Key Takeaways
- Windows 11 Beta channel gets latest update (22635.3500) with Google account improvements.
- Start menu now shows account details; easy access to manage Microsoft account.
- Widgets panel offers better organization options, including new dashboards for customized experience.
Every so often, Microsoft pushes an update to the Windows 11 Beta channel. This is a special branch of Windows 11 for people enlisted with the Insiders program, that allows people to preview, test, and report bugs about all the newest features before they’re released to everyone. The newest beta build, 22635.3500 (KB5036985), has just arrived, and it contains a nice bonus for people who use their Google accounts to sign into Windows 11.
You can now quickly email yourself with Gmail in Windows 11
First up, if you sign into Windows 11 using your Google account, you can now quickly email yourself via Windows Share. When you open the window, you should see your own email among the list of contacts, marked with a “(You)”. Microsoft gives an example where they use Windows Share to quickly email themselves a link to a website.
Speaking of Windows 11 accounts, the beta branch now adds a brief summary of your account when you click the Start button. Microsoft shows an example where Windows 11 tells you how your Microsoft 365 Personal and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate plans are faring, plus an update on how much cloud storage you’re using. It also features a handy link to manage your Microsoft account uvia the website.
If you like your widgets, the new panel will likely make you love them even more. Now you can use the Widgets panel to flick between different dashboards to suit your needs. Microsoft showed off two dashboards: one called “My Feed” which used weather, news, and traffic information, and another called “My Widgets” which featured a much wider selection of apps. The update also allows developers to send notifications to the taskbar button via these different dashboards. Microsoft does note that only people in Europe can see this change for the time being.
There are a few more tweaks and bug fixes we didn’t cover here, so be sure to check out the Windows Insider Blog for the full run-down.