Adding images to your presentation or website becomes easier if they are specific or the same size. However, resizing a group of images one by one can be tedious. It can take a lot of time, especially with third-party software or websites. So, is there a better way to do this? The answer is yes with Microsoft PowerToys.
PowerToys is an open source program that aims to provide a set of tools for greater productivity. With Microsoft’s PowerToys utility, you can resize images individually or in batches directly from the file explorer in a few clicks. Read on to find out how.
Download and install PowerToys
To resize images, you need to install PowerToys on your Windows PC and enable the Image Resizer option. Here’s how to do it.
Stage 1: Go to the Microsoft PowerToys releases page (link below) on GitHub. There you will find the latest version listed under Assets. Look for a ‘.exe’ file with a similar name to ‘PowerToysSetup-0.37.2-x64.exe’ on the page.
Step 2: Double-click the setup file to run it and follow the onscreen instructions to install PowerToys.
Stage 3: Launch PowerToys, go to the ‘Image Resizer’ tab on your left and turn on ‘Enable Image Resizer’ if it is not already open.
Once enabled, you are ready to batch resize images on your computer.
Batch Resizing Images
After installing PowerToys, you can resize images directly from the desktop or File Explorer by following the steps outlined below.
Stage 1: Find and select all the images you want to resize in File Explorer. Then right click on your selection and tap on ‘Resize images’ from the list.
Step 2: In the Image Resizer window that opens, select your preferred size from the default options or enter a desired custom size. Review other options by checking and unchecking the boxes, then tap the Resize button.
Once complete, you will find the resized images in the same folder as the original images.
Additional Configuration in Image Resizer
If you want to fine-tune image resizing settings such as dimensions, encoding, and filenames, you can do so by configuring the settings on the Image Resizer tab in PowerToys.
1. Image dimensions
You can only choose between small, medium, large and phone sizes when resizing images. But PowerToys also lets you add more dimensions by tapping the ‘+ Add dimension’ button or editing existing ones.
2. Coding
By default, resized images are saved in the same format as the original image. If PowerToys cannot recognize a format, it saves the image in the format specified under the ‘Feedback encoder’ menu. In addition, you can configure the JPEG quality level, PNG interface and TIFF compression.
Again, it is not a file type conversion tool and only works as a replacement for unsupported file formats.
3. Files
With PowerToys you can define the filename format of the resized image. You can control how to select the relevant parameters you want to use.
For example, if the format is set to %1-%2If you resize an image named ‘Sample’ to Phone size, PowerToys saves the image as ‘Sample-Phone’.
Similarly, you can create a custom format to avoid renaming images one by one after batch resizing.
Bonus: How to Batch Convert Image Type
You can download an Image Converter from Microsoft Store to easily convert image type in batch, as PowerToys only helps in resizing the image. Here’s how.
Stage 1: Download Image Converter (link below) from Microsoft Store.
Step 2: Launch Image Converter on your computer and click the ‘+ Add Image’ button to find and select images.
Stage 3: After adding the pictures, select them using the checkboxes. Next, define the path in the output folder where you want your images to be saved after conversion. You can choose a new path or overwrite existing images using the drop-down menu.
Step 4: Define your preferred image format under Output Format. You can further select the file extension and image quality by clicking the settings icon. Finally, tap the ‘Convert All Pictures’ button at the bottom.
This much. All selected images will be converted to your preferred format. Image Converter can be a useful tool when used with PowerToys for a complete image resizing experience.
bulk orders
Whether you want to resize a single image or several at once, PowerToys certainly simplifies the process. Besides image resizing, Microsoft’s PowerToys are packed with nifty features like PowerRename, Keyboard Manager, Video Conference Mute, and more.
