Windows 10 is a combination of the best features from Windows 7, 8 and 8.1, much to the annoyance of some users. One of the ways Microsoft is trying to salvage the effort they put into Windows 8/8.1 is to find a way to balance the use of old and new features in the same place.
Sharing from File Explorer has changed in Windows 10. Let’s look at how the sharing feature in File Explorer in Windows 10 works and how you can get the most out of this feature.
Sharing From File Explorer in Windows 10
You’ve always been able to share from the File Explorer in Windows. Windows 7 and 8/8.1 allow you to email, zip, burn to disc, fax and more from a given window. However, with Windows 10, you’ll be able to do all over the above and share using native Windows apps through the Charms Bar.
When we say native apps, it means the apps that are installed from the Windows Store. Many of these apps including social media apps, pdf utility apps, cloud storage apps etc allow sharing functionality and it can then be utilised directly from Windows Explorer share option.
Open up the File Explorer in Windows 10 and navigate to any folder.
Now, click “Share.”
In the left-hand corner of the window, you’ll see a new Share icon. This icon allows you to share to a variety of Windows universal apps, such as Outlook, reading list and social network sites if installed on your system.
Click on the “Share” icon.
The Charms Bar will open, showing you what you can share to. In this case, the only app I have installed in Windows 10 that can utilize this feature is Outlook.
Click on the app icon and you’ll follow the normal steps to sharing in that Windows app.
While this may not seem like the most exciting or interesting feature, for those of us who grew accustomed to using Windows apps and the Charms Bar, it allows us to use that functionality with Microsoft’s latest OS. For everyone else, you can either choose to share in other ways or take advantage of the built-in sharing functions of the File Explorer.
Conclusion
Windows 10 is attempting to fuse the best of Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 into one OS. This means that functionality from both OS’ will be used to help make consumer’s lives easier when using Windows in the future.
While the Share icon might not be used by the majority of Windows users, for those of us that do rely on Windows 8/8.1 functionality, it’s great to see Microsoft still want to integrate it in ways in Windows 10.
