Virtual Desktop Switching (In Windows)

Virtual Desktop Switching (In Windows)

i can't remember who told me this, but supposedly windows' virtual desktop switching makes multiple physical monitors obsolete. (to be clear: the desktops built into windows, not virtual machine desktops.)

i've been playing with it. right now i'm setting up a dedicated desktop for each client: a remote session to their server on one side, our it documentation tool tee'd up to their account in a browser next to it. flip between clients with a keystroke.

i dunno know about you, but after so many tabs, my brain gets overwhelmed and i end up needing to reset by closing them all down and starting over.

i kept forgetting the shortcuts, so i had claude build me a cheatsheet and taped it to the side of my monitor. sharing it here in case it's useful to anyone else.

Keyboard reference

Switching on Windows

hold tap

Apps & Windows

Win+TabTask View
Win+19taskbar app #
Win+Tcycle taskbar

Virtual Desktops

Win+Ctrl+next desktop
Win+Ctrl+previous desktop
Win+Ctrl+Dnew desktop
Win+Ctrl+F4close desktop

Window Placement

Win+snap half L / R
Win+maximize / restore
Win+Shift+to other monitor
Win+Homeminimize the rest
Win+Dshow desktop

Tabs (inside apps)

Ctrl+Tabnext tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tabprevious tab
Ctrl+19jump to tab #
Ctrl+Wclose tab
Ctrl+Shift+Treopen closed tab
Win is the ⊞ flag key. Pill-shaped keys are held down; square keys are tapped. 1–9 means any number key in that range.