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One of Windows 10’s best canceled features might be making a comeback

Sets in Windows 10

Microsoft is always working to improve Windows 10 based on feedback from its Windows Insiders, and sometimes features come and go accordingly. One of those was Windows Sets.

For a brief testing period, the feature had allowed Windows users to group certain tasks or programs and open new instances of them in new tabs in any given window. The Sets feature never quite made it to the final version of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, but it might soon make a comeback. That’s all according to a new tweet from famed Microsoft leaker WalkingCat.

oh ? "Sets" is back in 19481 ? ????

— WalkingCat (@h0x0d) September 20, 2019

While hard to verify, WalkingCat claims that the Sets feature could be returning in one of the preview versions (known as “builds”) of the first major 2021 update to Windows 10, which could be code-named 21H1. This specific build number WalkingCat is referring to for the feature is 19841, which seems to be quite a whiles away. Currently, the newest build available for public testing with Windows Insiders is at 18985.

Windows 10 build numbers typically only see big increases when major features (and new versions of Windows) are introduced. Presumably, this means Sets could a return in a few months at the least. The Italian Blog Aggiornamenti Lumia also confirms this comeback of Sets, finding mentions of it — and the 21H1 update — in the code in most recent Windows Insider builds.

Other, more technical Windows Insiders, have also noticed weblog mentions, coding changes to window captioning, and handling in recent builds. This suggests that Microsoft is in the process of working out the issues that cut out the Windows Sets feature, and has already complied 21H1 builds internally.

While the 21H1 update presumably won’t be coming for another year and a half, Windows Insiders might soon be able to test it, and both the Sets feature.

That’s because Microsft has shifted the way it develops Windows 10. There’s now only one “major” update a year with new features. A release in the spring with major features, and then, a release in the fall with minor tweaks.

Currently, only Fast Ring and Skip Ahead Windows insiders are testing the 20H1 update — the first Windows 10 update scheduled for a release in early spring 2020. Slow Ring insiders are still behind and are testing the 19H2 update — the second, but current Windows 10 update for 2019, which is set for release this year.

Once both 19H2 and 20H1 released, Skip Ahead insiders might get in to test 21H1 — which is the first update for Windows 10 in 2021 that might feature Sets. Then Fast Ring insiders will be able to test 20H2, the second update for Windows 10 next year in 2020.

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Arif Bacchus
Arif Bacchus is a native New Yorker and a fan of all things technology. Arif works as a freelance writer at Digital Trends…
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