Microsoft has updated the preview release of Windows Terminal to version 1.17. The latest update brings several new features and enhancements based on customer feedback, including Mica and process restart support, drop-down menu customizations, an updated color scheme page, and more.
First, Microsoft has added support for customizing drop-down menus to help users manage their profiles in Windows Terminal. The latest update lets users add separators, folders and profiles by editing the settings.json file. Additionally, Windows Terminal allows users to resume terminated processes by pressing the Enter key.
In addition, Microsoft emphasized that Windows Terminal allows users to use Mica as background material on Windows 11 PCs. It is possible to enable Mica support by setting the “useMica” attribute to true in the Settings.json file. Microsoft has also introduced the ability to set launch position parameters in Settings.
Windows Terminal Preview 1.17 introduces page updates to color schemes and more.
Microsoft released updates to the Color Schemes page to make the experience more intuitive for users. Users will now go to the edit scheme page by adding a new scheme or clicking on a color scheme in the list view.
Additionally, Windows Terminal Preview 1.17 enables users to preview a color scheme before selecting it. Other updates include visual, accessibility, and usability improvements, and you can check out the full changelog below:
- Other color scheme improvements
- You can now configure the color scheme (per profile) to be applied in the system light theme and system dark theme.
- You can now configure the color scheme (per profile) to apply to the application theme.
- Virtual Terminal (VT) and Output
- Huge shout out to @j4james for his amazing contribution to the VT space. James worked tirelessly to improve support for VT features, including rewriting how text output is processed in the Windows Terminal. Here is a brief summary of the VT contributions that James made for this release:
- Added support for DEC macro operations.
- Added support for decarm (auto repeat mode).
- Added support for IRM (insert replace mode)
- Added support for private options in DSR queries.
- Added support for Selective Erase Operations (DECSED).
- Added support for DECRQM escape sequences
- Added support for rectangular area operations (DEC*RA).
- Merged inheritance and extension attributes.
- Rewrote how we handled text embedded in a stream of VT, which closed 8 bugs!
- Added support for line rendition attribute (DECDHL) on ConPTY.
- Also added support for soft fonts over (DECDLD) ConPTY.
- Wide characters will no longer cause strange cursor dropouts.
- VT reports work again when DECARM is disabled.
- Thanks again for all your help, James!
- Latest usage information
- wt now supports -pos and -size command line arguments to control the position and size of the new window (thanks @ianjoneill!).
- When you duplicate a tab, the new tab will open next to the existing tab (thanks @vamsiikrishnaak!).
- Now you can use exe and dll resources for icon paths.
- Improved accessibility
- We’ve removed a major cause of crashes from closing panes and tabs while screen reading is enabled.
- Our internal management will no longer appear as an empty pane for screen readers.
- MISCELLANEOUS CORRECTIONS
- Windows Terminal now supports the remaining FinalTerm symbol types (Command Input Start, Command Executed, and Command End).
- You can now set the scrollbar to always display in $profile.scrollbarState .
- The contents of the Terminal package are now code-signed, so those of you who deploy it unzipped won’t have any more trouble with your IT folks.
- Bug fixes
- Export and Find context menu items work on non-focused tabs (thanks @ianjoneill!).
- When you Elevate: True Profile (or Ctrl+Shift-click Profile in the dropdown menu.) (Thanks @jboelter!)
- This About dialog (and other dialogs) will eventually block the entire window even if you resize it.
- Now we try to calculate the transparent tab background while calculating the foreground color of the text.
- You can now drag/drop more than 16 items directly from 7-Zip (and some other applications) (thanks @jiejasonliu!).
- Misconfigured objects will no longer cause a “Request Error 0x%” settings warning.
- “Use Acrylic in Tab Row” no longer requires a relaunch.
- Split-pane borders no longer display in the wrong theme color.
- In separate titlebar mode, Terminal will now default to a dark titlebar when you’re using the dark theme.
- The “Add Appearance” button will now be read correctly by screen readers.
If you haven’t done so yet, you can visit the Microsoft Store to download a preview of Windows Terminal. Alternatively, you can install a preview version of Windows Terminal via GitHub.