Windows 10 includes a number of useful ways to manage application windows. One of those is Task View, a built-in feature that shows thumbnails of all your open windows in one place. Here’s how to use it.
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Tip: If you cannot find the “Task View” button on your taskbar, right-click on the taskbar and enable “Show Task View Button” in the context menu.
Once Task View is open, you will see thumbnails of every window you have open, and they will be arranged in neat rows.
The nice thing is that Task View is a live view of all your windows, so if the applications update themselves – for example, if a YouTube video is playing or a game is in progress – you will continue to see the thumbnail view over time change.
To close Task View and return to the desktop, click an empty area of the Task View screen or press the “Escape” key.
Manage Windows with Task View
You can use Task View to manage windows with your mouse or keyboard. With ‘Task View’ open, use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the window you want to view and press ‘Enter’. Or you can just click on the thumbnail with your mouse.
If the window you selected was already open, Windows will open it to all other open windows. If it was minimized (as seen in the following example), it will be restored and brought to the foreground.
To close a window with Task View, hover your mouse cursor over the thumbnail view until the “X” button appears and click it. Alternatively, you can select the window with your cursor keys and press the “Delete” key to close it.
You can also use Task View to manage virtual desktops by clicking the virtual desktop thumbnails at the top of the Task View screen. After you’ve created multiple virtual desktops, you can even drag application windows between them. Lots of fun!
RELATED: Quickly switch between virtual desktops on Windows 10
