Microsoft is finally modernizing Windows 11’s decades-old File Explorer features window with a new UI

For years, Microsoft has struggled with modernizing File Explorer in Windows. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Microsoft slowly introduce modern UI elements to the File Explorer interface. Areas like the top of the app, the Home page, and the details panel have been modernized with WinUI 3, but the rest of the app has remained largely untouched.

This means that the File Explorer experience is currently very fragmented, split between a decades-old interface design and a modern WinUI design. It looks like Microsoft is slowly moving to fix this, as evidence has already surfaced that the company plans to modernize a pretty big aspect of File Explorer.

First noted Phantomofearth on Blueskythe latest Windows 11 preview build includes a hidden modernized File Properties window that appears when you open properties on a file in the Recycle Bin. This is the only window revealed so far, but it’s clear that Microsoft plans to modernize the entire File Properties dialog soon.

This move is in line with Microsoft’s commitment to bringing WinUI to more areas of the Windows Shell. The company confirmed It plans to bring WinUI to the Start menu and out-of-the-box apps and experiences earlier this year, to streamline performance and design consistency across the entire Windows UI.