- Trying to customize the Windows Widget panel is useful to make it fit what we want
- All 3 columns are available to Windows Insiders, on Canary and Dev Channel
- What are the steps to follow to activate them? Will they be official or just an experiment?
The Windows widget panel may not be the most important part of Microsoft’s operating system, but as you interact with it, it would be useful to try customizing it to fit what we want it to offer. For example, If you want to access more information about your system in less time, you should enable the 3-column widget panel in Windows 11 right now. because it will make you have more data in the same portion of the screen.
Generally speaking, a 3 column widget panel is more interesting than a 2 column widget panel. It seems that Redmond took note of the matter and therefore introduced a 3-column widget panel.
Although it is only available to a group of Windows Insiders on Canary and Dev Channel. Fortunately, as almost always, we have a trick that will allow you to enjoy it on your PC too.
Thanks to the procedure that we are going to teach you in the following article, you will be able to enable the 3-column panel even when you are not part of these programs, to obtain a view like the one in the image above.
How to enable the new widget panel in Windows 11?
ViveTool is a third-party app that helps you enable features that many regular users can’t use in Windows 11. In other words, this tool allows you to enable hidden features in Windows 11. At the time, we took advantage of it to activate the Windows 10X menu, an ultimately failed version of the OS
However, as time goes by and Windows continues to be updated, ViveTool keeps up with the environment, bringing us the latest news. They’re not always worth it, but the 3 column widget menu does.
Once you have successfully configured ViveTool on your PC, here are the steps to follow to enjoy it:
- Open Command Prompt with administrator rights
- Write the command cd C:ViVeTool and hit enter on the keyboard
- Copy and paste the command vivetool /enable /id:43028164 and press enter
- The Command Prompt will show “Successfully established function configuration(s)”
- Restart your PC for the changes to take effect
If the changes don’t take effect, or if you see a different message than what we just typed, something may be wrong. Just launch the widget panel from the taskbar to check if it now has 3 columns. If so, you will perceive that the amount of information to which you have access with a single click is much greater.
Is the widget panel available to other Insider channels?
Any features that Microsoft is testing in the Canary Channel build may or may not be available in other Insider channels. The new Widgets panel is no exception, but since Microsoft has officially confirmed that it will be available to more Insiders in the coming days, things are changing a bit.
The 3 column widget panel is likely to come to stable versions of Windows. Nothing bad.
Will the widget panel stay the same in the future?
If the rumors are true, the 3-column widget panel may eventually replace the 2-column one. Those who have already tried it within the official Microsoft programs were very appreciative of the novelty, suggesting that this will encourage North American developers to a final replacement.
The bad news is for those who prefer the 2-column widget panel, because both by enabling it via ViveTool and once it officially appears in Windows, the chances of getting it back will be very low.
In the best case, Windows should allow us to select the option that interests us.
Which of the Windows widget panels is your favourite? The one with 2 columns or the one with 3 columns?
