Microsoft has made the ‘Moment 4’ update available to all Windows 11 users, bringing over 150 new tools to many parts of the operating system, including File Explorer, Snipping Tool and the taskbar.
It first issued the update in September as a staggered release, so not all users received every new tool. But it’s now available as the optional update KB5031455, which you can install by searching for and opening ‘Windows updates’ then clicking ‘Download and install’ or ‘Check for updates’.
Alternatively, you can install the update from the Microsoft Update Catalog (www.snipca. com/48094).
After installation you’ll be updated to build 22621.2506 of Windows 11 version 22H2.
The update is part of Microsoft’s ‘optional non-security preview updates’ schedule, so you don’t have to install it. However, it’s expected to be part of Microsoft’s next ‘Patch Tuesday’ compulsory security update, due on 14 November.
Use OCR in Snipping Tool
One of the standout features in Moment 4 lets you use optical character recognition (OCR) in Snipping Tool to extract text from screenshots and paste them into another program, such as Word. You can also redact email addresses and phone numbers so they’re obscured by black boxes (see screenshot 1 ).
Another addition is the Gallery view in File Explorer, which shows your most recently taken photos 2 . It’s the same view you see when you select All Photos in the Windows Photo app. If you’ve set OneDrive to save photos taken on your phone, these will show automatically in the Gallery.
Also new is the “never combined” mode for the taskbar, letting you see taskbar windows and their corresponding labels separately. To turn this on, open Settings, then click Personalisation, Taskbar, ‘Taskbar behaviours’ and change the ‘Combine taskbar buttons and hide labels’ dropdown menu to Never.
Other major changes in Moment 4 include the introduction of the Copilot AI tool (see Issue 669, page 60) and passkeys (see Cover Feature on page 50).
We’ll continue to reveal the new tools in Moment 4 – and the bigger 23H2 update expected in the next few weeks – in Make Windows Better (see page 46).
WHAT WE THINK
The Moment 4 update is
