I love to be able to focus on whatever I do - having all accompanying technical stuff as much “transparent” as possible. The main goal is to be able to completely focus on the current task, in a distraction-free way. I like to find various “hacks” which can be used to improve my workflow, enabling to do certain things easier and faster. One such an example is WiLMa - a tiny program to manage multiple windows size and position on the screen(s). Other hacks I describe here.
A pretty ordinary thing I use on a daily basis (as a “must-do” habit) is a keyboard shortcut for cycling between last-used (or any other) windows: Alt+Tab. A single pressed Alt+Tab just switches between windows which have been last used. By pressing and holding Alt and then pressing Tab again and again You can choose to which window You want to switch.
But if You are used to work with many windows, even Alt+Tab won’t provide You with a super-efficient way of instantaneous switching to the window You need at the very moment, because You often don’t know where this window will be located on the Alt+Tab list.
Recently, however, I’ve discovered a way which seems to solve this matter:
- Think about what programs or windows You need to see most frequently.
- Pin those programs to the taskbar (I recommend to use the following approach: the more important is the program - the closer put it to the left edge).
- Now, whenever You’d like to see its window - just press Win key + a number - this keyboard shortcut will open the program pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number (count from the left),
I find this little hack amazing in action: finally I can switch between windows I really need - without a need to search for them in the Alt+Tab list. I just remember the numbers for each program of my “top-needed” list - and perform the right keyboard shortcuts each time I need them.
It wonderfully saves me from the ALT+TAB imperfection.
Filed in: personal development /10/ | life hack /37/ | work hack /37/ | software /63/ | Windows /37/
