And there was us thinking Timeline was an important tool. In the newest Windows 10 21H2 Sun Valley preview, Microsoft makes the following announcement: “If you have your activity history synced across your devices through your Microsoft account (MSA), you’ll no longer have the option to upload new activity in Timeline. AAD-connected accounts won’t be impacted. To view web history, Edge and other browsers have the option to look back at recent web activities. You can also view recently used files using OneDrive and Office.” And just like that, Timeline gets on the saddle and starts riding off into the sunset. This is for preview build 21359, which means the change will come to all Windows 10 with the launch of version 21H2 later this year.
End is Close
So, you have just a few more months left to use Windows 10 Timeline. It is worth noting Microsoft is not directly saying Timeline is disappearing. However, removing the ability to sync an activity status renders the tool almost useless… at best, a task switcher. We’re hardly surprised considering Microsoft has already removed Timeline from the Microsoft Launcher on Android. Of course, we also cannot forget Microsoft has a long history of developing cool products only to ditch them for no apparent reason. It’s probably true that nobody was using Timeline according to the company’s data, but surely the idea is to make Windows 10 more feature-rich, not more basic? Windows Timeline gives users in Windows 10 the ability to see what they are doing at a particular time. It is a PC version of Microsoft’s “Pick Up Where You Left Off” feature. Using the Timeline lets you see activity through past Windows 10 use, set out in cards for more efficient movement between apps. Tip of the day: Did you know that your data and privacy might be at risk if you run Windows 10 without encryption? A bootable USB with a live-linux distribution is often just enough to gain access to all of your files. If you want to change that, check out our detailed BitLocker guide where we show you how to turn on encryption for your system disk or any other drive you might be using in your computer.
