Windows 101 for Mac Transplants: Not Spaces, Virtual Desktops

Every so often, we’ve been touching on how users who may be more familiar with the macOS ecosystem in their personal lives will likely need to familiarize themselves with the Windows operating system. This time, we wanted to discuss virtual desktops in Windows… something that Mac users would know as Spaces.

On either OS, the function is effectively the same: helping a user stay organized by separating tasks across a larger workspace and effectively doubling the onscreen real estate the user can access. Let’s break down how to use them in Windows.

The First Step: Creating and Accessing a Windows Virtual Desktop

To do this, you’ll need to use something Windows offers called Task View, a convenient Taskbar option that looks like two greyscale boxes overlapping in one corner, or use the Win Key + Tab shortcut. Using Task View effectively shows you all the active windows on a given desktop environment, and it lets you create an additional environment by clicking + New desktop.

Navigating between these desktops is as simple as selecting them from Task View, or using Win Key + Ctrl + Left/Right Arrow Key.

Managing Your Virtual Desktops

From Task View, you can rename your desktops and select the one you want to navigate to by simply clicking on it. Right-clicking on the windows within them offers various handy options:

• Reorganizing open windows by snapping them to either side of a display.
• Moving a specific window to a different desktop using the Move to option and selecting the appropriate destination.
• Indicating whether a specific window (or all windows from a particular application) should appear on all desktops.
• Closing a specific window.

Of course, you can also reorganize the desktops you’ve created by clicking and dragging them into your preferred order.

This is also where you close virtual desktops that are no longer needed. When you do so, all open applications and windows will transfer to a desktop environment that is still active.

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