General settings for PowerToys

The General settings section of Microsoft PowerToys allows you to configure essential app behaviors including updates, administrator permissions, appearance themes, and startup options. These settings help you customize your PowerToys experience to match your Windows workflow preferences.

Version & updates

Here you can check for new updates, and if one is available, you can download and install it. You can also indicate whether updates should be downloaded automatically, if you want to be notified about new releases, and if the release notes should be displayed after an update.

Settings search

Use the search bar at the top of the settings window to quickly find specific settings or features within PowerToys. You can type keywords related to the setting you're looking for, and the results will filter in real-time as you type.

Select the desired setting from the filtered results to jump directly to it, or you can press Enter or select Show all results to see all results for the current search.

Shortcut conflict detection

PowerToys includes a feature to detect shortcut conflicts. If you have multiple PowerToys modules that use the same keyboard shortcut, the conflict detection feature will alert you so you can resolve the issue. When the PowerToys shortcut conflicts window appears, you can view all conflicting shortcuts. From this window, you can reassign shortcuts to resolve conflicts, choose to ignore specific conflicts, or remove shortcuts entirely.

Administrator mode

Read more about the administrator mode in the PowerToys running with administrator permissions section of the documentation.

Appearance & behavior

Application language

PowerToys will use the language of your Windows installation. If you want to change the language, you can select a different one from the dropdown menu. The change will take effect after you restart PowerToys.

App theme

Here you can set the theme of the PowerToys settings app and the PowerToys flyout: Dark, Light, or Windows default.

Run at startup

If activated, PowerToys will start automatically when you log in to Windows.

Show system tray icon

When activated, PowerToys shows an icon in the system tray area of the taskbar. You can use this icon to open the PowerToys settings app or the PowerToys flyout.

Back up & restore

Set a location where you want to save your PowerToys settings. You can also restore your settings from an existing backup.

Experimentation

Will activate experimentation with new features on Windows Insider builds, if available.

Diagnostics & feedback

Here you can enable or disable the collection of diagnostic data, which helps the PowerToys team to improve the app. You can also generate a bug report package to send to the PowerToys team and view your diagnostic data.

Install PowerToys

This utility is part of the Microsoft PowerToys utilities for power users. It provides a set of useful utilities to tune and streamline your Windows experience for greater productivity. To install PowerToys, see Installing PowerToys.