[Fluent UX] Quick access flyout in system tray

[niels9001]

📝 Provide a description of the new feature

Problem
The system tray provides a lot of quick access tools such as the notification center, network and sound settings. This is also where PowerToys lives, but it only provides two actions: opening settings and closing the application.

Additionally, the amount of PowerToys modules keep growing and most features are only accessible with keyboard shortcuts. To make these features more accessible, we also need to consider keyboard and mouse users. Providing additional functionality to quickly switch modes to keep in your workflow would be great, and can really showcase the various great tools.

Solution & features
A flyout that opens whenever the user clicks on the systray app icon. It provides an interactive overlay that gives users quick access to the following features:

Feature	Priority
Ability to open settings	Should
Quick launch PT modules (e.g. Run / Color Picker / Shortcut Guide )	Should
Features that are disabled should not show up	Should
Ability to set quick settings for e.g. Awake (mode) or Fancy Zones (layout switching)	Could
The order (and options) should be customizable	Could
Video Conference Mute buttons	Could
Warning icon to indicate that PT is not running elevated	Could
Banner/message whenever a new update is available	Could

Mock-up
Here's a WinUI UWP mock-up of how this flyout could work:

Light mode:

Dark mode:

Source code can be found here: https://github.com/niels9001/SystrayUX/

Looking forward to more feedback to improve this concept!

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If you'd like to see this feature implemented, add a 👍 reaction to this post.

[Jay-o-Way]

Some basic thoughts from me (like in a standard menu) were:

• Settings (bold if default action)
• Open FancyZones Editor (and include the hotkey)
• Open Keyboard Manager
• Open PowerToys Run (and include the hotkey)
• Open Color Picker (and include the hotkey)
• Check for updates
• Open Website
• Exit

But is see your concept is even better 👍🏻

[niels9001]

@Jay-o-Way

Checking for updates actually triggered a thought: we could probably put an icon / banner in the top bar when:

• New update is available
• Button to show "What's new" (related to Improve first time run experience #1285 (comment))
• Icon to indicate that you are (not) running elevated.

[Jay-o-Way]

To make these features more accessible, we also need to consider keyboard and mouse users.

And touch screen, of course.

Should we hide features that are disabled by the user?

Difficult choice, but I think I would say no, because I like to be able to reach as much as I can.

New update is available

Possible, but right now that is already done via notifications, which also feels fine to me.

[enricogior]

Looks like the community doesn't like it!

[crutkas]

Things we need to think about that impacts this + OOBE and who actually runs the UX and how we keep it in memory/instantly load.

OOBE could live in Settings easily but what about this dialog. Right now the systray UX is inside Runner.

[Poopooracoocoo]

just mentioning Instant Eyedropper

[crutkas]

@Poopooracoocoo ???

[Poopooracoocoo]

@Poopooracoocoo ???

I had mentioned it in #1244 and so I mentioned it again so that it's visible as not many people look at closed issues.