Widgets

Windows 11 includes a news feed feature called Widgets that consists of a Widgets button on the Taskbar with a live weather forecast and a widget board that displays widgets and news content cards.

Widgets appear above the news content cards on the widget board. They are cards of dynamic information culled from Microsoft’s online services. These widgets and news content cards are configurable, and while the latter may seem superfluous at first, you can customize the content types and sources you see, and the widget board can become more useful the more you use it.

Widgets is an evolution of the News & interests feature from Windows 10.

The problem with Widgets

Before we discuss how to use and configure Widgets, we need to take a step back and examine how Microsoft is using this feature to drive the usage of its products and services. Unfortunately, this is the real reason that Windows 11 includes Widgets.

Widgets removes choice in these areas:

Web browser. You cannot configure Widgets to open new stories in any browser other than Microsoft Edge.

News and content sources. You cannot configure Widgets to access news stories and other content from any other source other than Microsoft Start, which is part of Microsoft MSN.

Consider the following scenario: you installed Google Chrome and configured it as the default browser in Windows 11, and you rightfully expect it to appear whenever you click a web link. But when you click a new story in Widgets, that story will open in Microsoft Edge, and not in Chrome.

If you find this behavior objectionable, you will need to balance your usage of Widgets with the knowledge that Microsoft is using this feature to gain an unfair advantage over its web browser, web search, advertising, and content aggregator competition. Or, you can simply choose to not use Widgets.

We explain how you can remove the Widgets icon from the Taskbar at the end of the chapter.

View the weather forecast, news bulletins, and widget notifications

The Widgets icon can be found on the far left of the Taskbar and while it typically displays the local weather forecast, it can also display breaking news or other announcements and notification badges.

Open the widget board

To open Widgets and display the feed in the widget board, mouse-over or select the Widgets icon on the Taskbar. Or, type WINKEY + W.

You can disable the mouse-over behavior. This is described at the end of this chapter.

Display the widget board in Full View

By default, Widgets appears as a pane on the left side of the Desktop. But you can expand this view and display Widgets full screen in what’s called Full View mode instead. To do so, click the “Full View” icon in the upper right of the pane.

When you do, Widgets appears full-screen.

Widgets will remember this change and display in Full View every time it’s opened in the future.

To reverse this change, select the “Collapse to Half View” in the upper-right of Full View.

Browse the widget board

Once you open Widgets, you can browse through the available content, which is arranged in widget and news content cards. If you see a story you wish to read, simply select its promo graphic or title. Microsoft Edge will open and display the article on the web.

And yes, Microsoft Edge will open even if you’ve configured another browser as your default.

There are also Video and Games links in the top-left of the widget board. These links do not display video and game content in Widgets. Instead, each opens Microsoft Edge and navigates to Microsoft websites devoted to those topics. You can safely ignore both.

Pin new widgets to the widget board

Widgets lets you pin certain widgets for a growing collection of Microsoft and third-party services like Entertainment, Weather, Spotify, Outlook Calendar, Family Safety, Watchlist, and others above the news feed in the widget board. To do so, open Widgets and select the Add widgets button (“+”) in the top right. There are several choices, and some are even useful.

To add a widget, select the Add widget (“+”) button next to the appropriate entry. When you return to Widgets, it will be at the top of the widget board.

When you customize the widget board this way, your changes are synced to your Microsoft account so that they will appear in Widgets on any PC you use. So, for example, if you pin the Outlook Calendar and Weather widgets to the board on one PC, you will see those two widgets at the top of the board on any other PCs you may own too.

Pinned widgets have a small “pin” icon near the top right to differentiate them from feed widgets.

Customize a pinned widget

Pinned widgets can usually be customized. For example, you may wish to change the location that the Weather widget tracks. To do so, select the More options (“…”) link in the top right of its card and then choose “Customize widget.”

What you see here will vary by widget. The Weather widget, as noted, lets you select a different location.

If you do customize the Weather widget to display the weather for a different location, that location will also be used by the weather forecast displayed on the Taskbar.

You can also resize the widget using three built-in sizes when available, Small, Medium, and Large. These choices are also available in the More options menu.

Finally, pinned widgets can be moved to a new location, though only in relation to other pinned widgets. That is, you cannot move a pinned widget below a news content card. To do so, simply select the widget and drag it where you’d like.

Unpin widgets from the widget board

To unpin a pinned widget, select the More options (“…”) link in the top right of its card and then choose “Unpin widget.”

Customize the feed

If you are going to use Widgets, you should take the time to customize the feed. But this customization take different forms. You can remove news sources you don’t like or trust, for example, or tell Widgets that you’d like to see more—or fewer—stories that are similar to one you’re viewing. You can also manage your interests, which will help Widgets determine which types of stories to show you.

Hide a content source. If you find a particular content source objectionable or uninteresting, you can tell Widgets to stop displaying stories from that source. To do so, select the See more (“…”) link in the lower right of the card in question and choose “Hide stories from [content source].”

The card that was displaying the content will give you the option to undo the change if it was made in error.

See fewer stories like this. If you don’t mind a particular content source but don’t like a particular story, you can select See more (“…”) and choose “Fewer stories like this.” The card will change to give you options such as “Not interested in this story,” “Hide stories from [content source],” and “Report issue,” and you can of course cancel the change as well.

See more stories like this. You can also choose to see more stories like the one displayed in a card. This will give it a “thumbs up” and influence the types of stories you see in the future.

Manage your interests By default, Widgets displays news and other content from a wide variety of content sources. But you can manually manage the entire list of content types and sources by selecting See more (“…”) in a content card and then choosing “Manage interests.” Microsoft Edge will appear and display the website where you can manage these interests.

If you find the list too daunting, select the “Tune your feed” link in the bottom of the navigation bar on the left to step through a wizard that will quiz you about the news publishers and other content makers you prefer. Once you’ve selected at least several you like, click Done and … well, you’re done.

If you think you will use Widgets, you should manage your interests at some point. But when you do is an interesting conversation. Some may prefer to configure this before they use the feed, but we think you should expose yourself to what it has to offer before you start managing which content types and news publishers appear there. You may find some choices you didn’t know about before interesting.

Save a story for later

Like other feeds, Widgets offers a way to save stories you find interesting but might want to read later. However, you can’t find saved stories in Widgets, as they’re saved in My Saves on the Microsoft Start website. So you will need to use your web browser to read these stories later.

There are better solutions for this, including some that provide distraction-free article layouts with no ads. We recommend Pocket, which is available as an extension for Microsoft Edge and other web browsers.

Remove the Widgets icon on the Taskbar

Many will find Widgets unnecessary for their day-to-day needs. Others may like to occasionally view the feed but don’t the Widgets icon taking up valuable space on the Taskbar. Either way, you can remove the icon: you will still be able to open Widgets.

To remove the Widgets icon, open Settings (WINKEY + I) and navigate to Personalization > Taskbar. Then, in the Taskbar items area, configure Widgets to “Off.”

To open Widgets with its icon removed, type WINKEY + W. Widgets will appear normally but without displaying the weather forecast in the Taskbar.

Unfortunately, you cannot remove Widgets but keep its weather forecast on the Taskbar. Or vice versa.

Customize Widgets

Widgets provides a simple settings interface that lets you customize a handful of key features. To access it, select your profile picture (“Settings”) in the upper-right of the widget board. Widgets settings appears.

Here, you can configure the following settings:

Open Widgets board on hover. By default, Widgets will open if you mouse-over its Taskbar button, but that can be annoying if you do so inadvertently. To disable that behavior, change this option to “Off.”

Show notification badges. Sometimes, a widget will want to alert you to breaking news, and it will display a notification badge on the Widget button in the Taskbar by default. To disable that behavior, change this option to “Off.”

Show announcements. When there is breaking news, nearby traffic, or similar, the Widget button on the Taskbar will change its display away from the weather. To disable that behavior, change this option to “Off.”