Correct. Timeline won't be in the Fall Creators Update. We're planning for it to be in early insider builds shortly after FCU is out.
— Joe Belfiore (@joebelfiore) July 3, 2017
After being revealed during Microsoft’s BUILD developers conference in May, Timeline hasn’t been seen publicly again. With the feature finalisation window for the Fall Creators Update fast approaching, users and commentators alike have been speculating that Timeline is running behind its own schedule.
Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore has now confirmed Timeline won’t be making the cut. Responding to a tweet from journalist Tom Warren, Belfiore said the feature “won’t be in the Fall Creators Update” but should start appearing in Insider builds of Windows 10 later this year. Timeline has been pushed back to the next big Windows release after the Fall Creators Update. It’s expected to be launched in spring 2018.
Timeline was set to be one of the headline features of the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update. It lets you see your activity across all your Windows 10 devices on a single screen. Documents you open, films you watch and websites you visit appear in a scrolling chronological view, letting you revisit work you completed in the past.
The feature lets you quickly return to apps you used yesterday, last week or last month. You can jump straight back into the content you were using. Because it’s synchronised through the cloud, you can pick up where you left off on any of your devices. Timeline is built into most of Microsoft’s own apps and APIs will be available to let third-party developers push activities to the screen.
Commenting on Twitter, Belfiore said that Timeline has been delayed because Microsoft has been focusing on other parts of the Fall Creators Update. He singled out the highly-anticipated OneDrive Files On-Demand feature as an example, saying cloud files were “the first firm feature.”
The omission of Timeline leaves the update with fewer attention-grabbing features. It’s now similar in status to the Creators Update, adding convenience options but not anything Microsoft can use for marketing shots. Files On-Demand has been a longstanding request from OneDrive users and the other new Continuum capabilities will make multiple devices easier to use. Neither introduces an entirely new core interface though, something Timeline would have offered.
The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is expected to arrive around late September. Besides Files On-Demand, it also comes with a “Pick Up Where You Left Off” feature that’s similar to Apple’s Handoff on Macs. Windows will prompt you to resume work you were completing on another device when you switch to a different PC. It lets you head straight back into the app you were working in.
