Microsoft’s PowerToys team is considering making a top menu bar for Windows 11 like Linux, macOS or older versions of Windows. The Menu Bar, or Command Palette Dock as Microsoft calls it, will be a new alternative UI that provides quick access to tools, monitoring system resources, and more.
Microsoft has provided concept images of what it wants to create, and is seeking feedback on whether Windows users would use the PowerToy this way. “The Dock is designed to be highly configurable,” explains Niels Lotte, senior product manager at Microsoft. “It can be positioned at the top, left, right, or bottom edge of the screen, and the extension can be pinned to three different areas of the Dock: start, center, and end.”
If Microsoft goes ahead and builds this Dock, it will also include customization options to change the background, styling, and overall theme. You’ll also be able to easily reorder extensions between different dock areas and pin them independently.
The dock is designed to complement Microsoft’s existing work with its Command Palette Launcher that the company launched last year. The Command Palette is similar to Apple’s Spotlight in macOS, allowing you to quickly access commands, apps, and development tools.
Microsoft is currently seeking feedback on this proposal, and developers can experiment with an early version of it by importing a project from Microsoft’s PowerToys GitHub repository into Visual Studio.
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