Move a Window with the Keyboard in Windows 7/8/10

Comes in handy once in a blue moon

So for those of you who do not like to use a mouse, it would be pretty cool if you could move a window using just the keyboard in Windows 7 right? Well, there are a couple of ways to do this and even though you may not need to do it very often, it does come in handy on the rare occasion!

In this article, I’ll tell you how to move a window in small increments to the exact position you want, how to snap a window to the left or right and how to move a window between monitors on a multi-monitor setup, all by just using the keyboard!

Method 1 – Incremental Move

For exact positioning, you first need to click on the window. Now this is obviously going to only work for windows that are not fully maximized. If it’s fully maximized, there is really nowhere to move the window.

Step 1: Either click on the window or if you want to use the keyboard, press ALT+TAB and make the window you want to move active.

Step 2: Now go ahead and press ALT+SPACEBAR and you’ll see a small menu appear in the window.

Step 3: Now press M, which will basically choose the Move option in the menu.

Step 4: Now use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move the window to the new position that you desire.

Step 5: Press the Enter key to get out of the move mode. Also, if you want to have the window go back to the original position before you started the move, press the Esc key instead.

Method 2 – Windows Snap

Windows has a nifty feature that lets you snap windows to the left-hand or right-hand side of the screen. If you drag a window to the right or left, it will automatically resize and snap to the side.

To do this using the keyboard, press the Windows Key + the right or left arrow. Make sure to hold down the Windows key while pressing the left and right arrow keys. It’s actually pretty neat and much faster than dragging the window around the screen.

Method 3 – Multi-Monitor Setups

Lastly, for moving between multiple monitors, all you have to do is add SHIFT to the above key combo, so it would simply be Windows Key + Shift + right or left arrow.

For the power users who really want to control their windows, moving may not be enough. So here’s a few other shortcuts that could come in handy if you are left with nothing but a keyboard and Windows:

End – Will display the bottom of the active window (in case you need to scroll using the keyboard)

Home – Will display the top of the active window

F11 – Will either maximize or minimize the active window

Ctrl + Tab – If you have a window with tabs, then this will move you forward through the tabs

Ctrl + Shift + Tab – Will move you back through the tabs

Windows Key + Shift + Up Arrow – This will stretch a window to the top and bottom of the screen.

Founder of Help Desk Geek and managing editor. He began blogging in 2007 and quit his job in 2010 to blog full-time. He has over 15 years of industry experience in IT and holds several technical certifications. Read Aseem’s Full Bio

Windows 10 — How to move window to other monitor by using keyboard shortcuts?

I try to switch a window from my second monitor to the first, because my OS always opens some windows where they were last closed. E.g. if I open up VLC Player to watch a video and then move the window to monitor B, close it and reopen it, then it is opened on monitor B the next time.

This is obviously very annoying, especially if monitor B is not on.

Is there a shortcut so I can move the windows easily to monitor A again if it has focus?

I tried to give the window focus and press

Windows + SHIFT + → or: Windows + SHIFT + ←

But nothing happens.

5 Answers 5

I solved it by unchecking the box which you can see in the following screenshot.

Go to Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Make the Keyboard Easier to Use

Then search for the setting «Make it easier to manage windows» and un-check «Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen»

After unchecking this option, it works again.

Go to Settings -> System -> Multitasking

The first section in the Multitasking settings is called Snap. I had the first four items in the list set to Off. When I changed them to On, it (moving windows with Windows + Shift + → / ← (Right / Left arrow key) started working again.

(Click image to enlarge)

An alternative method of moving desktop applications using the keyboard, is to open the application system menu by pressing ALT + Space and then press m to select move. Then you can use the arrow keys to move the application window. I regularly use this to move applications that are placed outside my desktop.

Note that this will not work if «move» is disabled in the application. Which will be the case if the application is maximized.

This method also works when «Prevent windows from being automatically arranged when moved to the edge of the screen» is checked in the control panel.

How to move a window using keyboard only in Windows 10 and other versions

It is not often that you need to move a window using the keyboard only in the Windows operating system. Windows is designed to be used with a mouse besides the keyboard, and now touch. Every Windows user at least has a touchpad or mouse these days. However, if the keyboard is what you prefer to use, then here is how you can move a window using the keyboard! Moving a window using the keyboard can be useful if your window is partially or fully out of the screen or if some buttons that you need to click are under the Taskbar which usually appears always on top covering them.

1. Switch to the desired window using Alt + Tab .
   Tip: See how to tweak Alt+Tab to enlarge thumbnails and disable live aero peek preview. Also see two secrets of Alt + Tab dialog in Windows 10 you might not be aware of.
2. Press Alt + Space shortcut keys together on the keyboard to open the window menu.
3. Now, press M . The mouse cursor will move to the title bar of the window and turn into a cross with arrows:
4. Use the left, right, up and down arrow keys to move your window. When you have moved the window to the desired position, press Enter .

Modern operating systems like Windows 10, Windows 8 or Windows 7 allow you to perform few extra actions with windows. They allow you to control the size and positioning of open windows better by dragging them to the edge of the screen. If you drag a window using its title bar to the top edge of the screen, it will be maximized. With the mouse pointer touching the left or right edges of the screen when dragging a window, it will be snapped to the left or right side of the screen respectively. This feature is called Snap.

If you grab the title bar of a window with the mouse and drag and shake it, all other background windows will be minimized. This is called Aero Shake. Both actions have their own hotkeys:
Win + Home : Same as Aero Shake (minimizes all windows except the foreground window)
Win + Left arrow key: Snaps an app window to the left.
Win + Right arrow key: Snaps an app window to the right.
Win + Up arrow key: Maximizes a window.
Win + Shift + Up arrow key: Maximizes/resizes a window vertically.
Win + Down arrow key: Minimizes a window if it’s not maximized, otherwise it restores the window to its original non-maximized sized.

Aero Snap in Windows 10, Windows 8 and Windows 7 can also be customized. While the operating system does not allow you to control individual options, you can use my freeware Winaero Tweaker to enable or disable snapping, drag to maximize and vertical resizing options:

Bonus tip: You can also resize a window to a specific size or move it to specific position using the free app, Sizer.

Also, using the free AquaSnap, you can get Windows 10 Snap features in Windows 7 and XP.That’s it.

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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.

7 thoughts on “ How to move a window using keyboard only in Windows 10 and other versions ”

I want to add that you can hold down Ctrl when using arrow keys to move window more precise.

Hey thanks Ivan, I didn’t know this. Great tip.

Could you add how to send a window to another virtual desktop (Windows 10), and/or that this is not possible with keyboard shortcuts?

win+cltr+ right arrow to go virtual desktop and left arrow to back

Fantastic – thank you!

My computer, a Dell PC with Windows 10, powers up just fine, but I cannot use it because the Aps page sizes are so big that I cannot access and use Restore to restore back to normal page size. I am not at my computer now, obviously, so I just copied your Aero Shake and Snap info to take home with me to see what I can do with it. If your info saves my butt, you can be sure that you will get a donation from me.

How to quickly move current window to another Task View / desktop in Windows 10?

Windows 10 introduced Task View — the ability to have multiple virtual desktops. When I am in a window on Desktop 1, what’s the quickest way to move it to Desktop 2?

Currently, I need to enter the task switcher (icon in the Taskbar or Win + Tab ), find the window, and drag & drop it between desktops. It is inconvenient. Is there a quicker way?

15 Answers 15

I think for a quicker switch this should be in the titlebar, so I created a tool for that:

You can also move windows by using WIN + ALT + Left / Right or change the shortcut as needed.

I also looked for that option, and from the searches I’ve made (I think that I also saw it on the Microsoft forums), it’s not something that is available built-in at the moment.

The best way I came out with for now, to avoid using the mouse, is:

• Winkey + tab for the desktops screen
• Right click on the window you want to move.
  Use the right click keyboard button, or Shift + F10 if you don’t have that key in your keyboard.
• Choose Move to (or type M , because it’s marked), and then the desktop you want (or N for new desktop, also marked)

This doesn’t help that much, but that’s what there is until someone develops something to make it easier.

Update: I’ve started looking into this. There’s a registry value that changes when the app is moved between desktops. In that location, there are all the open apps:

The id of the current desktop is here:

It’s not enough to change it to the other virtual desktop key because some UI refresh is needed.

I’ve checked with procmon, and the dll’s that are used in the process are:

• msctf.dll
• twinui.dll
• windows.immersiveshell.serviceprovider.dll
• shell32.dll
• UIAnimation.dll

I’ll guess that one of them is responsible for the visual refresh, and the main suspect is UIAnimation.dll!

If someone wants to keep investigating, this will serve as a start.

Keyboard shortcuts in apps

Keyboard shortcuts are keys or combinations of keys that provide another way to do something that you’d typically do with a mouse.

The following are common keyboard shortcuts in many of the Microsoft apps that come with Windows 10. This includes shortcuts for:

In many of these apps, shortcuts are also shown in a tooltip if you hold the mouse pointer over a button. In others, pressing the Alt or F10 keys shows available keyboard shortcuts. If a letter is underlined in a menu, press the Altkey and the underlined key together instead of choosing that menu item. For example, to create a new picture in Paint, press Ctrl + N.

Note: With a touch keyboard, you’ll need to press the Ctrl key to view some shortcuts.

Calculator keyboard shortcuts

Switch to Standard mode

Switch to Scientific mode

Switch to Graphing mode

Switch to Programmer mode

Switch to Date Calculation mode

Store in memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Add to memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Subtract from memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Recall from memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Clear current input (select CE)

Fully clear input (select C)

Navigate to the next UI item and give it focus

Selects UI item that has focus

Selects = in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Select +/- in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Select 1/x in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Select 2 √x in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Select % in Standard mode and Programmer mode

When history button is visible, selects the history button in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Move up in history list, memory list, and menu items

Move down in history list, memory list, and menu items

Select DEG in Scientific mode

Select RAD in Scientific mode

Select GRAD in Scientific mode

Select 2 x in Scientific mode

Select 10 x in Scientific mode

Select 10 x in in Scientific mode

Select sin -1 in Scientific mode

Select sinh in Scientific mode

Select sinh -1 in Scientific mode

Select tan in Scientific mode

Select tan -1 in Scientific mode

Select tanh in Scientific mode

Select tanh -1 in Scientific mode

Select cos in Scientific mode

Select cos -1 in Scientific mode

Select cosh in Scientific mode

Select cosh -1 in Scientific mode

Select sec in Scientific mode

Select sec -1 in Scientific mode

Select sech in Scientific mode

Select sech -1 in Scientific mode

Select csc in Scientific mode

Select csc -1 in Scientific mode

Select csch in Scientific mode

Select csch -1 in Scientific mode

Select cot in Scientific mode

Select cot -1 in Scientific mode

Select coth in Scientific mode

Select coth -1 in Scientific mode

Select y √x in Scientific mode

Select |x| in Scientific mode

Select ⌊x⌋ in Scientific mode

Select ⌈x⌉ in Scientific mode

Select log in Scientific mode

Select log yx in Scientific mode

Select dms in Scientific mode

Select ln in Scientific mode

Select e x in Scientific mode

Select Pi in Scientific mode

Select x 2 in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Toggles on/off F-E buttonin Scientific mode

Select exp in Scientific mode

Select x y in Scientific mode

Select x 3 in Scientific mode

Select n! in Scientific mode

Select mod in Scientific mode

Ctrl ++ on numpad

Graph zooms in while in Graphing mode

Ctrl +- on numpad

Graph zooms out while in Graphing mode

Select DWORD in Programmer mode

Select WORD in Programmer mode

Select BYTE in Programmer mode

Select HEX in Programmer mode

Select DEC in Programmer mode

Select OCT in Programmer mode

Select BIN in Programmer mode

Select QWORD in Programmer mode

Select letters A-F in Programmer mode while HEX is select

Select RoL in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to either «Circular» shift

Select RoR in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to either «Circular» shift

Select Lsh in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to «Arithmetic» or «Logical» shift

Select Rsh in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to «Arithmetic» or «Logical» shift