PowerToys 0.97.0 released
Microsoft has recently released PowerToys 0.97.0, a significant update that focuses on new features, stability improvements, optimization tweaks, and automation enhancements.
A standout change is the refreshed Command Palette. Beyond just being a new version, it now includes a dedicated Personalization page. This lets users get creative with the interface, adding background images and custom color tints to make it their own. More control often means more enjoyment, right?
If you utilize the search feature in the palette, you'll find a valuable addition: a fallback ranking system for results. Therefore, if your most likely command falls short or isn't immediately apparent, this feature automatically surfaces better options.
For direct management within the Command Palette itself, they've added a built-in extension specifically for Light Switch. This makes toggling that feature easy without needing to jump out of it.
Another helpful tool is CursorWrap. Designed for people using multiple monitors, it prevents your cursor from jumping across screens when you're moving between areas. Just let it wrap around the edges of the active display smoothly – a definite timesaver if you have more than one monitor setup.
PowerToys' command-line utility support gets even better here. Enhanced CLI integration makes automating tasks and managing workflows smoother for advanced users who prefer scripting over point-and-click.
Light Switch now synchronizes its theme with Night Light mode, which makes visual sense in certain conditions and may reduce eye strain.
Beyond the big feature additions, there are solid improvements elsewhere. Find My Mouse now renders spotlight edges a bit clearer visually, and Advanced Paste adds support for image input when doing AI transformations.
They've also tackled bugs: grammar fixes in AI settings descriptions help clear things up, background images load correctly again (I guess they were too cool for school?), and Command Palette items can be moved via drag-and-drop now. There's even a PowerToys extension to make discovering these utilities easier directly in the palette.
The documentation got an update too, Light Switch’s docs clarify what those two service classes actually do, which is helpful understanding rather than just knowing there are things called that.
Mouse Without Borders continues its internal refactoring work, likely making it more maintainable. Peek has improved with safer external link warnings and better SVG preview compatibility using WebView2.
PowerRename now handles file renaming tasks involving HEIF or AVIF image EXIF data properly, good for batch processing images if needed. It also fixes some quirks related to undefined behavior in handling certain time formats, optimizes memory use based on rename depth calculations, and corrects Unicode normalization issues, which can trip up string comparisons.
Let's not forget the PowerToys Run Plugins themselves. The Project Launcher is now properly listed as third-party software alongside its usual partners, keeping things transparent.
Quick Accent got localized quotation marks added, which is useful depending on your language settings or keyboard layout preferences for typing accents quickly. It also fixed some duplicate characters in their character sets and resolved a couple of Find My Mouse/Find My Cursor-related issues across the board, with DPI handling specifically mentioned.
And there's always that list: They addressed hotkey conflicts more intelligently when updating settings, improved the tray icon to change themes automatically (much like Light Switch now), streamlined module enable/disable logic centrally, added better structure for utilities using semantic headings, which helps accessibility tools out, and even fixed broken developer documentation links. Plus various performance tweaks sprinkled throughout.
You can check all these details in full via the official release notes link provided below:
Release PowerToys v0.97.0
In the v0.97 release cycle, we focused on new features, stability, optimization improvements, and automation.
