Stuff built into Windows that you probably paid for separately
Windows File Explorer has had a bunch of features quietly added over the years. Most people still install third-party apps to do things File Explorer now does natively. Here's a round-up.
Bulk rename with Tab
Select multiple files → press F2 → type the new name → press Tab. Explorer moves to the next file with the new name pre-filled and the number incremented. Works for file (1).jpg, file (2).jpg, etc. Saves downloading bulk-rename utilities for simple cases.
For advanced bulk renaming — regex, find/replace, numbering — install Microsoft PowerToys (free, made by Microsoft). Its PowerRename module is in the right-click menu and replaces every paid bulk-rename app.
Preview pane
Alt + P toggles a preview pane that shows:
- PDF contents (without opening Acrobat)
- Image contents at any size
- Office doc contents
- Text files
- Video frames
Works for most file types Windows knows. Eliminates the "open file to see what's in it, close, open next" loop.
Built-in ZIP / extract
Right-click any file or folder → Send to → Compressed (zipped) folder. You never needed WinRAR for creating zips. For opening zips, just double-click. Windows 11 added 7z, RAR, and TAR extraction natively in late 2023.
Map network drive
This PC → ribbon Map network drive → enter \\server\share. Now it appears as Z: or whatever letter you pick and survives reboots. No need for third-party NAS connection apps.
The address bar is a command prompt
Click in the address bar at the top of Explorer. Type cmd or powershell or wt and press Enter. A terminal opens in that folder. Use this instead of cd-ing for ten minutes to get to a deep path.
Variation: Shift + right-click on any folder → Open PowerShell window here / Open in Terminal.
Quick filter and search operators
In the search box at the top-right of any folder:
kind:picture→ only imagessize:>50mb→ files larger than 50 MBdate:last week→ recently touchedmodified:last year→ older
Combinable: kind:video size:>1gb finds videos bigger than 1 GB anywhere in the tree.
Columns on demand
Right-click any column header in Details view → More... → pick from 200+ metadata fields. Show image dimensions, video duration, MP3 bitrate, EXIF camera model. Sort by any of them.
Takeaway
Before installing a Windows utility ask "does File Explorer do this?". Increasingly often the answer is yes. PowerToys fills most remaining gaps and is from Microsoft directly.