Windows 11 will improve File Explorer to consume less RAM when searching for files

Microsoft is preparing internal changes that reduce resource usage and speed up searches.

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Microsoft is already working on a significant improvement for one of the most used features of Windows 11. The File Explorer will soon receive an optimization that reduces RAM memory consumption when performing searches, a problem that in some cases generated excessive system resource usage.

The company is testing these changes in recent versions of the Windows Insider program, specifically from Build 26220.7523, where the File Explorer’s search function has been internally adjusted to avoid redundant tasks that penalized performance.

Windows 11 Optimizes File Explorer Search

According to Microsoft, the problem originated from duplicate file indexing operations. Although the File Explorer uses the same engine as Windows Search, in certain situations, the system would analyze the same files or folders more than once, causing unnecessary CPU, disk, and RAM usage.

With this improvement, Windows 11 eliminates these duplicate indexations, resulting in faster searches and less system impact while performing file operations. In Microsoft’s own words, the goal is to reduce background tasks and make the process more efficient automatically, without requiring user configuration.

• In addition to these internal optimizations, Microsoft is also continuing to refine the File Explorer experience on other fronts. The context menu is being reorganized to reduce clutter, moving less frequently used options (such as “Compress”, “Copy as path”, or “Set as desktop background”) to a specific submenu, labeled in some tests as “Manage file” or “Other actions”.

For now, all these changes are still limited to the Insider channel, but everything suggests that they will arrive in the stable version of Windows 11 in future updates, improving both performance and interface clarity in daily system use.