microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys
Switch Between Windows Across All FancyZones
- Dominant language
- C
- Stars
- 139k
- Forks
- 8.6k
- PR merge metrics
- PR metrics pending
Description
### Description of the new feature / enhancement
The current **“Switch between windows in the current zone”** (FancyZones) feature only cycles through windows inside the active zone. This limits its usefulness when working with multiple zones on large or ultrawide monitors.
Proposed enhancement
Add an additional option to cycle through **windows across all zones**, not just the current one.
Suggested options:
- Switch windows in current zone (existing behavior)
- Switch windows across all zones
- Include minimized windows
### Scenario when this would be used?
PowerToys already remembers which **zone a window was snapped to**, so cycling through minimized windows should restore them to their last snapped zone.
Use case
On large monitors with many FancyZones layouts, users often navigate windows using the keyboard. Being able to cycle through **all windows across all zones** would make window navigation faster and more consistent, especially when some windows are minimized.
Additional note
Currently the feature **does not work when windows are minimized**, even though their last snapped zone is known. Supporting minimized windows would make the feature significantly more useful.
### Supporting information
_No response_
Contributor guide
Research direction
Start by tracing FancyZones' existing window-switching behavior and how it remembers each window's last snapped zone. Done means users can choose current-zone or all-zone cycling, optionally include minimized windows, and have minimized windows restored to their remembered zones.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Domain
- desktop, operating-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 4/5
- Estimated time
- 3-5 days
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 45/100