Site icon TheWindowsUpdate.com

Announcing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22518

This post has been republished via RSS; it originally appeared at: Windows Blog.

Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 22518 to the Dev Channel.

TL;DR

What’s new in Build 22518

View the world on your desktop with Spotlight collection

Keep your desktop fresh and inspiring with Spotlight collection. You will get beautiful new desktop pictures from around the world every day and fun facts about each picture. Here is how you can try out Spotlight collection:
  1. Right-click on your desktop and choose “Personalize”.
  2. On the Personalization settings page, choose “Background”.
  3. Under the “Personalize your background” dropdown, select “Spotlight collection”.
Upon enabling Spotlight collection, you will see an inspiring picture from Whitehaven Beach in Australia on your desktop as well as the Spotlight icon. [caption id="attachment_175430" align="alignnone" width="372"] Right-click on the Spotlight icon on your desktop to switch to between Spotlight pictures or tell us whether you like or dislike a picture.[/caption] Later in the day, we will replace Whitehaven Beach with a collection of up to five background pictures from around the world. This could take up to 24 hours. If you hover over the Spotlight icon, you can learn more about each picture. Right-clicking on the Spotlight icon on the desktop opens a context menu where you can switch to a different background picture as well as tell us whether you like or don’t like one of the pictures. Double-clicking on the Spotlight icon launches the landing page where you can learn even more about any of the Spotlight collection pictures you saw throughout the day. Please note the Spotlight collection experience is not yet localized and will show text in English only. Full localization will come in a future update. Spotlight collection is available to Windows Insiders in the following countries: Australia, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Spain, Sweden, U.K., U.S. More countries will be added over time.

Updated entry point for Widgets on your taskbar

We are trying out showing the Widgets entry point on the left side of your taskbar with live weather content. You can also open the Widgets board by simply hovering over the entry point. [caption id="attachment_175431" align="alignnone" width="3008"] We’re trying out showing the Widgets entry point, with weather, on the left side of the taskbar.[/caption] For users who choose to align their taskbar, the Widgets entry point will be to the right of the Task view icon. [caption id="attachment_175432" align="alignnone" width="1504"] How the Widgets icon looks on a left-aligned taskbar with weather.[/caption] Group policies and the ability to show/hide the Widgets button from the taskbar remains unchanged. We’re trying this out so let us know what you think and check out the known issues below for some issues we’re aware of for this experience. [We are beginning to roll this change out, so it isn’t available to all Insiders just yet as we plan to monitor feedback and see how it lands before pushing it out to everyone.]

Introducing Voice Access

Voice access is a new experience that enables everyone, including people with mobility disabilities, to control their PC and author text using their voice. For example, voice access supports scenarios like opening and switching between apps, browsing the web, and reading and authoring mail. Voice access leverages modern, on-device speech recognition to accurately recognize speech and is supported without an internet connection. Voice access supports English-U.S. language only, so the Windows display language should be set to English-U.S., otherwise voice access may not work as expected. Get started [caption id="attachment_175433" align="alignnone" width="3840"] You can enable voice access under Settings > Accessibility > Speech.[/caption] You can find voice access in Settings > Accessibility > Speech. When you turn on voice access for the first time, it will prompt you to download a speech model for the on-device speech recognition. Once it is downloaded, you can choose a microphone you want to use with voice access and start using your voice to control your PC. You can choose to auto start voice access the next time you sign-in to your PC in settings. You can also use voice commands or keyboard shortcuts (Alt + Shift + C and Alt + Shift + B) to control whether voice access is listening or not listening.
To do this Say this
Get voice access to start listening to you “Voice access wake up”, “Unmute”
Put voice access to sleep (It’ll only respond to "voice access wake up” command) “Voice access sleep”, “Mute”
Completely stop voice access from listening to you  (You can use mouse or keyboard to click on the microphone button to change its state) “Turn off microphone”
[caption id="attachment_175434" align="alignnone" width="3840"] Interactive guide showing the page titled "working with controls and options with instructions on the left and practice area on the right.[/caption] Voice access includes an interactive guide that explains how to complete common tasks using your voice. In addition to the interactive guide, you can access a complete list of commands by asking “what can I say?” when voice access is listening. You can also access the complete set of voice access commands here. [caption id="attachment_175435" align="alignnone" width="647"] Desktop showing voice access UI at the top of the screen with voice access in listening state.[/caption] Voice access gives real-time feedback of what voice access heard so that you know which word was not recognized correctly. Navigate Windows with your voice You can navigate and interact with Windows, including opening and switching applications using your voice. You can also emulate your standard inputs like keyboard and mouse via voice. For example, the following table includes how to complete common tasks:
To do this Say this
Open a new application “Open [application name],” e.g., “Open Edge,” “Open Word”
Switch to an active application “Switch to [application name] ,” e.g., “Switch to Edge”
Manage your Windows  “Minimize window,” “Maximize window,” “Close window”
Click an item, like a button or a link “Click [item name],” e.g., “Click Start,” “Click Cancel”
Right click an item “Right-click [item name],” e.g. “Right click Start”
Double clicks an item  “Double click [item name],” e.g., “Double click Recycle Bin”
Scroll in a specific direction  “Scroll down” or “Start scrolling down"
Press a key or key combination  “Press Escape,” “Press and Hold Shift,” “Press tab 3 times”
[caption id="attachment_175436" align="alignnone" width="3840"] Numbered tear drops appearing over all interactive items on Mail app, voice access UI and taskbar.[/caption] Voice access number overlays make it possible to interact with items which don't have a name and they also put you in control when there are more than one matching items to a command.
To do this Say this
Show number overlays “Show numbers” or “Show numbers here”
Click a numbered item “Click [number]”, e.g., “Click 1”, “Double click 1”, “Right click 1”
Hide number overlays “Hide Numbers,” “Cancel”
[caption id="attachment_175437" align="alignnone" width="3840"] 3x3 grid with numbers drawn over the Mail app.[/caption] In addition, to interact with inaccessible UI and achieve precise mouse movement with grid overlay:
To do this Say this
Show the grid  “Show grid” or “Show grid here”
Drill down into the grid “[Grid number],” e.g., “1”
Click an item at the centre of a grid “Click [grid number],” e.g., “Click 1”
Mark an object to drag  “Mark [grid number],” e.g., “Mark 1”
Drop the marked object into a location  “Drag”
Author text with your voice In addition to navigating Windows, you can dictate and edit text with voice access:
To do this Say this
Insert text in a text box “[Text]”, e.g., “hello world”
Select the last text you dictated “Select that”
Select specific text in a text box “Select [text]”, e.g., “select hello world”
Select previous or next character(s) or word(s) or line(s) or paragraph(s) “Select next word”, “select previous two lines”
Delete the selected text or last dictated text “Delete that”
Delete specific text in a text box “Delete [text]”, e.g., “delete hello world”
Capitalize the first letter of a word “Capitalize [word]”, e.g., “capitalize hello”
Capitalize all the letters of a word “Uppercase [word]”, e.g., “uppercase hello”
Change all the letters in a word to lowercase “Lowercase [word]”, e.g., lowercase hello”
Place cursor before/after specific text “Move before [text]”, e.g., “Move before hello world”
Move cursor to beginning/end of a word or a line or a paragraph “Go to beginning of line”, “go to end of paragraph”
Tips for best recognition quality: Be sure to check the known issues section below for known issues with voice access. We look forward to you trying out voice access and would love to hear your feedback and suggestions in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under  Accessibility > Voice access. You can find the link to the Feedback Hub on the voice access help menu as well - use the voice command “Open Voice access help” > “Click Give feedback” to get there.

Install the Windows Subsystem from Linux (WSL) from the Microsoft Store

WSL is now available in the Microsoft Store. This is the same WSL you know and love but just a different delivery mechanism. Installing WSL from the Store will make it easier to get the latest WSL updates in the future. You can learn more about the Store preview at this blog post or by watching this video. Starting in this preview build, we’ve made it easier for new users to get started with the WSL in the Microsoft Store by changing the `wsl.exe --install` command to install WSL from the Microsoft Store by default. Additionally, we’ve added some additional arguments to `wsl.exe --install` to make it easier to configure your install, such as `wsl --install --no-launch` which will install a new WSL distro without immediately launching it. To see a full list of available commands please run `wsl --help`. If you want to get started with the Store version right away and already have WSL installed just run `wsl --update` to update immediately to the Store version!

Changes and Improvements

[caption id="attachment_175438" align="alignnone" width="402"] Input switcher UI with acrylic background.[/caption]

Fixes

[Taskbar] [Search] [File Explorer] [Input] [Windowing] [Settings] [Other] NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the active development branch may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11 that became generally available on October 5th.

Known issues

[General] [Start] [Taskbar] [Search] [Settings] [Widgets] [Voice access]

For developers

You can download the latest Windows Insider SDK at aka.ms/windowsinsidersdk. SDK NuGet packages are now also flighting at NuGet Gallery | WindowsSDK which include: These NuGet packages provide more granular access to the SDK and better integrate in CI/CD pipelines.

About the Dev Channel

We have moved the Dev Channel back to receiving builds from our active development branch (RS_PRERELEASE). These builds are from the earliest stage in a new development cycle with the latest work-in-progress code from our engineers. These aren’t always stable builds, and sometimes you will see issues that block key activities or require workarounds while flighting in the Dev Channel. It is important to make sure you read the known issues listed in our blog posts as we document many of these issues with each flight. These builds are also not matched to a specific release. New features and OS improvements from these builds could show up in future Windows releases when they’re ready, and we may deliver them as full OS updates or servicing releases. Build numbers are higher in the Dev Channel than the Windows 11 preview builds in the Beta and Release Preview Channels. You will not be able to switch from the Dev Channel to the Beta or Release Preview Channels without doing a clean install back to the released version of Windows 11 currently. Are you not seeing any of the features listed for this build? Check your Windows Insider Settings to make sure you’re in the Dev Channel. Submit feedback here to let us know if things weren’t working the way you expected. The desktop watermark you see at the lower right corner of your desktop is normal for these pre-release builds.

Important Insider Links

Thanks, Amanda & Brandon Editor's note: We corrected missing words and updated the captions under the voice access section. 
Exit mobile version