Computer Basics · Windows & the Desktop · Lesson 3 of 5

Switching Between Apps

Hop between open apps and line up two windows side by side.

Jumping Between Apps

Most people have a few apps open at once. Maybe a letter you're writing and a calendar you're checking. Here are two easy ways to move between them.

Use the taskbar. Every open app has an icon on the taskbar, with a small line under it. Click an icon to bring that app to the front. Click it again to minimize it.

If an app has more than one window open, you may see small previews. Click the one you want.

Use Alt+Tab. This is a keyboard shortcut. A keyboard shortcut is two or more keys pressed together to do something fast.

1. Hold down the Alt key.
2. Keep holding it and press Tab once. Pictures of your open windows appear.
3. Still holding Alt, press Tab again to move to the next picture.
4. When the one you want is highlighted, let go of Alt.

A quick press of Alt+Tab flips you back to the last app you used. That's handy when you're going back and forth between two things.

On a Mac, it works the same way with Command+Tab. Hold Command, tap Tab to pick an app, then let go.

Two Windows Side by Side

Sometimes you want to see two things at once. For example, a recipe on one side and your shopping list on the other.

Windows can line them up for you. Putting a window neatly on one half of the screen is called snapping.

Snap with the keyboard:

1. Click the first window so it's in front.
2. Hold the Windows key, the one with the Windows logo, and press the Left arrow key. The window fills the left half of the screen.
3. Windows then shows your other open windows in the empty half. Click the one you want there.

Use the Right arrow key instead to send a window to the right half.

Snap with the mouse: drag a window by its title bar to the left or right edge of the screen. When you see an outline of where it will go, let go.

Windows 11 has one more way. Point at a window's Maximize button and wait a moment. A small box of layouts appears. Click a spot in it, and the window moves there.

On a Mac, point at the green button and wait a moment. A menu appears with choices to place the window on the left or right side of the screen.