A Very Simple Windows Management Workflow for Windows

Zettel#47

zettelkasten
Published

2023-03-14

Having efficient keybinds can be a significant factor in performing actions quickly. Compared to having to click on an icon, being able to display a specific application / window with a keybind makes for a smooth workflow. You don’t have to search for the icon on your screen, move your mouse, and finally click on it. Here, you just press a keybind, and you’re done.

Well you can have this in Windows without installing anything.

Create keybinds for apps pinned in the taskbar

  1. right-click on an app and pin it to the taskbar;
  2. organize it so that, if it’s in the first position, its assigned keybind will be 1;
  3. call the app with win + n where n matches its position in your taskbar;
  4. press win + shift + n to create a new instance of the app (viz. in a new window, if it’s possible).

Don’t put things that already have a keybind, like the File Explorer which you can access with win + e.

Some of my own keybinds

  • win + 2 is assigned to my web browser dedicated to work;
  • win + 3 is assigned to Windows Terminal;
  • win + 4 is assigned to Discord;
  • win + 5 is assigned to the Calculator;
  • win + 9 is assigned to my other web browser;
  • win + 0 is assigned to Spotify.

Web browsers: separating work and personal use

My web browser dedicated to work doesn’t restore the previous session. Instead, it opens with two tabs: ChatGPT and Google. As someone who struggles to manage a healthy number of tabs (and even windows), having this setup alleviates my cognitive load. I close the browser almost after every search so that I can have a clean slate for the next one.

Moving your windows

Windows Snap

You can easily move your windows by pressing win + arrow keys and win + alt + arrow keys . All of this is native to Windows, and there are also preconfigured layouts you can toggle with win + z.

More on this here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/snap-your-windows-885a9b1e-a983-a3b1-16cd-c531795e6241#WindowsVersion=Windows_11

Going further

You can have a lot more by installing PowerToys (developed by Microsoft). Some of my favorite features from PowerToys:

  • Keyboard Manager, to remap keys and create new keybinds;
  • Color Picker, win + shift + c;
  • Quick Accent, so I don’t have to use alt + 128 to print a ‘Ç’, alt + 144 for a ‘É’, and so on;
  • Run, which is a fast app launcher you access with alt + space;
  • Text Extractor, which is an Optical Character Recognition tool.

I personally don’t use FancyZones much, but if a more advanced tiling window manager than FancyZones appeal to you, you might be interested by komorebi.