microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys

Switch Between Windows Across All FancyZones

Open
#47,601 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Needs-Triage Product-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

Open the contributing 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

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