in web browsers and other apps, File Explorer tabs lets you manage multiple views, in this case of your PC's file system, simultaneously in the same window.

That said, you can only see one view at a time, of course. To work with two or more views side-by-side, you can still open multiple File Explorer app windows.
Create and close a tab
To create a new tab, click the "Add new tab" button ("+") at the top of the File Explorer window, and to the right of the rightmost tab. (File Explorer always displays at least one tab.) The new tab will appear and display the File Explorer home page by default.

You can also type CTRL + T to create a new tab.
To open a new tab to a specific location, right-click that location--in the navigation pane or elsewhere in File Explorer--and choose "Open in new tab."

To close a tab, select its "Close tab" button (it resembles an "X").
You can also type CTRL + W to close the currently selected tab.
Basic tab management
Each tab works like its own File Explorer window, so you can navigate to whatever file system location you like in each.

To navigate between tabs, simply click the tab you wish to use.
Or, type CTRL + TAB to switch to the next tab in the row, and type CTRL + SHIFT + TAB to switch to the previous tab.
To reorder the tabs, grab the tab you wish to move and then drag it left or right to a new location in the row of tabs. Release it when it's where you want it.

Drag a file between tabs
One of the many reasons you may have opened two File Explorer windows in the past was so that you could drag one or more files between two different locations in the file system. But the new tabs in File Explorer allow you to do so as well.

To get started, make sure you have at least two tabs open: One for the location that contains the file you wish to copy or move, and one in which you've navigated to the destination where you would like that file to go. Then, simply drag the file in the source tab up to the row of tabs and over the tab representing the destination. As you do, the contents of that tab appear. Then, drag it down into the files area and...