Windows 10: Windows 11 adds a full screen button to the Widgets board in the stable channel

Microsoft is rolling out support for full screen view for the Widgets panel in the stable version of Windows 11. The feature which was first introduced in the Dev Channel about 4 months ago, now works in Windows 11 22H2.



Windows 11 adds full screen mode for the Widgets board


Click on the Widgets button to open the panel, and you should see an "Expand to Full View" button in the top right corner. Hit it to switch to full screen mode. This allows the app to display more articles on the screen. You can still scroll down the panel to view other news, widgets that you have not pinned to the top.



Windows remembers your preferred view style, so if you enabled full screen mode and click away from the panel, and re-open it later, the Widgets are displayed in full screen view. Click on the button again to return to the regular mode, which Windows calls as "Collapse to Half View".

It kind of looks like Windows 8's Start Menu, doesn't it? When enabled, the animation for the Widgets panel no longer rolls in from the left edge of the screen, the new mode instead switches to a regular window style in the center of your display. While it is called full screen view, it still has plenty of empty space on the sides. That said, this really depends on your monitor's size, it looks a little better on my laptop.



Notable tipster, PhantomOfEarth, mentions that full screen widgets were enabled in the latest version of the Windows Web Experience Pack 423.2300.0.0. You can update to it from the Microsoft Store > Library page. To check the version that you have, click on your profile picture in the Widgets panel, it will open a pop-up that has the version number in the bottom right corner of the window.



I'm not a huge fan of the Widgets panel, or its Taskbar icon for that matter. But it's nice to see improvements for it, though I feel it still pulls feeds randomly. Personalizing your feed takes a lot of clicks, it is actually quite cumbersome. And it doesn't really work either. I have deselected nearly everything in the My Interests page, and yet the Widgets panel continuously shoves things like eSports, random articles about celebrities instead of the tech news and sports, that I had opted for. I don't really care about trending news or recommended articles, aka Discover Interests, or the annoying notifications.

The top half of the Widgets board mostly has the topics that I'm interested in, but as I scroll down, it practically becomes irrelevant. Wouldn't it be better if it had an option to only display feeds from specific sites, like what an RSS reader can do? That would convince me to actually use the panel for more things than to just check the weather info and the sports scores. Things could change further, as Microsoft is experimenting with new header styles for the Widgets board.

If you don't like it, just disable Widgets in Windows 11 from the Taskbar Settings, or uninstall it completely.

Microsoft recently introduced support for third-party apps to display Widgets in the Windows 11 Dev Channel, this could have a big impact on the feature. We'll need to wait for developers to create widgets for their apps, and who knows, this could become a useful tool to have.

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Widgets in Windows 11

One of the new features in Windows 11 is Widgets, coined by Microsoft as a place for content and entertainment where you can see information at one go. Widgets feature is the next evolution of the News and Interests feature that was introduced with Windows 10, where you can quickly check News, Calendar, weather, etc, without interrupting your workflow.





How to use Widgets in Windows 11

To invoke the widgets screen, simply press Win+W keys on the keyboard. You can also press the

button on the Taskbar.

Available Widgets in Windows 11

There are multiple widgets in Windows 11 that are available, and the list would be updated over time. As of now, the following Widgets are available:

• Weather: As the name suggests, it allows you to see the weather in your area. Clicking at the three dots menu to customize and resize the widget. Unlike Windows 10, you cannot see Temperature on the taskbar though.
  
• News: This widget shows News, which is powered by MSN, just like News and Interests in Windows 10.
  
• Outlook: To see your upcoming events added to your Calender of Microsoft account.
  
• Stock Watchlist/Movers: This widget is for stocks that you wish to watch. To add a stock to the watchlist, click the 3 dots menu and click customize.
  
• Photos: Photos widget shows the recent photos from your Microsoft Account synced to Onedrive.
  
• Windows 11 Tips: This widget gives tips regarding Windows 11.
  
• To do: The to-do widget helps you in Tasks management, synced to your Microsoft Account.
  
• Family Safety: This widget is helpful for those who have added a Child to their Family. It allows you to see recent activity from members of your Microsoft family group.
  
• Traffic: To see Traffic in your area - Location access must be given.
  
• Sports: The Sports widgets show live scores of the sports you are interested in.
  
• Office 365 for Enterprise customers only: This widget brings relevant documents, news, and meeting recordings to enterprise users. This widget will only be available if you are signed in with your AAD account on your PC running Windows 11.
  
• Entertainment: Only available in US, UK, CA, DE, FR, AU, JP.
  

The top bar has a web search option as well, which allows you to quickly search if you want.

Customize Widgets

To customize the Widgets screen, click your profile picture at the top right to open Widget Settings.





If you want to customize the news, you need to open MSN settings, which are located on this page. MSN News is now referred to as Microsoft Start.

Microsoft Start (msn.com)

Common questions Regarding Widget Board:

1. Widget opens Microsoft Edge instead of my browser for Settings: This is by design. Like News and Interests, Widgets settings and everything else open in Microsoft Edge instead of your default browser.
   

• Can I add multiple accounts in the Calendar widget: You cannot add multiple accounts as of now.
  
• Can I add 3rd party widgets: No, as of now 3rd party widgets are not supported.
  
• Cannot remove a Stock from the watchlist widget: This is by design. Microsoft is looking into it.
  
• Watchlist Widget does not sync with MSN watchlist: This is by design. You need to create a separate watchlist.
  
• Make the widget board full screen: It is not supported yet.
  

Troubleshooting Windows 11 widgets

At certain times, the Widgets feature may not work properly. In that case, the following troubleshooting may help:

Reinstall Windows Web Experience pack: Microsoft delivers content in Widgets through an app from Microsoft Store, called Windows web experience pack. Basically, this app is responsible for web content inside the Operating system. If WWEP is missing, the Widgets feature would disappear. If this is the case for you, please perform the steps below:

• Right-click Start>Windows Powershell(admin).
  
• Type the following command to remove traces of the Windows web experience pack: winget uninstall "windows web experience pack"
  
• Wait for the process to complete. When it is done, go to the following page
  
• Windows Web Experience pack from Microsoft Store.
  
• Click Get>Install.
  
• When the installation is complete, restart your computer and see if the issue is resolved.
  

Reinstall Edge Webview2: Widgets board uses EdgeWebView2 to render content. If in case the same is crashing, you can try reinstalling the EdgeWebView2 component from here. Choose Standalone installer. Also, make sure Edge is installed on the machine.

• Webview2 - Microsoft Edge Developer
  

Reinstall Display drivers: In certain scenarios, the display driver may be causing issues for the Widget board to load. Please try reinstalling them from the manufacturer and try again. Make sure to install the latest ones. For troubleshooting purposes, you can remove the display driver and see if the widget board opens with the basic display driver.

Check Microsoft Store for available updates: Make sure all the apps, specifically the Web experience pack and else are updated in the Microsoft Store.

To send Feedback about Widget features to the Windows team, press Windows key+F. The relevant category is Desktop environment>Widgets.

You can know more about Widgets in this video:



Also read:

• Repair Install Windows 11 using an ISO file (yourwindowsguide.com)
  
• Windows 11: FAQ (microsoft.com)
  
• How to: Use Snap Layouts and Snap groups in Windows 11 (microsoft.com)
  
• Check Windows 11 compatibility using these tools - Your Windows Guide
  
• How to change the default apps in Windows 11? - Your Windows Guide
  

Sumit (@_sumitdhiman) / Twitter

 

How do I remove the MLB widget from Windows 11

Hi Ken. I'm Greg, 10 years awarded Windows MVP, specializing in Installation, Performance, Troubleshooting and Activation, here to help you.

Here's all possible ways to Add or Remove Widgets in Windows 11, enable or disable the feature:

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/add-or-remove-wid...

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/add-or-remove-wid...

https://www.elevenforum.com/t/enable-or-disable...

I hope this helps. Feel free to ask back any questions. Please report back results for all steps given so I know what else to suggest if necessary.

______________________________

Linked tutorial is from a trusted Microsoft MVP

 

Microsoft To Do iOS 14 widgets are now available

Source: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...e/ba-p/2118825