Andrew Cunningham
Microsoft is giving the Windows 11 treatment to a handful of core apps in the next Insider Preview build of the upcoming operating system. Mail, Calendar, Calculator, and Snipping Tool are all getting a refresh, and if you’re using the latest Insider Preview, you should be able to download these updates from the Windows Store app starting today.
The changes in Mail, Calendar and Calculator appear to be largely cosmetic, with the square corners of Windows 8 and 10 thrown out for a softer, more rounded look to match the rest of the operating system. The only “new” app is a revamp of the Snipping Tool that combines the functions of the old Snipping Tool and the Windows 10 Snip & Sketch app (this update has the handy side effect of finally getting rid of the annoying message that the Snipping Tool disappears every time you open it).
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The new Snipping Tool updates the Windows 7-era UI of its predecessor and integrates the features of Windows 10’s dual Snip & Sketch tool.
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The annotation tools now look modern instead of Windows 7-y.
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The Calculator app can do all the beautiful things it did before, just with rounded buttons.
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The new Mail app also gets a new design without a ton of other changes.
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Ditto Calendar.
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The new Snipping Tool still gives you buttons to change what kind of screenshot you’re trying to take and whether you want it to happen with a delay. The screenshot annotation tools have also gotten a more modern facelift (the old ones were stuck in the Windows 7 era). Snip & Sketch users can continue to enjoy that handy UI by using the keyboard shortcut Windows + Shift + S.
The new apps will first be rolled out to Windows Insiders on the less stable Dev Channel. Microsoft started releasing Windows 11 builds for the more stable beta channel in late July, and you’ll have to wait and see if you want to use these new features in a less advanced version of Windows. You can always change your channel from the Windows Update section of the Settings app.
As with all Insider Preview builds to date, Microsoft is not yet enforcing the new security requirements of Windows 11, so most computers running Windows 10 can still run new Windows 11 builds and these updated apps.