Redesigned Windows 10 file explorer and start menu teased by Panos Panay

To celebrate the 1 billionth Windows 10 installation, Microsoft’s Chief Product Officer Panos Panay recently instagrammed a short video clip that previews some of the changes coming with a future Windows update. We already knew that MS intends to make a few changes for the start menu and we have seen some mock-ups for a fluent design file explorer as early as last year, but now we get an official sneak peek at how these will integrate with existent user interface elements.

The preview shows all new elements for the bright theme, as well as for the dark theme. Looking at the new KDE-inspired file explorer, the address bar appears to have been eliminated, and the sidebar features a more in-depth integration with OneDrive and even Google Drive. Microsoft said it will not completely remove the live tiles on the start menu, and we can see that these will be combined with other elements. There is also a short preview for new contextual menus that integrate a back button and Windows actions.

It is not yet clear when exactly we will see these new features. Back when the redesigned file explorer was leaked last year, there were rumors that it may be implemented in the spring 2020 feature update, but this is clearly not the case anymore, since these new features previewed by Panay are not yet available for the insider builds. There is still hope for the fall update, though.

Note: these features will come to Windows 10 and Windows 10X, that is why the video below mentions Windows 10X in the title.