{"slug": "powertoys", "name": "PowerToys", "category": "productivity", "category_name": "Productivity", "description": "Microsoft's free, open-source collection of utilities that extend Windows for power users.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 5.666, "rising": 0.69, "first": "2025-11-08", "latest": "2026-10-30", "why": "Liked as a bundle of useful Windows utilities, especially the Alt+Space command bar, FancyZones window management and Find My Mouse.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 6, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Utility collection", "Command bar"], "caveat": "Windows only", "short_quote": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["PowerToys"], "verdict": [{"text": "Liked as a bundle of useful Windows utilities,", "cites": [{"id": 739194768, "item_id": 46199673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46199673", "by": "wormius", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it).", "excerpt": "They still make it. Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it). Here's the link to the current version for modern systems: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Download Center Archive"}, {"id": 790657344, "item_id": 49416084, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416084", "by": "tobinfekkes", "date": "2026-08-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Also available natively to the OS (Windows) with PowerToys", "excerpt": "Also available natively to the OS (Windows) with PowerToys, if you want an alternative to a browser extension. One of the unsung heroes of that library. Jury is still out on which is more trustworthy handling any personal data, Microsoft or Google. Neither.", "context": "", "use_case": "OCR text extraction", "switched_from": "", "story": "OCR It \u2013 pull text out of un-copyable documents for your LLM"}, {"id": 774567233, "item_id": 48410452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "by": "epolanski", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Power Toys, WSL, a great Terminal, it's an okay machine to develop", "excerpt": "Also lack of specific software on the Linux side. Adobe suite (I used Figma and Adobe tools in my webdev career), PDF editing is a huge issue and lackluster on Linux, most of the office suite is not available natively on Linux (no, there's no valid replacements when your company is deep into VBA tooling, etc), PowerBI, but also many specific internal tools that many businesses have and have been developed as Windows-", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "use_case": "Windows utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}]}, {"text": " especially the Alt+Space command bar, FancyZones window management and Find My Mouse.", "cites": [{"id": 795299248, "item_id": 49706203, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706203", "by": "qsi", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "excerpt": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows app search / launcher", "switched_from": "Windows Search", "story": "iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27"}, {"id": 776479424, "item_id": 48529964, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48529964", "by": "thewebguyd", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like Windows, in terms of the desktop UX (with PowerToys).", "excerpt": "> usable Not just usable, but respectful. I like Windows, in terms of the desktop UX (with PowerToys). There are some pretty nice features, and the window management w/ FancyZones beats the pants off whatever the hell macOS is doing (I use a macbook pro for work, the window management is atrocious without numerous third party utilities). But the bigger problem is, Windows does not respect you. It deliberately ignores", "context": "uses a MacBook Pro for work", "use_case": "Windows desktop UX", "switched_from": "", "story": "You need to stop using Windows 11 [video][14 mins]"}, {"id": 733804144, "item_id": 45862759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45862759", "by": "vismit2000", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Windows Powertoys (particularly Find my mouse spotlight mode for presentation by pressing Ctrl twice)", "excerpt": "The ease of Windows Clipboard with Win+V; Windows Powertoys (particularly Find my mouse spotlight mode for presentation by pressing Ctrl twice)", "context": "", "use_case": "Find my mouse for presentations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Windows/Linux software that has no real equivalent on macOS?"}]}, {"text": " The main limit raised is that it stays on Windows;", "cites": [{"id": 804930641, "item_id": 50308165, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308165", "by": "Mujtaba1i", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux", "excerpt": "Hello everyone, I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux, i have taken a look at the popular color pickers, some didn't work on Wayland, other lacked features powertoys had, so i made one and I'm here to share it You can pick any pixel with a 10\u00d7 magnifier (live on X11, freeze-frame on Wayland) A color card showing your first format on the color itself, with its name You can search colors by ", "context": "", "use_case": "color picker", "switched_from": "", "story": "Archtoys \u2013 a fast, PowerToys-style color picker for Linux (Rust and Slint)"}]}, {"text": " one commenter missed its color picker after switching to Linux and found Linux alternatives lacking.", "cites": [{"id": 804930641, "item_id": 50308165, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308165", "by": "Mujtaba1i", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux", "excerpt": "Hello everyone, I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux, i have taken a look at the popular color pickers, some didn't work on Wayland, other lacked features powertoys had, so i made one and I'm here to share it You can pick any pixel with a 10\u00d7 magnifier (live on X11, freeze-frame on Wayland) A color card showing your first format on the color itself, with its name You can search colors by ", "context": "", "use_case": "color picker", "switched_from": "", "story": "Archtoys \u2013 a fast, PowerToys-style color picker for Linux (Rust and Slint)"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Utility collection", "summary": "Commenters value it as a set of handy tools that make Windows more pleasant to use and develop on.", "quotes": [{"id": 739194768, "item_id": 46199673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46199673", "by": "wormius", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it).", "excerpt": "They still make it. Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it). Here's the link to the current version for modern systems: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Download Center Archive"}, {"id": 790657344, "item_id": 49416084, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416084", "by": "tobinfekkes", "date": "2026-08-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Also available natively to the OS (Windows) with PowerToys", "excerpt": "Also available natively to the OS (Windows) with PowerToys, if you want an alternative to a browser extension. One of the unsung heroes of that library. Jury is still out on which is more trustworthy handling any personal data, Microsoft or Google. Neither.", "context": "", "use_case": "OCR text extraction", "switched_from": "", "story": "OCR It \u2013 pull text out of un-copyable documents for your LLM"}, {"id": 774567233, "item_id": 48410452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "by": "epolanski", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Power Toys, WSL, a great Terminal, it's an okay machine to develop", "excerpt": "Also lack of specific software on the Linux side. Adobe suite (I used Figma and Adobe tools in my webdev career), PDF editing is a huge issue and lackluster on Linux, most of the office suite is not available natively on Linux (no, there's no valid replacements when your company is deep into VBA tooling, etc), PowerBI, but also many specific internal tools that many businesses have and have been developed as Windows-", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "use_case": "Windows utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}]}, {"label": "Command bar", "summary": "The Alt+Space command bar is described as much better than Windows Search.", "quotes": [{"id": 795299248, "item_id": 49706203, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706203", "by": "qsi", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "excerpt": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows app search / launcher", "switched_from": "Windows Search", "story": "iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27"}]}, {"label": "Window management", "summary": "FancyZones window management is said to beat macOS's built-in window handling.", "quotes": [{"id": 776479424, "item_id": 48529964, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48529964", "by": "thewebguyd", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like Windows, in terms of the desktop UX (with PowerToys).", "excerpt": "> usable Not just usable, but respectful. I like Windows, in terms of the desktop UX (with PowerToys). There are some pretty nice features, and the window management w/ FancyZones beats the pants off whatever the hell macOS is doing (I use a macbook pro for work, the window management is atrocious without numerous third party utilities). But the bigger problem is, Windows does not respect you. It deliberately ignores", "context": "uses a MacBook Pro for work", "use_case": "Windows desktop UX", "switched_from": "", "story": "You need to stop using Windows 11 [video][14 mins]"}]}, {"label": "Find My Mouse", "summary": "Its spotlight mode, triggered by pressing Ctrl twice, is useful for presentations.", "quotes": [{"id": 733804144, "item_id": 45862759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45862759", "by": "vismit2000", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Windows Powertoys (particularly Find my mouse spotlight mode for presentation by pressing Ctrl twice)", "excerpt": "The ease of Windows Clipboard with Win+V; Windows Powertoys (particularly Find my mouse spotlight mode for presentation by pressing Ctrl twice)", "context": "", "use_case": "Find my mouse for presentations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Windows/Linux software that has no real equivalent on macOS?"}]}, {"label": "Color picker", "summary": "Its color picker was missed enough that a former user built a Linux replacement.", "quotes": [{"id": 804930641, "item_id": 50308165, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308165", "by": "Mujtaba1i", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux", "excerpt": "Hello everyone, I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux, i have taken a look at the popular color pickers, some didn't work on Wayland, other lacked features powertoys had, so i made one and I'm here to share it You can pick any pixel with a 10\u00d7 magnifier (live on X11, freeze-frame on Wayland) A color card showing your first format on the color itself, with its name You can search colors by ", "context": "", "use_case": "color picker", "switched_from": "", "story": "Archtoys \u2013 a fast, PowerToys-style color picker for Linux (Rust and Slint)"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Windows only", "summary": "A user who moved to Linux missed the color picker, and Linux alternatives didn't match its features.", "quotes": [{"id": 804930641, "item_id": 50308165, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308165", "by": "Mujtaba1i", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux", "excerpt": "Hello everyone, I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux, i have taken a look at the popular color pickers, some didn't work on Wayland, other lacked features powertoys had, so i made one and I'm here to share it You can pick any pixel with a 10\u00d7 magnifier (live on X11, freeze-frame on Wayland) A color card showing your first format on the color itself, with its name You can search colors by ", "context": "", "use_case": "color picker", "switched_from": "", "story": "Archtoys \u2013 a fast, PowerToys-style color picker for Linux (Rust and Slint)"}]}], "who": [{"by": "thewebguyd", "context": "uses a MacBook Pro for work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48529964", "date": "2026-06-14"}, {"by": "epolanski", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "date": "2026-06-05"}], "tags": ["for Windows users", "for developers", "for presenters"], "use_cases": ["windows utilities", "color picker", "windows app search / launcher", "ocr text extraction", "windows desktop ux", "find my mouse for presentations"], "compared": [{"slug": "macos", "name": "macOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "windows", "name": "Windows", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308164", "title": "Archtoys \u2013 a fast, PowerToys-style color picker for Linux (Rust and Slint)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49701004", "title": "iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49415852", "title": "OCR It \u2013 pull text out of un-copyable documents for your LLM", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48527550", "title": "You need to stop using Windows 11 [video][14 mins]", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48403377", "title": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46166178", "title": "Microsoft Download Center Archive", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 1}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 804930641, "item_id": 50308165, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308165", "by": "Mujtaba1i", "date": "2026-10-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux", "excerpt": "Hello everyone, I've been missing powertoys color picker when i switched to Linux, i have taken a look at the popular color pickers, some didn't work on Wayland, other lacked features powertoys had, so i made one and I'm here to share it You can pick any pixel with a 10\u00d7 magnifier (live on X11, freeze-frame on Wayland) A color card showing your first format on the color itself, with its name You can search colors by ", "context": "", "use_case": "color picker", "switched_from": "", "story": "Archtoys \u2013 a fast, PowerToys-style color picker for Linux (Rust and Slint)"}, {"id": 795299248, "item_id": 49706203, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706203", "by": "qsi", "date": "2026-09-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "excerpt": "On Windows I use PowerToys' Alt+Space command bar which does a much better job. In fact, it's the only search I use on Windows.", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows app search / launcher", "switched_from": "Windows Search", "story": "iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27"}, {"id": 790657344, "item_id": 49416084, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49416084", "by": "tobinfekkes", "date": "2026-08-24", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Also available natively to the OS (Windows) with PowerToys", "excerpt": "Also available natively to the OS (Windows) with PowerToys, if you want an alternative to a browser extension. One of the unsung heroes of that library. Jury is still out on which is more trustworthy handling any personal data, Microsoft or Google. Neither.", "context": "", "use_case": "OCR text extraction", "switched_from": "", "story": "OCR It \u2013 pull text out of un-copyable documents for your LLM"}, {"id": 776479424, "item_id": 48529964, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48529964", "by": "thewebguyd", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I like Windows, in terms of the desktop UX (with PowerToys).", "excerpt": "> usable Not just usable, but respectful. I like Windows, in terms of the desktop UX (with PowerToys). There are some pretty nice features, and the window management w/ FancyZones beats the pants off whatever the hell macOS is doing (I use a macbook pro for work, the window management is atrocious without numerous third party utilities). But the bigger problem is, Windows does not respect you. It deliberately ignores", "context": "uses a MacBook Pro for work", "use_case": "Windows desktop UX", "switched_from": "", "story": "You need to stop using Windows 11 [video][14 mins]"}, {"id": 774567233, "item_id": 48410452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48410452", "by": "epolanski", "date": "2026-06-05", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Power Toys, WSL, a great Terminal, it's an okay machine to develop", "excerpt": "Also lack of specific software on the Linux side. Adobe suite (I used Figma and Adobe tools in my webdev career), PDF editing is a huge issue and lackluster on Linux, most of the office suite is not available natively on Linux (no, there's no valid replacements when your company is deep into VBA tooling, etc), PowerBI, but also many specific internal tools that many businesses have and have been developed as Windows-", "context": "webdev career, uses Windows for work", "use_case": "Windows utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "WSL 2 is getting faster Windows file system access"}, {"id": 739194768, "item_id": 46199673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46199673", "by": "wormius", "date": "2025-12-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it).", "excerpt": "They still make it. Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it). Here's the link to the current version for modern systems: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/", "context": "", "use_case": "Windows utilities", "switched_from": "", "story": "Microsoft Download Center Archive"}, {"id": 733804144, "item_id": 45862759, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45862759", "by": "vismit2000", "date": "2025-11-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Windows Powertoys (particularly Find my mouse spotlight mode for presentation by pressing Ctrl twice)", "excerpt": "The ease of Windows Clipboard with Win+V; Windows Powertoys (particularly Find my mouse spotlight mode for presentation by pressing Ctrl twice)", "context": "", "use_case": "Find my mouse for presentations", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Windows/Linux software that has no real equivalent on macOS?"}]}