Windows 11 Field Guide Update: 23H2, the Site, and the Book

I’m hoping to update at least several Windows 11 Field Guide chapters for version 23H2 while we’re in Mexico City. And I have a few ideas about the best way to do that.

These types of updates are always tricky. In an ideal world, I would simply ship a new edition of the book in which all of the chapters were updated for whatever new OS version, but that’s impossible here. For one, this is a 900+ page book with dozens and dozens of chapters, and there are new chapters, lots of content to update, and too many screenshots to re-take to count. But Microsoft’s bizarre updating strategy is problematic too, as Windows 11 is different on different PCs at any point in time. It’s all very messy.

But for this book in particular, I’ve done something I’ve wanted to do for a long time and made a version of it available on the web too, here on Thurrott.com. That’s a nice perk for Premium members, I think, but it also creates another level of support on my part: Not only do I have to post each chapter to the site, which is tedious on many levels, but I have to keep each updated as I change/edit the book as well. And I’ve done OK at that, with the exception of the Microsoft Edge chapters, which are currently a bit behind the versions in the book.

For the Windows 11 version 23H2 updates, I’m starting with the high-value targets, meaning those parts of the system—and thus those parts of the book—that are changing the most. This will require major updates to certain chapters but also new chapters to cover topics like Copilot, Outlook, Windows Backup, and possibly more. It will require retiring some existing chapters, like those for Mail and News. And it will require more new screenshots than I even want to think about.

Last year, when I was preparing for the initial release of the book, I wanted to make sure I had something substantial for people to purchase with the understanding that it would still be a work in progress and would get much longer and complete over time. And so there was a long gap between me announcing that I was working on the book and the initial publication, and the first release included 27 chapters. It’s going to be a little different for 23H2.

Recently, it occurred to me that the best way to update the book for 23H2 is to start posting the new and fully edited chapters to the site first. I posted the first of these last night, What’s New and Familiar in Windows 11 Version 23H2 and What’s Missing in Windows 11 Version 23H2, and I “archived” the original versions by pushing them into a new “Archived – 22H2” section at the bottom of the table of contents on the book’s landing page. I will do the same for each chapter I fully update going forward.

Neither of these chapters is particularly notable, but it’s a start. And while I haven’t identified exactly which updates will constitute the next update to the ebook version of the book on Leanpub, it will likely include the three new chapters noted above, updated versions of the chapters in the Install Windows 11 and Upgrade to Windows 11 sections, and maybe a few important chapters like File Explorer, Backup (which will be impacted by or even replaced by Windows Backup) and a few others. If I can through all of that while here in Mexico City, I feel like I’ll be in good shape. And then I can plow through the remainder, updating as needed.

Some updates will need to wait. Microsoft Edge, for example, is getting a visual change in the form of a Copilot icon replacing the Bing icon that is functionally a non-event but will impact almost every single screenshot in those chapters.

Some updates are still unclear. For example, the book doesn’t currently cover things like Paint and Notepad, but it will need to now.  So that could result in a new chapter or two.

To differentiate this “edition” of the book from the “original”—it’s really just one thing in whatever transitionary state at any given time—the new and updated chapters will have 16:10 screenshots instead of 16:9, which better reflects the look of things on modern PCs. And I’m going to have an upfront section in each chapter (that isn’t in the two chapters already posted because it’s not needed there) that will highlight what’s new and/or most interesting so readers can go right to that content. Why? It’s hard finding the most important content in a book this big.

Anyway, we’ll see how this goes. But I should start posting some more new and updated chapters to this site soon, and when it gets to the point where it makes sense, to the ebook as well.

Come to think of it, maybe I need a new cover design for 23H2 too. Hm.

More soon.