As if anyone expected anything different! Earlier in the year, Microsoft announced a number of new features coming to Windows 11 as part of the 2022 update that is now in final testing.
Among them was an integration of tabs in File Explorer, which was one of the most significant additions to the default file manager in the operating system in years — if not decades. Tabs and a new home view are the two new changes to an app that has largely remained unchanged.
At least since the release of Windows 8.
The idea behind this small new feature is to allow you to easily work on multiple folders and directories in a single File Explorer window.
Insiders have been testing this new feature for a while now, some lucky few.
This recently changed, as Microsoft has now started pushing the tabbed File Explorer to everyone in the preview program. But even then, this new option is yet to arrive for folks in the production channel, which can only mean one thing.
That being, Microsoft is preparing the feature for a release sometime in the fall of 2022.
Reports suggest that Windows 11 version 22H2 will land in the last week of September, ahead of a wider rollout in October or November. With that in mind, it is becoming clear that File Explorer tabs will not arrive with this first major feature update for the operating system.
In fact, tabs support is currently missing in the RTM build of Windows 11 22H2. The recent changes to File Explorer are all about polishing and fixing a variety of bugs and glitches, including one where folders were suddenly duplicated.
So, what is going on?
All this is a clear indication that this feature will arrive at a later date.
It is very likely that Microsoft plans to turn on the integration of tabs in File Explorer via a cumulative update of some sort after the launch of Windows 11 version 22H2. They will quite possibly arrive at a later date, after thorough testing and polish, before the year is out.
This is a bit of a bummer, all things considered, but quite in line with expectations.
It would have been great if File Explorer tabs had been the marquee new feature in Windows 11 version 22H2, the OS’s first-anniversary update.
But it is what it is!
