Windows 10 switching between desktops

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I think it’d be awesome if the Microsoft team added an easier way to switch between desktops in Windows 10. I’m currently using the technical preview and I don’t like having to either go down to the task view or hit the key binds which consist of 3 different keys. I think it would be really nice if they implemented another ‘charms bar’ like menu to swich between desktops just like how you can move to the top left hand corner of the screen to change apps. So if you moved your hand to the bottom/top right hand of the screen it displayed a preview of all the active desktops as well as a red X on them to close it.

I have found that the Task View icon on the Taskbar is the easiest way to work with the Virtual Desktops.

You can click that icon and this displays all of the virtual desktops. You can switch to any of those desktops or click the X close button on each desktop.

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I think it’d be awesome if the Microsoft team added an easier way to switch between desktops in Windows 10. I’m currently using the technical preview and I don’t like having to either go down to the task view or hit the key binds which consist of 3 different keys. I think it would be really nice if they implemented another ‘charms bar’ like menu to swich between desktops just like how you can move to the top left hand corner of the screen to change apps. So if you moved your hand to the bottom/top right hand of the screen it displayed a preview of all the active desktops as well as a red X on them to close it.

I have found that the Task View icon on the Taskbar is the easiest way to work with the Virtual Desktops.

You can click that icon and this displays all of the virtual desktops. You can switch to any of those desktops or click the X close button on each desktop.

I don’t like how small the desktop icons are and the windows view are much larger, I want a menu showing only the desktops so I don’t have to focus my mouse on a tiny area to switch desktops. Or maybe an easier keybind would suffice like control + right/left

How to use multiple desktops in Windows 10

Windows 10’s virtual desktops feature is super helpful if you’re working on a bunch of different things.

If you’re a single-monitor user — or even if you’re not — multiple virtual desktops can be very handy. Especially if you’re now working from home for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus pandemic and juggling different projects on the same computer. Whether you’re a longtime Windows 10 ($170 at Best Buy) user or have only recently upgraded after support for Windows 7 ended earlier this year, multiple desktops are a super useful feature.

The Task View pane in Windows 10 allows you to add an unlimited number of virtual desktops quickly and easily. You can manage the view of your virtual desktop, and move applications to different desktops, show windows on all desktops or close pages on a selected desktop.

How to add a desktop in Windows 10

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To add a virtual desktop, open up the new Task View pane by clicking the Task View button (two overlapping rectangles) on the taskbar, or by pressing the Windows Key + Tab. In the Task View pane, click New desktop to add a virtual desktop. If you have two or more desktops already open, the «Add a desktop» button will appear as a gray tile with a plus symbol. You can also quickly add a desktop without entering the Task View pane by using the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + Ctrl + D.

How to switch between desktops

To switch between virtual desktops, open the Task View pane and click on the desktop you want to switch to. You can also quickly switch desktops without going into the Task View pane by using the keyboard shortcuts Windows Key + Ctrl + Left Arrow and Windows Key + Ctrl + Right Arrow.

You can add an unlimited number of virtual desktops — we stopped at 368.

Read more from TechRepublic: 20 pro tips to make Windows 10 work the way you want (free PDF)

Move windows between desktops

To move a window from one desktop to another, you first have to open up the Task View pane and then hover over the desktop containing the window you want to move. The windows on that desktop will pop up; find the window you want to move, right-click it, and go to Move to and choose the desktop you want to move the window to. You can also drag and drop windows — grab the window you want to move and drag it into the desired desktop.

Close a desktop

To close a virtual desktop, open up the Task View pane and hover over the desktop you want to close until a small X appears in the upper right corner. Click the X to close the desktop. You can also close desktops without going into the Task View pane by using the keyboard shortcut Windows Key + Ctrl + F4 (this will close the desktop you’re currently on).

How to switch desktops on a Windows 10 computer and organize your activities on multiple virtual desktops

Windows 10 lets you create multiple desktops and switch between them with a couple of clicks. This way, you can work on several different projects at once without feeling cluttered or mixing windows and apps of unrelated activities.

Not only can you switch among different desktops, but you can also easily move open windows from one desktop to the other.

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How to switch desktops in Windows 10

1. Click the «Task View» button in the taskbar. You can also press the Windows key + «Tab» on your keyboard.

2. Click the Task View button to see your desktops, open programs, and history of programs you’ve recently used.

3. At the top of the screen, you will see all your current virtual desktops. Hover your cursor over a desktop to see the programs and tabs currently open in that window.

4. Click the desktop you want to switch to, or click «New Desktop» to open a new, blank virtual desktop. The virtual desktops appear at the top of the screen, above the history of programs you’ve used.

5. Below the desktops, you can see a history of all the programs and windows you have used. As you scroll down the list, you go further into the past. You can re-open a window just by clicking it.

6. Also, you can quickly switch between desktops without going into «Task View» by pressing «CTRL» + the Windows key + the right arrow key or «CTRL» + Windows key + left arrow key on your keyboard.

How to move a window from one desktop to another in Windows 10

If you are using a window on one desktop but would like it to be in a different desktop, you can easily transfer it.

1. Click the «Task View» icon in the taskbar. You can also press the Windows key + «Tab» on your keyboard.

2. Hover your cursor over the desktop. When you see the window you want to move, click and drag the window to the other desktop and release it. You’ve now moved it between desktops.

You can drag windows between desktops to re-organize which windows share a desktop.

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How to Switch Between Desktops in Windows 10?

Windows 10 provides an amazing feature with which you can easily manage and organise your work. This feature is Multiple Desktops, also termed as Virtual Desktop. Yes! You can have more than one desktop at a time on a single machine, and of course, switch between them.

Imagine having 10 to 15 applications open on your desktop. What a mess! To manage this stuff, you can go for multiple desktops and move a few of the applications to another desktop.

If you are working on multiple projects simultaneously, then you can create different desktops for different projects. Such as one for a game related project, one for an under-development website, one for communicating with your teammates and another, maybe for some amusement like songs, games or a movie.

After creating a number of desktops, you need to know how to switch between them. Windows 10 is very fast and switching between the desktops is even faster. This article is going to tell you three very simple methods to quickly switch to a different desktop in Windows 10.

Steps to switch between the Desktops in Windows 10

Method 1: Using Task View Button

Task View button is present on the taskbar in Windows 10. This button looks like:

Sometimes, the Task View button is hidden by default. You can make it visible in two steps:

• Right-click on Taskbar.
• Select the Show Task View button.

Step 1: Click on the Task View button present on the taskbar.

As soon as you click, a new screen will appear.

This screen contains four things:

1. Taskbar at the bottom: This taskbar belongs to the desktop which is currently open.
2. Desktop ribbon: Above the taskbar, appears a ribbon which holds all the desktops which you have created. They are given names like Desktop 1, Desktop 2 and so on.
3. New Desktop button: Look at the right-most corner on the Desktop ribbon, you will find a New Desktop button represented by a Plus sign. By clicking on this button, you can create a new desktop.
4. Active applications on the current desktop: The major part of this screen is covered by the snaps of applications which are active on the current desktop. If you hover the mouse on different desktops present on the ribbon, the applications of the respective desktop will appear in this area.

Step 2: Just click on the desktop which you want to open from the Desktop ribbon.

Method 2: Ctrl + Windows + Arrow Key(Left/Right)

This is a keyboard shortcut to switch between the desktops in Windows 10.

Step 1: Press the Ctrl key and Windows key simultaneously.

Step 2: Without leaving the above two keys, press the left/right arrow key once.
This will take you to the neighbouring desktop. Pressing the arrow key again will take you to the next desktop. In this way, you can go through all the desktops one by one using the keyboard shortcut.

Method 3: Four – finger Swipe

If you have a touch-screen, then this is the best way to switch between the desktops in Windows 10.

Swipe with four fingers in either direction and the neighbouring desktop will slide into the screen. If you want to go back to the previous desktop, swipe again with four fingers in the opposite direction.

That’s it! Now you know how to switch between the desktops quickly in Windows 10 and you can do multitasking more efficiently.

Switch Between Virtual Desktops in Windows 10

How to Switch Between Virtual Desktop in Windows 10

Windows 10 comes with a useful feature called Task View. It allows having virtual desktops, which the user can use to organize apps and open windows. It is possible to move windows between virtual desktops to arrange them in a useful way. In this post, we will review two methods you can use to switch between your virtual desktops in Windows 10.

Windows 10 includes the virtual desktops feature, also known as Task View. For users of Mac OS X or Linux, this feature is not spectacular or exciting, but for casual PC users who have used Windows only since eternity, it is a step forward. The ability to have multiple desktops exists in Windows since Windows 2000 at the API level. Several third party apps have used those APIs to provide virtual desktops, but Windows 10 has made this feature available out-of-the-box in a useful way.

Finally, Windows 10 has received an option to rename a virtual desktop.

Starting in Windows 10 build 18963. Prior to this update, virtual desktops were simply named «Desktop 1», «Desktop 2», and so on. Finally, you can give them meaningful names like «Office», «Browsers», etc. See

You can switch between virtual desktops using the Task View user interface or with a global keyboard shortcut (hotkey). Let’s review these methods.

To Switch Between Virtual Desktops in Windows 10,

1. Click on the Task View button in the taskbar.
2. Alternatively, press Win + Tab to open the Task View.
3. Create a new virtual desktop if required.
4. In the Task View, hover over the virtual desktop thumbnail preview you want to switch to. You will see a preview of that desktop.
5. Click on the thumbnail preview to switch to the virtual desktop.

Also, you can switch to another virtual desktop with a hotkey.

To Switch The Active Virtual Desktop with a Keyboard Shortcut,

1. Press Win + Ctrl + → to switch to the next virtual desktop at the right.
2. Press Win + Ctrl + ← to switch to the previous virtual desktop at the left.
3. The current virtual desktop will be changed to another available virtual desktop.

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About Sergey Tkachenko

Sergey Tkachenko is a software developer from Russia who started Winaero back in 2011. On this blog, Sergey is writing about everything connected to Microsoft, Windows and popular software. Follow him on Telegram, Twitter, and YouTube.