Windows 11 build 23471 gets File Explorer tab merging, a redesigned network lock, and more

Microsoft has released a new Windows 11 build to Dev Channel Insiders. The new build, 23471, adds more features to the tabbed File Explorer and fixes bugs in it as well. It has a new Add Phone photos option in Gallery, a new redesigned Network flyout lock, and more. The full changelog is given below:

What’s new in Build 23471

Add Phone Photos in File Explorer Gallery

Accessing your phone’s camera roll from your PC is an important everyday task that is now easier with File Explorer Gallery. There is a new button in the Command Bar titled “Add Phone Photos” that will help with setting up your PC to be ready to show these photos in Gallery. Clicking this button today will open a URL with a QR code that you can scan with your phone to get started.

NOTE: Users may need to opt into OneDrive’s Insider Program to get a version of the OneDrive sync client that handles the protocol invoked when clicking this button. To join the OneDrive Insider Program, open OneDrive settings by bringing up the OneDrive flyout from the system tray; from there, navigate to the About page and turn on the toggle for the OneDrive Insider Program.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Files, Folders, and Online Storage > File Explorer.

Narrator natural voices in Spanish (Spain and Mexico)

We are introducing new natural voices in Spanish (Spain and Mexico) that allow Narrator users to comfortably browse the web, read, and write mail, and do more. Natural Narrator voices use modern, on-device text to speech and once downloaded are supported without an internet connection.

To use one of the natural voices, add it to your PC by following these steps:

1. Open Narrator Settings by pressing the WIN + Ctrl + N hotkey.
2. Under Narrator’s voice, select the Add button next to Add natural voices.
3. Select the voice you want to install. You can install all voices, but you must install them separately.

• The new Spanish (Spain) voices are Microsoft Alvaro and Microsoft Elvira.
• The new Spanish (Mexico) voices are Microsoft Jorge and Microsoft Dalia.

1. To start the download of the selected voice, select Install. The new voice will download and be ready for use in a few minutes, depending on your internet download speed.
2. When the new voice has downloaded, in Narrator settings select your preferred voice from the drop-down menu in Narrator’s voice > Choose a voice.

Note: If your display language is not set to Spanish , then in step 3 you will first need to select “Choose a different language” and then select the appropriate language followed by the specific voice.

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (Win + F) under Accessibility > Narrator.

Changes and Improvements

[Lock screen]

• We have updated the network flyout on the Lock screen to align with Windows 11 design principles.

[File Explorer]

• We are beginning to roll out the ability to tear out and merge tabs in File Explorer. This feature is beginning to roll out, so not all Insiders in the Dev Channel will see it right away.
• Gallery in File Explorer, which began rolling out with Build 23435, is now available for all Insiders in the Dev Channel.

[Settings]

• It is easier to control whether to use cellular when Wi-Fi is available but poor, using a new toggle which has been added to Settings > Network & Internet > Cellular.

Fixes

[File Explorer]

• Fixed an issue where pressing Shift + F10 wasn’t opening the context menu in File Explorer.
• Fixed an issue where access keys appeared inconsistently if no button was pressed.

We fixed the following issues for Insiders previewing the Windows App SDK version of File Explorer

• Fixed an issue that was causing explorer.exe to crash when opening the context menu for some Insiders. This same issue is believed to be the cause of some Insiders seeing an older design instead of the updated one.

We fixed the following issues for Insiders with Gallery in File Explorer:

• Fixed an explorer.exe crash in the last flight related to loading/interacting with the scrollbar in Gallery.
• Fixed an issue where Gallery may require clicking twice on the node in the navigation pane for initial load.
• Fixed an issue where minimizing and reopening File Explorer would lose your scroll position in Gallery.
• Hovering your mouse over pictures in Gallery should now show a tooltip with information about the picture.
• Live updates (including filtering) are now enabled and no longer require using the Refresh button manually.
• Fixed an issue where some file types (e.g., .heic) were not rendered correctly or performantly.

We fixed the following issues for Insiders with the modernized details pane in File Explorer:

• Made the background for thumbnails a little lighter in light mode so it doesn’t stand out as much.
• If you have Narrator running when you open the details pane, it should now announce the file name.
• If the setting to show file name extensions has been enabled, that will now be reflected in the details pane too.

[Taskbar]

• Fixed an issue that was causing the taskbar to get cut off when switching to and from the tablet-optimized taskbar.

[Search on the Taskbar]

• We have fixed the issue causing Insiders to see an empty tooltip displayed momentarily in certain cases including while the gleam is hovered if the new hover behavior for the search box and search highlight gleam is enabled.

[Other]

• Fixed an issue where Narrator with Braille support wasn’t reading numbered lists correctly in Microsoft 365 apps.

NOTE: Some fixes noted here in Insider Preview builds from the Dev Channel may make their way into the servicing updates for the released version of Windows 11.

Known issues

[Dev Drive]

• On a reboot, additional filters beyond AV might be attached to your Dev Drive. To check what filters are attached, please run ‘fsutil devdrv query :’ in Windows PowerShell. If you are seeing more than your AV filters, you can run ‘fsutil volume dismount :’ and then ‘fsutil devdrv query :’. After those steps, you should only see your AV filters.
• There might be variable performance on different hardware. If you notice slower performance on your machine, please file feedback!

[Search on the Taskbar]

• [NEW] Navigating the search flyout on the taskbar with the keyboard arrow keys will not work as expected.
• Narrator customers may not be able to navigate down the left side panel of the search flyout.
• Text scaling may not work in the search flyout.

[File Explorer]

• Insiders may experience a File Explorer crash when dragging the scroll bar or attempting to close the window during an extended file-loading process.

Insiders who have Gallery in File Explorer will see the following issues:

• Thumbnail loading performance for dehydrated cloud files and memory usage in large collections are known issues we are focused on improving. Please capture Performance traces in Feedback Hub for any performance-related issues. Rebuilding your Indexer can help if thumbnails are missing for cloud files; Search for “Indexing Options” and look in Advanced settings to find the rebuild tool.

Insiders will have issues with the following commands on recommended files in File Explorer:

• Clicking on the Share command will currently bring up the Windows share sheet (non-OneDrive).

[Taskbar & System Tray]

• The taskbar may not show the correct apps if you’re using multiple desktops.

[Notifications]

• The copy button for quickly copying two-factor authentication (2FA) codes in notification toasts (first introduced in Build 23403) is currently not working in this build. A fix is coming in a future flight.

[Backup and Restore]

• Backups of a PC that was set up using a restore may not show up in subsequent restores.
• Restore of solid colour desktop backgrounds are not yet supported.

You can find the official blog post here.

Windows 11 build 23471 gets File Explorer tab merging, a redesigned network lock, and more