Keyboard shortcut for switching between windows of the same program

[omidkrad]

Windows currently does not have a shortcut for switching between windows of the same program/app. On Mac it is CMD + `. I think it should be supported on Windows out of the box, but maybe adding it in PowerToys would be faster?

Right now the alternative is to install a third-party tool called Easy Window Switcher.

[retrorich75]

Have you ever tried to use CTRL + TAB key ? works for many programs with multiple windows

[omidkrad]

It is different. CTRL+Tab switches between any open windows while the proposed ALT+` (backtick) switches between open windows of the same program. It is very handy when you have many windows open. See here for more details.

[Exorust]

Most linux distros have this set as ALT+~ which is not set to anything in Windows so this can be done in this manner.

[NN---]

There is AltTabAlternative which does this well.

[crutkas]

#2954 has a possible bit of code

[crutkas]

@omidkrad i don't think that is true. If i have multiple Edge windows open, ctrl-tab only switches between the tabs for that current window.

To get this correct, this is going to be very hard due to different apps behaving differently with that keystroke.

[crutkas]

correct me if i'm wrong: you want: if i have 5 instances of edge open, it goes between those windows. This could maybe get interesting for things like Outlook.

[omidkrad]

@crutkas Typically the shortcut for switching between tabs (in a tab based app) is CTRL+TAB and the shortcut for switching between applications is ALT+TAB. For some reason in Edge each tab is treated like a separate app so in Edge, ALT+TAB may go to the next tab or next app, but in Chrome it always jumps to the next window.

In Linux and Mac there is also a shortcut for switching between apps of the same type. In Linux it is ALT+` and in Mac it is CMD+`. So here we're proposing to have a compatible keyboard shortcut in Windows, that could be ALT+` as well. For example when focus is on Notepad, pressing ALT+` should rotate between instances of Notepad only.

[alshar]

Any update on this?

[akiver]

Hello!

Easy Window Switcher didn't work well for me so I made an open-source alternative called AltBacktick.
If a PowerToys maintainer wants to use the code and add it to PowerToys, please feel free.

I think that switching between the same program windows with a keyboard should be supported by the OS, if PowerToys can add this missing Windows feature that would be great.

Thank you!

[franky920920]

@akiver You could make a pull request for this to integrate AltBacktick to Keyboard Manager PowerToys. By the way, please reference this issue (#278) in the PR.

[robmonte]

This would be an awesome feature to have, especially if the keybind can be customized for those of us that have hand difficulty with certain key combinations. It kind of surprises me that Windows hasn't added this by now regardless, it's very useful to sometimes only cycle app windows rather than all windows.

[Jay-o-Way]

I made an open-source alternative called AltBacktick. If a PowerToys maintainer wants to use the code and add it to PowerToys, please feel free.

@crutkas have you and @akiver had time to talk about possible integration?

[NN---]

@akiver AltBacktick has GPL-2 license while PowerToys has MIT license.
I guess you have to change the license or allow consuming the code before PowerToys can use the code.

[slimane-deb]

Hello, any Update?
Actually I was just wondering if we can replace the shortcut of using Win + ctrl + n ( which does exactly what I want. where n is position of the app on taskbar)

[hanyce]

any plans of this issue?

[Jeffrey-deng]

Hello!

Easy Window Switcher didn't work well for me so I made an open-source alternative called AltBacktick. If a PowerToys maintainer wants to use the code and add it to PowerToys, please feel free.

I think that switching between the same program windows with a keyboard should be supported by the OS, if PowerToys can add this missing Windows feature that would be great.

Thank you!

Thank you for your very practical tool！

[McPhale]

There is also this utility that has been working well for me: https://github.com/sigoden/window-switcher

[mscottford]

@akiver AltBacktick has GPL-2 license while PowerToys has MIT license. I guess you have to change the license or allow consuming the code before PowerToys can use the code.

I found an issue in the AltBacktick project, akiver/AltBacktick#13, that asks for the license to be changed to MIT so it can be included here. I encourage those who are interested giving that issue a 👍🏼.

[NN---]

The idea is merely simple.
Enumerate Windows in the same process.
The code can be rewritten from scratch.
It is not a complicated logic.

I tried to add a module to PowerToys but found it is not an easy task for a hour.
If someone could prepare the whole arrangements for a new module, I can add a code switching windows.

[mscottford]

The license for AltBacktick was recently switched to MIT.