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* Getting ready for v0.15 update for readme.

* getting ready for 0.15

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# Overview

<img align="right" width="200" src="./doc/images/Logo.jpg">
<img align="right" width="200" src="./doc/images/Logo.jpg" />

PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. Inspired by the [Windows 95 era PowerToys project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerToys), this reboot provides power users with ways to squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customize it for individual workflows. A great overview of the Windows 95 PowerToys can be found [here](https://socket3.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/using-windows-95-powertoys/).
Microsoft PowerToys is a set of utilities for power users to tune and streamline their Windows experience for greater productivity. Inspired by the [Windows 95 era PowerToys project](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerToys), this reboot provides power users with ways to squeeze more efficiency out of the Windows 10 shell and customize it for individual workflows. A great overview of the Windows 95 PowerToys can be found [here](https://socket3.wordpress.com/2016/10/22/using-windows-95-powertoys/).

## Build Status

[![Build Status](https://dev.azure.com/ms/PowerToys/_apis/build/status/microsoft.PowerToys?branchName=master)](https://dev.azure.com/ms/PowerToys/_build?definitionId=35096)

## Installation
## Installing and running Microsoft PowerToys

_**Note:** in order to run PowerToys, you'll need to be running at least Windows build 17134 or higher._
> 👉 **Note:** Microsoft PowerToys requires Windows 10 1803 (build 17134) or later.
The latest release of PowerToys can be downloaded currently a few different ways. Our current recommended way is via GitHub.
> 👉 **Upgrading to 0.15:** You need to reapply your zone layout for FancyZones. Don't worry, your custom zone sets are preserved.
| x64 | x86 | ARM |
|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| [Supported](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases) | [Issue #602](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/602) | [Issue #490](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/490)|
### Via Github with MSI [Recommended]

### GitHub
Install from the [Microsoft PowerToys GitHub releases page][github-release-link]. Click on `Assets` to show the files available in the release and then click on `PowerToysSetup-0.15.0-x64.msi` to download the PowerToys installer.

The preview of these utilities can be installed from the [PowerToys GitHub releases page](https://github.com/Microsoft/powertoys/releases). Click on `Assets` to show the files available in the release and then click on `PowerToysSetup.msi` to download the PowerToys installer. <br />
PDB symbols for the release are available in a separate zip file `PDB symbols.zip`.
This is our preferred method.

### Microsoft Store
### Other install methods

#### Via GitHub with MSIX - ⚠ Experimental ⚠

On backlog, [Issue #413](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/413)
The experimental version of PowerToys using MSIX is available. It can be installed from the [PowerToys GitHub releases page][github-release-link].

### Chocolatey (Unofficial)
Click on `Assets` to show the files available in the release and then click on `PowerToysSetup-MSIX-0.15.0.zip` to download the PowerToys installer zip. From there, please read the ReadMe and you can double click to install the MSIX file.

Download and upgrade PowerToys from [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org).
##### Known issues with MSIX Build

To install PowerToys, run the following command from the command line or from PowerShell:
- For PowerRename, you may need to restart your machine to get this to work for the first time.

#### Via Chocolatey - ⚠ Unofficial ⚠

Download and upgrade PowerToys from [Chocolatey](https://chocolatey.org). If you have any issues when installing/upgrading the package please go to the [package page](https://chocolatey.org/packages/powertoys) and follow the [Chocolatey triage process](https://chocolatey.org/docs/package-triage-process)

To install PowerToys, run the following command from the command line / PowerShell:

```powershell
choco install powertoys
```

To upgrade PowerToys, run the following command from the command line or from PowerShell:
To upgrade PowerToys, run the following command from the command line / PowerShell:

```powershell
choco upgrade powertoys
```

If you have any issues when installing/upgrading the package please go to the [package page](https://chocolatey.org/packages/powertoys) and follow the [Chocolatey triage process](https://chocolatey.org/docs/package-triage-process)

## PowerToy Utilities

### FancyZones

[FancyZones](/src/modules/fancyzones/) - FancyZones is a window manager that makes it easy to create complex window layouts and quickly position windows into those layouts. The FancyZones backlog can be found [here](https://github.com/Microsoft/PowerToys/tree/master/doc/planning/FancyZonesBacklog.md)

### Shortcut

[Windows key shortcut guide](/src/modules/shortcut_guide) - The shortcut guide appears when a user holds the Windows key down for more than one second and shows the available shortcuts for the current state of the desktop. The shortcut guide backlog can be found [here](https://github.com/Microsoft/PowerToys/tree/master/doc/planning/ShortcutGuideBacklog.md)

### PowerRename

[PowerRename](/src/modules/powerrename) - PowerRename is a Windows Shell Extension for advanced bulk renaming using search and replace or regular expressions. PowerRename allows simple search and replace or more advanced regular expression matching. While you type in the search and replace input fields, the preview area will show what the items will be renamed to. PowerRename then calls into the Windows Explorer file operations engine to perform the rename. This has the benefit of allowing the rename operation to be undone after PowerRename exits.

Chris Davis contributed his [SmartRename tool](https://github.com/chrdavis/SmartRename) into PowerToys!

![SmartRename](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/raw/master/src/modules/powerrename/images/PowerRenameDemo.gif)

## What's Happening

### December Update
### Microsoft Store

We're planning to ship 0.14 before December with a handful of key bug fixes from the community. After that 0.15 will bring .msix installer support and deployment and automatic updates from the Windows Store and 0.16 will add support for X86 and ARM64 processors (including the Surface Pro X).
On backlog, [Issue #413](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/413)

## Developer Guidance
### Processor support

### Build Prerequisites
We currently support the matrix below. Adding MSIX support will make supporting x86 and ARM much easier.

* Windows 10 1803 (build 10.0.17134.0) or above to build and run PowerToys.
* Visual Studio 2019 Community edition or higher, with the 'Desktop Development with C++' component and the Windows 10 SDK version 10.0.18362.0 or higher.
| x64 | x86 | ARM |
|:---:|:---:|:---:|
| [Install][github-release-link] | [Issue #602](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/602) | [Issue #490](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/issues/490)|

### Building the Code
## Current PowerToy Utilities

* Open `powertoys.sln` in Visual Studio, in the `Solutions Configuration` drop-down menu select `Release` or `Debug`, from the `Build` menu choose `Build Solution`.
* The PowerToys binaries will be in your repo under `x64\Release`.
* If you want to copy the `PowerToys.exe` binary to a different location, you'll also need to copy the `modules` and the `svgs` folders.
### FancyZones

### Prerequisites to Build the Installer
[FancyZones](/src/modules/fancyzones/) - FancyZones is a window manager that makes it easy to create complex window layouts and quickly position windows into those layouts.

* Install the [WiX Toolset Visual Studio 2019 Extension](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=RobMensching.WiXToolset).
* Install the [WiX Toolset build tools](https://wixtoolset.org/releases/).
### Shortcut

### Building the .msi Installer
[Windows key shortcut guide](/src/modules/shortcut_guide) - The shortcut guide appears when a user holds the Windows key down for more than one second and shows the available shortcuts for the current state of the desktop.

* From the `installer` folder open `PowerToysSetup.sln` in Visual Studio, in the `Solutions Configuration` drop-down menu select `Release` or `Debug`, from the `Build` menu choose `Build Solution`.
* The resulting `PowerToysSetup.msi` installer will be available in the `installer\PowerToysSetup\x64\Release\` folder.
### PowerRename

### Debugging
[PowerRename](/src/modules/powerrename) - PowerRename is a Windows Shell Extension for advanced bulk renaming using search and replace or regular expressions. PowerRename allows simple search and replace or more advanced regular expression matching. While you type in the search and replace input fields, the preview area will show what the items will be renamed to. PowerRename then calls into the Windows Explorer file operations engine to perform the rename. This has the benefit of allowing the rename operation to be undone after PowerRename exits.

The following configuration issue only applies if the user is a member of the Administrators group.
### Version 1.0 plan

Some PowerToys modules require being run with the highest permission level if the current user is a member of the Administrators group. The highest permission level is required to be able to perform some actions when an elevated application (e.g. Task Manager) is in the foreground or is the target of an action. Without elevated privileges some PowerToys modules will still work but with some limitations:
Our plan for all the [goals and utilities for v1.0 detailed over here in the wiki][v1].

* the `FancyZones` module will be not be able to move an elevated window to a zone.
* the `Shortcut Guide` module will not appear if the foreground window belongs to an elevated application.
## What's Happening

To run and debug PowerToys from Visual Studio when the user is a member of the Administrators group, Visual Studio has to be started with elevated privileges. If you want to avoid running Visual Studio with elevated privileges and don't mind the limitations described above, you can do the following: open the `runner` project properties and navigate to the `Linker -> Manifest File` settings, edit the `UAC Execution Level` property and change it from `highestAvailable (level='highestAvailable')` to `asInvoker (/level='asInvoker')`, save the changes.
### February 2020 Update

### How to create new PowerToys
Our mantra for the 0.15 was infrastructure, quality, stability and work toward getting a way to auto-update PowerToys. While it took a bit longer to get here, we feel it was worth the extra time to fix bugs that really impacted your experience with PowerToys.

See the instructions on [how to install the PowerToys Module project template](tools/project_template). <br />
Specifications for the [PowerToys settings API](doc/specs/PowerToys-settings.md).
Below are just a few of the bullet items from this release.

### Coding Guidance
- We shipped [v0.15][github-release-link]!
- Make you aware there is a new version from within PowerToys
- Removed requirement to always 'run as admin'
- Added almost 300 unit tests to increase stability and prevent regressions.
- Resolved almost 100 issues
- Made .NET Framework parts of the source run faster with NGEN
- Improved for how we store data locally
- Increased FancyZones compatibility with applications
- Initial work for 4 new PowerToys added for 0.16!
- Created the [v1.0 strategy][v1], the [launcher](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/wiki/Launcher), the [keyboard manager](https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/wiki/Keyboard-Manager) specs
- Work on cleaning up our issue backlog and labels

Please review these brief docs below relating to our coding standards etc.
For 0.16, we have some fun things planned and hopefully will be able to ship pretty quickly. Here are the new utilities we'll enable:

> 👉 If you find something missing from these docs, feel free to contribute to any of our documentation files anywhere in the repository (or make some new ones\!)
- An alternative to Alt-Tab PowerToy
- SVG preview pane for support Explorer
- Markdown preview pane support for Explorer
- Image Resizer PowerToy

This is a work in progress as we learn what we'll need to provide people in order to be effective contributors to our project.
## Developer Guidance

* [Coding Style](doc/devdocs/style.md)
* [Code Organization](doc/devdocs/readme.md)
Please read the [developer docs](/doc/devdocs) for a detailed breakdown.

## Contributing

This project welcomes contributions and suggestions and we are excited to work with the power user community to build a set of tools for helping you get the most out of Windows.
This project welcomes contributions of all times. Help spec'ing, design, documentation, finding bugs are ways everyone can help on top of coding features / bug fixes. We are excited to work with the power user community to build a set of tools for helping you get the most out of Windows.

We ask that **before you start work on a feature that you would like to contribute**, please read our [Contributor's Guide](contributing.md). We will be happy to work with you to figure out the best approach, provide guidance and mentorship throughout feature development, and help avoid any wasted or duplicate effort.

> **Note**: PowerToys is still a nascent project and the team is actively working out of this repository. We will be periodically re-structuring the code to make it easier to comprehend, navigate, build, test, and contribute to, so **DO expect significant changes to code layout on a regular basis**.
### ⚠ State of code ⚠

PowerToys is still a very fluidic project and the team is actively working out of this repository. We will be periodically re-structuring/refactoring the code to make it easier to comprehend, navigate, build, test, and contribute to, so **DO expect significant changes to code layout on a regular basis**.

> **License Info**: Most contributions require you to agree to a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution. For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com.
### License Info

When you submit a pull request, a CLA-bot will automatically determine whether you need to provide
a CLA and decorate the PR appropriately (e.g. status check, comment). Simply follow the instructions
provided by the bot. You will only need to do this once across all repos using our CLA.
Most contributions require you to agree to a [Contributor License Agreement (CLA)][oss-CLA] declaring that you have the right to, and actually do, grant us the rights to use your contribution.

## Code of Conduct

This project has adopted the [Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct][conduct-code]. For more information see the [Code of Conduct FAQ][conduct-FAQ] or contact [opencode@microsoft.com][conduct-email] with any additional questions or comments.
This project has adopted the [Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct][oss-conduct-code]. For more information see the [Code of Conduct FAQ][oss-conduct-FAQ] or contact [opencode@microsoft.com][oss-conduct-email] with any additional questions or comments.

## Privacy Statement

The application logs basic telemetry. Our Telemetry Data page (Coming Soon) has the trends from the telemetry. Please read the [Microsoft privacy statement](http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839) for more information.
The application logs basic telemetry. Our Telemetry Data page (Coming Soon) has the trends from the telemetry. Please read the [Microsoft privacy statement][privacyLink] for more information.

[conduct-code]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/
[conduct-FAQ]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/faq/
[conduct-email]: mailto:opencode@microsoft.com
[oss-CLA]: https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com
[oss-conduct-code]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/
[oss-conduct-FAQ]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/codeofconduct/faq/
[oss-conduct-email]: mailto:opencode@microsoft.com
[github-release-link]: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/releases/
[v1]: https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/wiki/Version-1.0-Strategy
[privacyLink]: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=521839

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