June 24th, 2024

Windows File Explorer will be more powerful with version control and 7z

Microsoft updates File Explorer with Git integration for version control, native support for 7-zip and TAR compression formats. Aimed at enhancing project management and file organization for users, announced at Microsoft Build.

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Windows File Explorer will be more powerful with version control and 7z

Microsoft is enhancing File Explorer by introducing native version control integration with systems like Git, allowing users to track changes and comments within the app. Additionally, File Explorer will now support native file compression to 7-zip and TAR formats, moving beyond the traditional ZIP compression option. These updates aim to streamline project management and file organization for users, potentially benefiting both programmers and non-programmers alike. The changes were announced at Microsoft Build, showcasing the tech giant's commitment to improving user experience within the Windows operating system.

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Link Icon 20 comments
By @daveguy - 5 months
> The Windows file navigator will natively interface with your Git and offer more file compression.

No thank you. I'm happy with Microsoft having nothing to do with my Git.

By @ldx1024 - 5 months
I'd be happy with File Explorer not giving the circle of death and the green bar of despair on a regular basis. Microsoft, can you fix these basic usability problems first before shoving more bloat into the tool?
By @kallistisoft - 5 months
It never fails to amuse me that the "exciting" things that Microsoft does to Windows always falls into one of two categories:

1. Implementing features that have been available in Linux/MacOS for years

2. Adding interoperability capabilities

I'm happy Microsoft is slowly catching up with the times, but it's still not a good look

By @kmoser - 5 months
> Microsoft says it’s also letting File Explorer natively compress files to 7-zip and TAR; currently, the right-click context menu has a “Compress to ZIP file” option, but ZIP is thought to be a bit antiquated in terms of how much compression you get.

ZIP is antiquated...but TAR isn't?

By @sneed_chucker - 5 months
Wow, a pragmatic user-benefiting feature being added to Windows? That's certainly a breath of fresh air.
By @albertopv - 5 months
How many Git integration will benefit? 0.1% of windows users? Git is one of those things devs are capable to manage theirself, updating when needed etc. A faster File Explorer or a taskbar that doesn't suck (open faster, movable on the side, calendar on all screen, removable recommendations...) would benefit many more.
By @pyrolistical - 5 months
I’m happy at the same time scared. Please don’t corrupt my git repo.

Happy to see windows adding useful developer focused feature.

Makes sense for file explorer to understand everything.

If Microsoft really wanted, they could Sherlock everything.

By @Numerlor - 5 months
My experience with the new compression formats they added to Explorer has not been great, overall performance is poor, larger files get stuck and it straight up can't extract some perfectly valid files. I'm wary of more integrations if they didn't polish something that regular people may use daily
By @Apreche - 5 months
It’s great to add support for 7z and such, but there may be a problem.

My friends in game dev frequently work with large files. They often bundle and compress them for storage and sharing. They were happy to hear that Windows would add support for these formats directly rather than requiring third party software to get the job done.

Sadly, the people who tried it reported back that the Windows-provided functionality was incredibly slow. When working with files of immense size like they do, using the official Windows compression and decompression was costing them significantly more time looking at progress bars than the third party apps.

If this is true in the final stable release, then what’s the point of adding the feature at all? It only helps out people who rarely use those compression formats, and only work with smaller files.

By @pipeline_peak - 5 months
How about not two sets of common folders e.g Documents from true dreadful “This PC” and Documebts from c:\users\name\Documents

Or retaining settings, I swear every time I set file view to detailed it goes back to something else.

I’d have no problem switching file managers, but like everything bolted on Windows, it has higher ordinance.

By @b4ckup - 5 months
There's a lot of things the file explorer needs. Git is not one of them.
By @blackeyeblitzar - 5 months
There is just no way I would trust any change Microsoft makes at this point. They will abuse their position to violate your privacy. Consent means nothing to these shameless monopolists.
By @thesnide - 5 months
Fun fact: according to the screenshot, the .git directory itself is versioned...

so, it is either a bug, a mock screenshot or an intriguing feature.

By @jimbobthrowawy - 5 months
This post seems to be over a month old, I wonder when this feature is coming.

I hope regular windows users start using git more often because of this. It'd be pretty killer in an office setting.

By @_hao - 5 months
I can't wait Disk Voyager to come out so I can ditch File Explorer - https://www.diskvoyager.com
By @Grimeton - 5 months
By @MaXtreeM - 5 months
Windows has been for years corrupting files unzipped via explorer. I am not going to trust them with 7-zip now.
By @siproprio - 5 months
The zip/tar.gz support is just slow. It's just another thing that you'll have to manually disable now.