How to See All Windows Open on Pc
I'm trying to see if Windows has a built-in shortcut for viewing all the open windows on your box using a keyboard.
Something like this (Ubuntu example):
We have a Microsoft Touch Mouse that allows for this feature, but it's getting frustrating accidental clicking it and having it impede our work by bringing up all open windows.
Can someone please help? We're trying to get more efficient and I've spent the last 2 days (4-5 hours each day) looking for a solution. JOKE
asked May 25 '12 at 15:13
MinjaMinja
191 1 gold badge 1 silver badge 6 bronze badges
4
2 Answers 2
There are two built-in ways and several third party tools1 that let you take a peak at all open windows. All make use of some Aero features that have to be enabled.2
-
Win + Tab shows all windows stacked and skewed.
-
Alt + Tab shows all windows side by side.
The thumbnails are pretty small, but you can adjust the size with the following registry keys:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\AltTab MaxThumbSizePx = DWORD : XXX (decimal) MinThumbSizePcent = DWORD : 100 (decimal)
If
XXX
is roughly one eighth of the screen width, the thumbnails will use all available screen width.3
1 Switcher, for example, lets you rearrange the thumbnails at will.
2 Instructions to enable the necessary Aero features:
-
Press Win + R.
-
Run
control system
. -
Go to
Advanced system settings -> Performance -> Settings...
-
Check
Enable desktop composition
andUse visual styles on windows and buttons
. -
Click
OK
.
3 Result:
answered May 25 '12 at 17:11
DennisDennis
46.5k 10 gold badges 124 silver badges 146 bronze badges
4
-
That was perfect! He's got it working now...the question is, why does my boss see it in a pancaked, 3-dimensional "list" rather than a grid view. He's too busy today to take a screen shot, but it basically looks like this: oi46.tinypic.com/34pdehk.jpg
May 25 '12 at 19:22
-
Your image displays the result of pressing
[Win] + [Tab]
. You get the grid view displayed in my answer by pressing[Alt] + [Tab]
.May 25 '12 at 19:24
-
He gets the box with the icons displaying, but not the content inside them (as do I). Windows + Tab works for him, it doesn't work for me as I don't have those checkboxes available for my copy (Enterprise edition). It's not important for me as much as him though, so no biggie. Sorry for the unclear explanation, this is what we get with Alt+Tab: oi46.tinypic.com/348t4yu.jpg
May 25 '12 at 19:27
-
Another Aero functionality is missing: Enable
Use visual styles on windows and buttons
in the dialogue of step 4.May 25 '12 at 19:34
alt+tab shows all open windows (in thumbnail-size previews), and is currently the only way that Windows natively supports this functionality.
answered May 25 '12 at 15:47
JoshuaJoshua
4,342 3 gold badges 23 silver badges 31 bronze badges
Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged windows-7 keyboard-shortcuts or ask your own question.
How to See All Windows Open on Pc
Source: https://superuser.com/questions/428815/shortcut-key-to-display-all-windows-7-windows
[Win] + [Tab]
lets you take a peak at all windows. Not sure if that's what you're looking for.May 25 '12 at 15:28
Yeah, it doesn't seem to be working for me. Nothing happens with [Win] + [Tab].
May 25 '12 at 15:32
If the mouse is starting to impede your work either disable the button on the mouse OR get a new mouse.
May 25 '12 at 16:29