Windows 10 build 18970 brings new tablet mode features

Reading time icon 1 min. read


Readers help support Windows Report. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Tooltip Icon

Read the affiliate disclosure page to find out how can you help Windows Report effortlessly and without spending any money. Read more

Microsoft released Windwos 10 buidl 18970

Microsoft released Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18970 (20H1) to Insiders in the Fast Ring.

Along with that, a new Cumulative Update Build 18970.1005 (KB4518974) is also available, the reason behind it being that the tech giant is trying to service a build while it’s released.

Tablet mode is getting some improvements

latest fast ring build tablet experience
After updating, Insiders should be on Build 18970.1005. 

Between lots of general improvements and the the continued rollout of the new Cortana experience, there are some new improvements to table mode and the Cloud Download tablet experience for 2-in-1 convertible PCs. This new tablet mode will enable users to use the familiar desktop experience, with some small changes:

  • Increased spacing between Taskbar icons.
  • Search box on taskbar collapsed into an icon.
  • File Explorer switches to touch optimized layout.
  • Touch keyboard auto invokes when you tap text fields.

Also, the new cloud download option is available for Fast Ringers. The feature will reinstall the same build, version, and edition that is currently on your PC.

It’s worth mentioning that this is different from the Recover from the cloud feature that was available earlier on Windows 10.

Build 18970 comes with lots of fixes, but still retains some old issues

Here’s the long list of new general changes, improvements, and fixes:

  • We fixed a DWM memory leak that was impacting the previous two flights.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some WSL distros not loading (Issue #4371).
  • We fixed an issue impacting a small number of Insiders, involving a lsass.exe crash and resulting in a message saying, “Windows ran into a problem and needs to restart.”
  • We fixed an issue resulting in WIN+(period) closing if you tried to search for an emoji when focus was set to a text field in an Electron app.
  • We fixed two issues that could result in Settings crashing when interacting with options on the Search page.
  • We’ve done some work to help improve the launch performance of Settings when the Settings header is visible.
  • We fixed an issue resulting in some Insiders experiencing a bug check with BTHport.sys in recent flights.
  • It’s important to periodically back up your data. Starting in recent Insider builds, Windows Home and Pro users without a first party backup solution will now see a friendly reminder to consider setting up a backup option that is included with Windows. If you’d prefer to turn this off, there’s an option to do so in the notification.
  • We’re working on addressing feedback about the acrylic in certain surfaces not appearing immediately. In this build, it’s fixed for Start menu, the volume flyout, the network flyout, the clock & calendar flyout, and notification toasts.
  • We’ve made some bug fixes and improvements to Magnifier reading capabilities.
  • Improved Magnifier performance when moving the mouse around the screen.
  • We resolved an issue where Control + Alt + L would not put Magnifier into Lens mode.
  • No one likes bugs, so we squashed several of them related to the new text cursor indicator. Text cursor indicator now appears and disappears more reliably. We also fixed an issue where text cursor indicator preview in settings did not change size when text scaling was on.
  • We have made improvements in Magnifier reliability.
  • We fixed an issue where the File Explorer search suggestions weren’t being read out by Narrator.
  • We fixed an issue in Narrator where it would speak “unknown” if you had the “Header Status” column enabled within Outlook as you arrowed between different email messages.
  • We fixed a couple Narrator dialog reading issues. Narrator would sometimes speak “empty document” or stop the dialog reading too early.
  • We fixed an issue where Narrator would not always speak the group name of a radio button on web pages.
  • We fixed an issue with Narrator and Excel not speaking the column header when arrowing between cells in a table.
  • We fixed an issue where Narrator would only speak “item” when navigating by table cells in an Outlook email instead of reading the entire cell’s contents.
  • Narrator will now read webpages from the top of the page and not at the main landmark with a fallback to find a paragraph. Thank you for your feedback!
  • Narrator now supports the aria-haspopup property.
  • Improved Outlook performance and stability when reading mail messages in Outlook.
  • We have made improvements in Narrator reliability.
  • We made a change to Narrator input learning, so you just have to press Narrator + 1 once to turn input learning off. Thank you for your feedback.
  • We fixed an issue when a user navigated to a webpage in Edge, Narrator would read just the URL field and not the webpage.
  • We fixed an issue when a user was replying to an email in Outlook, Narrator was automatically reading the message while the user was trying to type.

There are also some known issues with this build:

  • There has been an issue with older versions of anti-cheat software used with games where after updating to the latest 19H1 Insider Preview builds may cause PCs to experience crashes. We are working with partners on getting their software updated with a fix, and most games have released patches to prevent PCs from experiencing this issue. To minimize the chance of running into this issue, please make sure you are running the latest version of your games before attempting to update the operating system. We are also working with anti-cheat and game developers to resolve similar issues that may arise with the 20H1 Insider Preview builds and will work to minimize the likelihood of these issues in the future.
  • Some Realtek SD card readers are not functioning properly. We are investigating the issue.
  • We’re working on a fix for an issue resulting in the minimize, maximize, and close title bar buttons not working for certain apps. If you’re using an impacted app, Alt+F4 should work as expected to close the app if needed.
  • Text on Devices pages in Settings for “Bluetooth and Other Devices” and “Printers and Scanners” isn’t rendering correctly.
  • Search isn’t working for Insiders using certain display languages, including Polish. If you are impacted by this, switching your display language to English then back to your preferred display language should resolve it.

If you’re in the Fast Ring and want to test the new changes, just go to Windows Update in the Settings app and update to the latest build 18970.

More about the topics: windows 10