Hello Windows Insiders, As part of our ongoing effort to improve your experience with the Microsoft Photos app on Windows 11, we have some exciting updates to share. We listened to your feedback and made some changes to the Viewer and Media Import f

As part of our ongoing effort to improve your experience with the Microsoft Photos app on Windows 11, we have some exciting updates to share. We listened to your feedback and made some changes to the Viewer and Media Import features that we think you will love. We’re beginning to roll this update out to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev Channels. Here are some of the highlights of what’s new and improved.

Viewer & Import Enhancements

In this update, the Photos Viewer has been upgraded with a variety of new enhancements that will make your photo viewing more enjoyable and convenient.

  • Easy Access to Key Photos Actions: Important actions such as “Start slideshow” and “Share” are now right on the main viewing screen instead of hidden inside the overflow menu.
  • Dedicated section for Microsoft apps: We have grouped all the Microsoft apps shortcuts together so you can quickly and easily navigate to the full photo gallery from the viewer, open in Clipchamp or open in OneDrive.

Updated Photos Viewer showing improvements to the UI such as Slideshow and Share buttons exposed and grouping of Microsoft apps at the top.

Dynamic Zoom Slider: Rather than being limited to only pre-set image sizes, we’ve introduced a slider that lets you view your images anywhere from 10% to 800% of their original size. Effortlessly achieve your desired image size with our easy-to-use draggable slider, enabling precise adjustments for a better photo viewing experience.

Photo Metadata Information: The size and dimensions of your photos are now visibly displayed at the screen’s lower edge, fulfilling a feature many users have asked for.

Dynamic zoom slider and photo metadata information shown at the bottom of the Photos Viewer.

Device Import Options: We’ve introduced a new feature that lets you choose and manage when to begin transferring photos and videos from local devices at your convenience.

Import window with options for choosing and managing when to begin transferring photos and videos from local devices.

Viewer Performance: This release also comes with our new multi-process performance lifts that improve viewer load time by 2.1 times.

To get the latest Photos experience, update your app to version 2024.11060.20004.0 or higher. This update is currently rolling out, so it may not be available right away. We appreciate your comments and suggestions, so please share your feedback with us!

FEEDBACK: Please file feedback in Feedback Hub (WIN + F) under Apps > Photos.