Using Virtual Desktops to Stay Organised and Productive

It’s usual to have many apps open at once while writing software. As a back-end developer, you might have Visual Studio; Azure Data Studio; and a browser open for documentation. When working front-end, you might have Visual Studio Code, Fiddler, and a browser to see the results of your work. And things can get even more complicated if you’re working both sides.

It’s possible to switch between all open apps using the Taskbar. But leveraging virtual desktops to create a different workspace for each of your workflows could give your productivity a boost.

A Workspace for Each of Your Workflows

You’ll likely have encountered virtual desktops before if you’ve used Linux or macOS. However, it’s only been a native feature in Windows since Windows 10.

Each virtual desktop gives you a separate workspace in which you can arrange your apps in any way you want – if you’re working full stack, you could dedicate one virtual desktop exclusively for back-end tools; and another for building a front-end Web client.

While there’s nothing to stop you from having all your apps open on a single desktop, the ability to group related tools together gives you options to help stay focussed and organised.

Managing your Workspaces

Creating and Navigating Virtual Desktops

In Windows 11, you can create a new virtual desktop in one of two ways:

1. Using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Win+D.

2. Via the Task View: press Win+Tab and select New desktop – this option is highlighted in Image 1.

When using option (1), you’ll automatically switch to using a newly created virtual desktop. With option (2), the new desktop will appear in the list at the bottom of the screen where and can select it.

Regardless of how they’re created, you can move between your virtual desktops in one of two ways:

• The keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Win+Left Arrow and Ctrl+Win+Right Arrow. These move to the previous and next desktop respectively.

• Clicking on the desktop you’d like to use in the Task View.

Moving Apps Between Virtual Desktops

When working with multiple virtual desktops, opening an app launches an instance of it on the desktop that’s currently active. If you later decide it would be better suited on another, it’s easy to move. The Task View shows the apps open on the current desktop, and all available desktops along the bottom of the screen. From here, it’s possible to drag the app you want moved and drop it on the desktop you’d like it to go to. To illustrate this, image 2 shows moving the Calculator app from Desktop 1 to Desktop 2.

Things get a bit more complicated with apps that are set up to be a single instance. For example, let’s say we have an instance of Microsoft Excel open on Desktop 1. If we move to Desktop 2 and try to launch Excel again, we’ll find we jump straight back to Desktop 1. This is because Excel is already open there; when not opening a different workbook, Excel’s behaviour is to maintain a single instance. In this case, we can work around it by opening another workbook. This will launch a new Excel instance, which we can then move to Desktop 2.

Closing Virtual Desktops

If you no longer need a virtual desktop, you can easily close it by either:

• Pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Win+F4. This will close the active desktop.

• Clicking on the close button located in the top right corner on the respective desktop in the Task View (Image 3).

Closing a desktop doesn’t close the apps on it. Any that are open will be moved (and will appear) on the desktop to the left of it; for example, apps on Desktop 2 will be moved to Desktop 1 when Desktop 2 is closed. You’ll need to manually close any apps you no longer need.

Summary

It’s easy to lose track of things when working with many apps. Virtual desktops is a powerful feature in Windows 11 that can help group related tools together.

Each virtual desktop acts as a separate workspace where you can arrange your apps as required. The Task View allows you to manage your currently open apps and desktops. Here, you can create new virtual desktops, move apps around, and close any that are no longer needed. If you prefer, there are keyboard shortcuts for navigation too.

With this, you can create themed workspaces where you only have the tools you need open. And if you need to temporarily change focus, you’ll be able to quickly switch to another toolset with minimal disruption to your workflow.

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