We are going to explain how to customize the widget’s panel in Windows 11. This panel appears when you press the Win+W combination. It also appears when you click the widget button docked on the taskbar. Indeed, Microsoft experimented with different positions for this section in Windows 10. However, Windows 11 has remained as this configurable panel that appears on the left side of the screen. This menu displays two types of content. At the top, you will see a series of widgets that you can configure and arrange as you like. For now there are not many, but they can be useful if you use Microsoft applications. Underneath, there is also a news feed with topics and sources that you can configure to your liking.
Configure the widget’s panel in Windows 11
As mentioned, this panel appears when you press the Win+W combination. Likewise, it also appears when you click on its icon. In it, there is a search engine at the top, and then the widgets you have decided to include. Below the widgets is the Featured News panel, and below that the rest of the news feed.
If you use the search bar of the widget honeycomb, you will not do any search related to them. In fact, its function is to search Bing. When you enter a term, the browser will open with the search results you have chosen.
All added widgets have a three-dot button at the top right. Clicking it displays a context menu with some options. Indeed, we can decide the size of the widget, customize it, or remove it from the panel. However, the option to customize depends on each widget. And it is possible that some of them do not have them.
Customizing the widget
Clicking on the custom widget option will open a window with the options to modify. They are options related to the content displayed. Generally, they are few, like the units or dates that are shown, and things like that. Certainly, the customization options are a bit limited.
Widgets can be sorted manually. In fact, just drag them with the mouse to decide which ones are displayed first and which ones appear later. Moreover, this option is available all the time.
If you look closely, a button appears below the added widgets. Well, this button is Add widget. As its name indicates, its function is to be able to add new widgets to the panel. Therefore, when you press it, a screen with the list of widgets that can be added will be displayed. Consequently, you just have to press the + button that appears next to each widget. This action will add the widget in question.
In this opportunity, we added the Traffic Widget. To accomplish this, just click on the + icon, as we explained. On the other hand, you can also remove this or any other widget. With this intention, click on the 3 dots to display the contextual menu. Then, just click on Remove widget.
Configure your news widget panel
Below the widgets, you will see a series of news related to your interests. In this section, you can determine which news you like more or less. In fact, just click on the options button of each news item. You can also hide the news of a specific media. If you ask for a news item to be shown less, you will be asked why. Consequently, you can say if you are not interested in the topic or the media to which it belongs. As you can see, it is a valuable tool for filtering news. In addition, I find interesting the ability to refine the topics and also the news sources. In short, it allows us to determine a kind of editorial line.
Managing news interests in Windows 11
Now, the Widget’s panel of Windows 11 incorporates a very useful option. We are talking about the option to Manage interests. Indeed, this option is available from Add widget. However, we can also see it from the options of each news item.
This option is very fascinating. Indeed, you can configure the type of themes you like. That is to say, we will be able to set the interests of users of the system. Actually, several options are shown. Just click on the option and immediately a new window will pop up in the web browser. There you will see the interests organized in different themes. These interests will be used both for the widget panel and for other recommendations. The page even displays a search bar. From there, you can search for potential interests to add to the feed.
Within this same page, we will see other information. In fact, this is the list of all the interests that we have followed. Likewise, there are the news sources we have hidden. In this way, you will be able to regret the changes you have configured to finish adapting it to your liking. So, these settings finish setting the news to your convenience. Just combine it with the News options to give your personal touch to this element.
Conclusion
Ultimately, we have seen how to customize the widget’s t panel in Windows 11. Undoubtedly, this is an interesting addition to the system. In addition, it presents attractive settings for the user. However, I think it still needs some improvement. It would be nice to have additional configuration options. These additional settings would give you more user control. However, it is likely that improvements will be added in future updates. Meanwhile, you can squeeze this feature with this guide we give you. Okay, that’s all for now. Stay tuned for future updates about Windows 11. Goodbye!
