Microsoft wants to give Command Palette a more visible place in Windows. The menu bar provides quick access to commands, tools and system resources.
Will Windows soon get an extra menu bar? Microsoft’s PowerToys team has developed a new interface that you can place at the top of your screen as a second taskbar. The menu bar serves as a visual extension of the Command Palette announced last year: the spiritual successor to PowerToy Run and the Windows counterpart to Spotlight in macOS.
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The menu bar would give you quick access to Command Palette functions. The Command Palette can now only be called up via the PowerToys app. In the menu bar, you can place shortcuts to developer tools, commands or monitoring system resources, among other things. Similar to how the classic taskbar gives you quick access to Windows apps.
Customize it yourself
You can customize the menu bar and place it where you want, says Microsoft developer Niels Laute on GitHub. For example, the menu bar does not even have to be at the top of your screen. In addition, you will also be able to freely adjust the background, style and theme, and pin and rearrange extensions.
“The dock is designed to be highly configurable. It can be placed at the top, left, right, or bottom of the screen, and extensions can be attached to three different parts of the dock: beginning, middle, and end,” says Laute.
For the sake of clarity, this is still an experimental feature. Microsoft offers a first test version via GitHub, which users can import into Visual Studio. The feedback on this preview will determine whether Microsoft will continue the development of the Command Palette menu bar.