microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys

Allow excluding specific FancyZones from keyboard snap cycling

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#49,338 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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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

I'd like the ability to mark individual FancyZones as excluded from keyboard snap navigation (Win + Arrow when "Override Windows Snap" is enabled), while still allowing those zones to be used for normal drag-and-drop placement.

Scenario when this would be used?

I have a layout with three zones:

  • Left
  • Center
  • Right

For my daily workflow, I frequently move windows between the Left and Right zones using the keyboard. The Center zone is only used occasionally for temporary or reference windows.

Currently, keyboard navigation always cycles through all three zones, so moving between Left and Right requires an extra key press because the Center zone is always included.

Supporting information
Proposed solution

Allow each zone to have an option such as:

Include in keyboard navigation (enabled by default)

or

Skip during keyboard snap cycling

When disabled, the zone would:

Be ignored by Win + Arrow zone navigation.
Still appear normally in the layout.
Still accept windows when dragging (including Shift + drag) or when explicitly selected through other placement methods.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by locating FancyZones' keyboard snap navigation and the zone layout settings. Trace how zones are selected for Win + Arrow cycling and how drag placement uses the same layout, then define the setting and verify that excluded zones remain available for dragging while being skipped during keyboard navigation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
48/100

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