Personalization is the name of the game these days! The newly released Windows 11 build 22504 is filled to the brim with new options that let you customize various elements to your liking.
Elements like touch keyboard themes and input experiences like IMEs, emoji panels, and voice typing.
This is the final flight of the month, as Microsoft makes clear that another build will not land next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. Action will resume come December, which itself promises to be a slow month as we sign off the year.
However, build 22504 can be downloaded right now on devices enrolled in the Dev channel of the Windows Insider Program.
One of the biggest new changes is the expansion of the themes for the input experiences, as well as the ability to customize combinations of emoji faces and skin tones of family members, couples with hearts, kissing, and people holding hands.
We live in a society, after all!
The new theme engine also lets users create their own theme with a custom background image, in addition to the existing 13 themes. These new customization options are available under the new “Text Input” section under Settings > Personalization.
Redmond says it plans to roll out the new theme customization options for Insiders in stages, as it wants to collect feedback and only then decide if these features are reliable enough for broader availability in the Insider program.
Build 22504 is also high on other changes that fix various bugs and reported issues in the operating system. The full changelog is available at the link above, sorted by changes, improvements, fixes, and known issues.
Microsoft adds that some of the fixes noted here could be included in the GA version of Windows 11 21H2, which is now publicly available.
