Multitasking improvements in Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge

Web browsing doesn’t happen in isolation, and users frequently multitask between their web browser and other apps using the Taskbar and Alt + Tab. Traditionally, these surfaces have been almost exclusively focused on apps, forcing users to take additional steps to get to the tab they need—until now.

With the latest Insider versions of Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge, your tabs now appear in Alt + Tab, allowing you to quickly switch between both apps and sites. You can also easily access the tabs for your most important sites directly on the Taskbar. The changes are just the first of many designed to make you more productive and save you time while multitasking.

Browser tabs in Alt + Tab

Have you ever tried to use the Alt + Tab keyboard shortcut only to be surprised when it took you to the last app you were using rather than the last thing you were doing? The line between apps and sites has blurred as people spend more and more time in web browsers, but Alt + Tab was still limited to just apps. We’ve heard your feedback about how frustrating this was, so we’ve updated Alt + Tab to show your browser tabs right alongside your apps. This makes switching between open tabs as seamless as switching between open windows.

We know Alt + Tab is sacred, so you can choose whether to show all, some, or none of your tabs by going to Settings > System > Multitasking in Windows. All your tabs are shown by default, but if you find it to be a bit much you can set Alt + Tab to only show the last three or five tabs instead. We’d love to hear which setting you prefer!

Quickly access tabs for your pinned sites via the Taskbar

We’ve given pinned sites on the Taskbar a big upgrade, making it easier than ever to get back to the tabs for your most important sites. Pinned sites have always let you quickly open a website or switch to your most recent tab. With today’s update, pinned sites will now appear as running on the Taskbar and you can click on the icon to see all of your open tabs across any of your Microsoft Edge windows. This makes it easy to quickly find and switch to a tab for a specific site without having to search through all your open tabs and browser windows.

Pinned sites will now appear as running on the Taskbar, and you can click on the icon to see all of your open tabs across any of your Microsoft Edge windows. (Click to enlarge.)

Try pinning a site you visit frequently by going to Settings and More (…) > More tools > Pin to taskbar. We think you’ll love how easy it is to multitask.

Getting started

To start using these new features, you’ll need:

These features are currently rolling out to a subset of Insiders, so if you don’t see them, please check back soon.

Once you’re up-to-date, simply choose your preferred Alt + Tab setting under Settings > System > Multitasking or pin your favorite site to the taskbar by going to Microsoft Edge and selecting Settings and More (…) > More tools > Pin to taskbar.

For this initial preview release, you’ll need to remove and re-pin existing sites on your Taskbar (including removing them from the edge://apps page). We’ll be updating existing pinned sites to work with these features in the near future.

Send us feedback

We’re so excited for you to experience your tabs in Alt + Tab and the Taskbar, and we look forward to hearing your feedback. For a list of known issues in this preview, check out the Windows Insider Preview flight notes. Please let us know what you think or any bugs you encounter via the Feedback Hub app.

— William Devereux, Senior Program Manager, Microsoft Edge
— Greg Mattox, Senior Program Manager, Windows

5 Cool Windows 10 Multitasking Tips and Tricks

It doesn’t seem like it but Windows XP is more than a decade old. Those were the days when you could only afford to open 4 or 5 websites at once since each one of those opened in a new window. Things were just so cluttered even when you didn’t have a lot going on. Windows has come a long long way since then especially when it comes to multitasking. You can now have twice as many or even more websites open without them taking an extra inch of space on your taskbar. Multiple Windows from the same program are grouped together. The best of all are virtual desktops. Here are 5 Windows 10 multitasking tips that you must check out.

Is your PC is booting up slowly or taking a lot of time, here are some tips to make your Windows 10 machine boot faster.

1. Use the Win+Tab instead of Alt+Tab

The first of our Windows 10 multitasking tips relates to switching all active tasks or windows. When I used Windows 10 for the very first time, I wasn’t very impressed with the Task View button. For a long time, I’ve wanted a fancier alternative to Alt+Tab and I’ve even had one for a while, pinned to the taskbar, pretty much like the Task View button. I realized soon that while it was fancy, it wasn’t practical to find and click something on the taskbar to quickly switch between open windows. Because then why not click the Window you want to switch to in the first place. Switching Windows was all I thought the Task View button was for. I couldn’t have been more wrong, but we’ll come back to that later.

The Task View button can actually be used to switch Windows quite effectively. This becomes quite apparent when you have a lot of open windows. The Alt+Tab view has been pretty much the same as it has been for the past decade. The traditional Alt+Tab view only displays small thumbnails of Windows and the Title text only gets smaller as the number of Windows increase. In the Task View, the Window thumbnails are much bigger and clearer, even compared to the slightly better Alt+Tab menu on newer Windows 10 versions. This makes it easier to find the window you want to switch to. TaskView can be invoked by pressing Win+Tab or clicking the button next to the Cortana search bar or icon on the Taskbar. There are a bunch of more Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts to perform various tasks easily. You should also check them out.

2. Virtual Desktops

Coming back to why the TaskView button was introduced in the first place, Virtual Desktops. This might be a new concept if you’ve never used anything other than a Windows PC. Virtual Desktops have been around for quite a while on Linux. These are basically a software implementation of multiple screens. There are people who have a lot of windows open on one screen and even more on another. Things can get really complicated and messy if all these windows were to be open in the same desktop space. But not everyone can afford to have multiple displays to better organize their work.

Hence, Virtual desktops. These allow you to have a set of Windows open on one desktop, and another set open on another desktop, which is virtual. It’s kind of like having multiple desktops. Creating a Virtual desktop is easy, just go to the Task View and click the + button that says New desktop. Up until Windows 10 version 1709 this button has been located in the bottom-right corner of the Task View. Later versions will have it in the top-right.

Even if you don’t consider yourself much of a multitasker, Virtual desktops are really useful. For example, sometimes while working on my PC, I feel like I need a break, let’s watch some YouTube or listen to some songs. I already have multiple tabs and windows open by this time and I don’t want to look at them anymore. So I just create a new desktop and do whatever I want to do. All my work right there on the previous virtual desktop and I can resume anytime I want. You can easily drag and drop Windows to move them from one desktop to another. If you close a Virtual Desktop which has open Windows, the Windows are moved to the previous desktop.

3. Mini Player

VLC might be the best Media Player ever but the default Films & TV app on Windows 10 has something VLC doesn’t. It’s the Mini Player feature. If you’re watching a video using the Films & TV app you can click on the Mini Player button in the bottom-right to reduce the player size. The small window is aligned to the top-right of your desktop but you can move it around and resize it to an extent as well. It works a bit like the Picture-in-Picture mode on Android. This minimized Window stays on top of anything you might open.

You can give you PC a refreshed look with custom icon packs and beautiful wallpapers. Check out these free icon packs for Windows 10 and wallpaper apps.

4. Scroll Inactive Windows

Once again, something Windows should’ve had years ago but better late than never. With Windows 10, you can finally scroll inactive Windows. Simply move your mouse over to an inactive Window and use the mouse wheel or scroll gesture to scroll. No need to first select the Window and make it active. You can disable this feature if you want to, for some reason, under Settings > Devices > Mouse. This can be really convenient if, say, you’re writing something while looking at something else in another Window for reference. It complements the functionality we’re going to discuss next.

5. Snap Assist

This is pretty old and this is something that Windows introduced first. You probably already know that you can drag a Window to either edge of the screen, left or right to snap the Window to the edge so that it takes exactly half of your screen. You can then have another Window take the other half of your screen the same way. Windows 10 takes this up a notch by allowing you to snap Windows to not only the edges but also the corners. If you drag a Window to any of the four corners of your desktop, it will stick to the corner and take up exactly a quarter of your screen.

This is pretty useful when you need to use multiple windows side by side. Since the Windows File Explorer is still stuck in 2010 and doesn’t support tabs yet, stacking two explorer Windows side by side is really convenient when moving a lot of folders here and there. You can change some Snap settings under Settings > System > Multitasking or completely disable the feature but really why would you?

Besides the tips mentioned above, we have several articles describing screenshot tips, some hidden Windows 10 tips, Windows taskbar tips, and so on.

Windows 10 multitasking snap system borked

I somehow bork the multitasking snap system. I can’t reset it. I try turning it on and off then rebooted. If I put the window close enough to the edge is won’t snap properly.

Notice the gaps on the right? I can’t snap left. If snap right it’ll sometime half snap or quarter snap to the left.
If I made the window a bit smaller like this.

Snapping right or left give me this result.

Windows 10 pro 10240

Replies (11) 

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I manage to reset the windows.

I deleted Bags and Bag MRU.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Classes \ Local Settings \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \ Bags
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Classes \ Local Settings \ Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ Shell \ BagMRU

Edited: The problem came back. It didn’t last a day 🙁 how can I find the cause?

The problem exist after awhile on a new profile too. There something about the having a window too close that breaks it. Moving a window pass the screen border or a few mm away the gap and the snap will work fine.

I already use SFC to check the files. The result came out fine.

One interest point I noticed. Windows size and position get save when I log out. I saved my window flush near the edge when log on it left a gap. It’s same distance I mention above. At the distance it snap half screen like it should. Move it a bit closer then it won’t snapping away from edge at all or it might snap quarter size.

How to Multitask in Windows 10 like a Pro

Multitasking has grown so much into us that we have actually forgotten that we are doing it. Any veteran Windows user would be impressed with how much Windows 10 has improved starting from Windows 95. Not only managing multiple apps are now much easier, but you get to see a live preview of all of your windows.

Multitasking in Windows 10

In this post, I am talking you some tips, on how you can beautifully manage your multiple windows, multitask in a number of ways, and save a lot of time & be more productive in tight situations.

1. Task View instead of ALT + TAB

Using ALT + TAB / SHIFT + ALT + TAB had been used from ages. While they are good at letting you switch between next, and previous tabs, if you have like ten to fifteen windows open, you will end up putting up more time to find out the window you want to switch. Not to forget that as the number of open windows increases, the size of the title text for each tab reduces as well.

When using Windows 10, using Task View is a better idea. It gives you a graphical view of all open apps in one zoomed-in rectangle along with a preview of each window. You can select the one you want to switch, and it switches instantly. This is how it looks:

You can invoke Task view either by using Windows+Tab together or look for the stacked rectangles right next to the Cortana search box in the taskbar.

2. Do not have a Second Monitor? Use Virtual Desktops

Using multiple monitors is one of the best ways to do multitasking. Not only you get to see more, but you can also run a number of apps that one display can handle. But then not everybody wants a second display, and if you are the kind of person who is on the move with a laptop, the secondary monitor is out of the question.

Windows 10 offers Virtual Desktops, where you can create virtually any number of desktops. You get access to Taskbar, Start Menu, and so on.

To create a Virtual Desktop, press the Task View button on the taskbar or use Windows + Tab. This will show the list of the running apps and the option of “New Desktop” with a plus sign on the bottom right.

Now, you can create any number of desktops, one after the other, and it will look like this.

The Windows + Tab / Task View displays both virtual desktops, and a preview of windows in each desktop as you hover over them.

Lastly, if you want to switch between the virtual desktops, use the keyboard shortcuts Windows Key + Ctrl + Left and Windows Key + Ctrl + Right Arrow.

Note: If you close any of the virtual desktops, all windows of that Desktop will become available in Desktop One.

3. Stack Windows Side by Side with Snap Assist

If you want to use a couple of windows side by side, Windows 10 comes with native support for Multitasking. Using the Snap Assist feature, you can drag one window to the complete left, unless you get to see a transparent dock-like thing where the windows can stick themselves. You can stack up to 4 windows side by side just like how it looks in the image below:

This is very handy when you need to look at one window and note or analyze in a second. Windows 10 offers an inbuilt setting for multitasking which you can search in the Settings App, and it offers the following options:

These settings are enabled by default, but if you want to change the behavior of Snap Assistant, you can change it here. Say, for example, I don’t like windows to resize when I am resizing one of the windows.

You can snap up to 4 windows like this, and while they happen automatically, you can always resize them for the best fit.

4. You can also Scroll Inactive Windows!

Many times, you have a second window that has a lot of data, and you need to scroll. Windows 10 lets you scroll such windows without actually switching to them by using Scroll Inactive Windows.

Go to Settings > Device > Mouse, and you will find the Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them option which you need to toggle to turn On. Now using your mouse, all you need to is get your pointer over there, and scroll, and it will work. The focus will remain on the window you want, and you still get access to all data on the second window.

5. Love Watching Videos when working? Mini Player is here to help

When I work, I usually have a video playing in the background. It helps if you are working alone most of the time. Windows 10 Movies & TV app come with a “Mini View” option which used to be there in Windows Media Player. This option is available right next to the full-screen button on the app. You can always resize the way you want.

These are most of the things I use when multitasking on my Windows 10 PC.

I am sure there are a lot many, and if you know of any, do let us know in the comments section. I am sure you do a lot better than me!