How to use Windows 11 Widgets feature

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If you wondered how to use Windows 11 Widgets feature, you are in the right place to learn it.

Widgets feature on Windows 11 system provides a wide range of informational resources, such as weather, news, sports, stocks, traffic, entertainment, tasks, and family activities.
These widgets are a small form of showing this information.

This kinda looks like a Windows 10 feature called News and Interests.

The Widget board flies from the left side of the screen of your computer if you click the icon in the Taskbar, or you can use Windows + W shortcut.
Swipe from the left edge to open the board on a laptop or tablet.

There are three sections on the board.
At the top, there is a header with the current time and controls for accessing settings.
There is a section to place your widgets, and at the bottom are the feeds.

There is the Widgets icon in the Taskbar that shows vadge with information, and supports notifications and alerts for dynamic content, for example, sport, finances, or something similar.

The default setting will be optimal for most of users, but Windows 11 allows you to control them per your preferences.

This guide will show you how to get started with Widgets preferences.

Adding and removing Widgets on Windows 11

You can add, resize, rearrange or remove Widgets so the look suits you the best way possible.

Add widgets

To add more widgets to the board follow these simple steps below.

  1. Open Widgets.
  2. Click on the Plus sign next to the profile menu.
  3. Click on the Plus sign button for each widget you want to add.

There is the documentation for users who want to bring third-party widgets to Windows 11, it is published by Microsoft, so it is reliable.
But, what you can do is:

  • Watchlist – Showing stock information.
  • Traffic – Traffic situation based on your location.
  • Gaming – Information about gaming.
  • Weather – Current weather information based on location, if you click the widget forecast will open in the browser.
  • To Do – Tasks from Microsoft To Do list.
  • Tips – Tips to use Windows 11.
  • Sports – Results and schedules.
  • Entertainment – Displays things like new and trending movies, clicking items will bring you to Microsoft Store with different ways to get a movie.
  • Family Safety – Recent activities from members in a family group of Microsoft account.
  • Outlook Calendar – Shows events in the calendar.
  • Photos – Showing slideshow of photos stored in OneDrive.

Resize Widget

To resize the widget follow these steps.

  1. Open Widget.
  2. Click the three-dotted menu and select one of the available sizes, small, medium, or large.

As you complete the steps, the widget will change to your chosen size.

Rearrange Widget

Change the location of the Widget following these steps.

  1. Open Widget.
  2. Drag the widget that way you grab the title bar and drop it on the desired location.
  3. Now repeat step 2 to change other widgets’ locations.

You can not move the news feed widget, you can only rearrange widgets.

Remove Widgets

To remove widgets follow the steps below.

  1. Open Widgets.
  2. Click the three-dotted menu, and select Unpin widget.
  3. Repeat step 2 to remove other widgets per your wish.

The widgets you removed will no longer be available on the board.
You can only remove your own widgets and not the ones in the news feed.

The news stream will show content based on your interests.
In case you do not use Microsoft Edge, you are not logged into Microsoft Account, you do not use Bing, you will need to set your preferences based on your likings because Microsoft does not know them.

How to change interests settings for Widgets on Windows 11

Change Widget Interests

Here is how to change the content that is displayed in the stream.

  1. Open Widgets.
  2. Click the Plus sign near the profile menu.
  3. Click Manage interests under the Personalized feed.
  4. Click the Follow button for every category you want to see in the feed.
  5. Click Block for categories you do not want to see.
    The topics you don’t choose any option of two, may or may not appear in the feed.
    You also can use Tune your feed option to specify sources for your feeds.

The News stream will update when you finish these steps.

Control Widgets Stream

You are able to tweak the content you would like to see in the stream of news.

  1. Open Widgets.
  2. Now hover over the Story Widget, click on the Close button, and select the best option to control the feed.
  3. Click the menu button for every story in the Top stories and suit your needs by choosing the best option.
    You can react to the story with emojis or comment on it.

How to enable or disable Widgets Icon in Taskbar on Windows 11

Windows 11 taskbar has a widgets icon that can show different alerts with animations for news, sports, finances, and so on.
This can be distracting for many users.
If you feel distracted and do not need this feature, you can remove this icon and minimize distractions.

Follow this to enable or disable the Taskbar widgets icon.

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Choose Personalization.
  3. On the right side click Taskbar.
  4. There is a Widgets toggle switch under Taskbar items.
    Switch it On or Off.

Once you do these steps, the Taskbar widgets icon will be removed or enabled, depends where you put the switch for Widgets under step 4.
Still, using Windows + W shortcut, you can still access the flyout.

Read more on the Blog.