The Steam Library update is now live in public beta

[Humza]

In brief: Steam's library overhaul was scheduled to go live this month and indeed it has, with a public beta that anyone can opt-in for with just a few clicks and client restart(s).

Steam's long overdue library update has finally arrived in public beta, and now you can play, organize and scroll away at your massive (or small) collection of titles accumulated over the years through a much more streamlined experience.

As noted previously, the update includes a new "Home" page and "Dynamic Collections" among other major features and subtle tweaks to the client. The Home page serves as a news feed for titles in the library and displays friends' activity, recently played games and configurable game shelves further below.

The Steam library is getting a makeover to make it better looking, more relevant and more powerful than ever before.

The New Steam Library beta is live now and everyone is invited! https://t.co/2xZ1w8xMNm

— Steam (@steam_games) September 17, 2019

Dynamic Collections (identified by a thunder/flash icon) help in reducing clutter and organize games with minimal input (though improperly user-tagged games do show up now and then), something that can be avoided by making offline/disconnected collections.

To try out the public beta for yourself (and the caveats that come with it), click Settings from the Steam dropdown and under Account (selected by default) click on the "Change" button in the Beta participation section and choose "Steam Beta Update." Restart the Steam client through the pop-up that follows and get ready to greet your shiny new Steam interface.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/81949-steam-library-update-now-live-public-beta.html

 

[FPSChris]

It's very pretty!
Filters are great, love the quick filters on game collections you can create like a bookmark bar.
Feels laggy on my work computer though when I scroll.
Will check it on the powerhouse later

 

[hahahanoobs]

Noticeable improvement in visuals, layout and functionality. Beta testers should be pleased.

 

[Uncle Al]

Yeah, it looks pretty good .... what a shame they chased away the top titles but at least now the trash will look more appealing ...... LOL

 

[NightWlkr]

Its an amazing update! I was reluctant to do it but I was pleasantly surprised.
I can see all the free games I've downloaded in the past and it looks nice.

 

[candle_86]

But I like the old interface, I've already catagorized my 600 games

 

[neeyik]

At 50 years of age, change causes all kinds of twitchy anxiety breakouts, and this one is no different. I had become very used to the fact that My Library view was set to just showing a simple list of what I had installed - it's a heck of a lot busier now. Time will dull the feelings and I'll get used to it, like everything else, but I'm not an immediate fan of the changes.

Edit: Doh. Figured it out - just create a new 'collection' and use the 'Installed locally' tag; now it's back to just showing my installed games. Yay!