Quicker switching of windows and applications

[adamsamec]

I am missing two following keyboard commands. The first command would show a list of the opened windows of the application in the foreground only and let me select the window of that application. Selecting the window from that list and pressing Enter would switch me to that window. The second command would show a list of running applications and let me choose the application I want to switch to, or, to be more precise, this would switch to the last active window within that application.

The problem

I am always frustrated when I have many windows of many applications opened and when I need to find a specific window. A typical example is when I have many Firefox windows and many File explorer windows opened.

Insporation

I am looking for something which is available on Mac and VoiceOver and its VO + F2, F2, and VO + F1, F1, keyboard commands.

Alternatives I've considered

Currently the only way to partially work around this issue is to employ multiple desktops, the feature introduced in Windows 10, each desktop containing only a single application. E.g., Having one desktop containing only the windows of Firefox, and having another desktop containing only the windows of File explorer. However, this is quite cumbersome, since you need to remember which desktop contains which application. Moreover, this does not let you to find the right desktop by typing the first letters of the title of needed application, nor it lets you to find the right window by typing the first letters of its title.

Note that neither Alt + Tab, nor Windows + Tab or Alt + Esc is what I am looking for, as this only lets you switch between all the windows of all the applications which might need a lot of key presses, which is what I want to evade in the first place

Also, Windows + number from 0 to 9 is not acceptable work around, since in this case, you have to remember the positions of the running applications in the taskbar. Not saying that you cannot jump to specific windows or applications by typing the first letters of their title.

Neither Win + T is acceptable, because the taskbar includes not just open applications but also the applications you pinned there, and does not let you to move the cursor by typing more than one letter of the application or window title. Apart from that, when pressing the Down or Up arrow on an application which has more than one window opened, it does not let you to select a specific window by typing the first letters of its title. Not saying that, to get to the list of opened windows of the foreground application, you first have to find the foreground application in the taskbar.

Additional context

This should work in all applications.

[josephsl]

Hi, not to come across as sounding a bit annoyed, but isn’t this something you’ve raised a few hours before? If so, I think it would be helpful to close the earlier issue, as this one is a bit more detailed. As for the second suggestion, I recommend taking a look at SystrayList add-on. But even then, we must keep in mind that macOS and Windows work differently when it comes to task switching, internals, and procedure associated with it. Thanks.

From: Adam notifications@github.com Sent: Thursday, April 4, 2019 6:11 PM To: nvaccess/nvda nvda@noreply.github.com Cc: Subscribed subscribed@noreply.github.com Subject: [nvaccess/nvda] Quicker switching of windows and applications (#9460)

I am missing two following keyboard commands. The first command would show a list of the opened windows of the application in the foreground only and let me select the window of that application. Selecting the window from that list and pressing Enter would switch me to that window. The second command would show a list of running applications and let me choose the application I want to switch to, or, to be more precise, this would switch to the last active window within that application.

The problem

I am always frustrated when I have many windows of many applications opened and when I need to find a specific window. A typical example is when I have many Firefox windows and many File explorer windows opened.

Insporation

I am looking for something which is available on Mac and VoiceOver and its VO + F2, F2, and VO + F1, F1, keyboard commands.

Alternatives I've considered

Currently the only way to partially work around this issue is to employ multiple desktops, the feature introduced in Windows 10, each desktop containing only a single application. E.g., Having one desktop containing only the windows of Firefox, and having another desktop containing only the windows of File explorer. However, this is quite cumbersome, since you need to remember which desktop contains which application. Moreover, this does not let you to find the right desktop by typing the first letters of the title of needed application, nor it lets you to find the right window by typing the first letters of its title.

Note that neither Alt + Tab, nor Windows + Tab or Alt + Esc is what I am looking for, as this only lets you switch between all the windows of all the applications which might need a lot of key presses, which is what I want to evade in the first place

Also, Windows + number from 0 to 9 is not acceptable work around, since in this case, you have to remember the positions of the running applications in the taskbar. Not saying that you cannot jump to specific windows or applications by typing the first letters of their title.

Neither Win + T is acceptable, because the taskbar includes not just open applications but also the applications you pinned there, and does not let you to move the cursor by typing more than one letter of the application or window title. Apart from that, when pressing the Down or Up arrow on an application which has more than one window opened, it does not let you to select a specific window by typing the first letters of its title. Not saying that, to get to the list of opened windows of the foreground application, you first have to find the foreground application in the taskbar.

Additional context

This should work in all applications.

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[DrSooom]

@adamsamec: If you pin the most important applications to the task bar, their position on it would be always firm. Ergo Win+1 to Win+9 should no longer be a problem.

I have pinned the following applications on the task bar: Windows Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Windows Media Player, Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla Thunderbird. And on the NUC, on which I'm working more with Notepad++, I put this one on position No. 4. Microsoft Outlook and Mozilla thunderbird aren't installed on the NUC. So therefore I don't have to think about the current number of these applications.

Your main suggestion is to select a window by pressing its title on a separate list to move the focus to it. As there are quite a lot of other methods to switch between windows (see #9453), I suggest to create only an NVDA add-on for it, if possible.

[larry801]

There is a stand alone application with this feature in windows. Easy window switcher https://neosmart.net/EasySwitch/

[Adriani90]

Ok I understand now the real purpose. Thank you for details. I think an addon could make sense here, since as a local user i.e in corporate environvent, you are not allowed to install stand-alone applications by yourself.

[Brian1Gaff]

Funny this, as several sighted people have the exact same issue at not knowing which bit of which visible window to click on for the version of an app they want to get to. Is this not why Microsoft are asking for feedback on changing the use of alt/tab and extending it? It is I think a limitation in Windows for all not something that a screenreader can in fact do very much about. Brian

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---

[adamsamec]

Hi, thanks for your suggestion, Larry. Easy Window Switcher is a useful utility, but it is still not what I am searching. As I've described, I am missing a command which would show a list of opened windows of the current application and, another one which would show a list of running applications. I think this should be part of NVDA rather than an Add-on, in a similar fashion as JAWSkey + F10 showing a list of all opened windows is also part of JAWS.

Joseph, as for your recommendation to use the systrayList add-on, that's useful too, however, this one shows all opened windows, as opposed to showing only the windows of the application currently in the foreground, so that is also still not what I exactly want..

Best regards

[Adriani90]

Another interim options would be to work with multiple desktops. In this way you could organize one application per desktop. This is verry efficient but it works only on Windows 10.

Von meinem iPhone gesendet

Am 10.04.2019 um 21:48 schrieb Adam notifications@github.com:

Hi, thanks for your suggestion, Larry. Easy Window Switcher is a useful utility, but it is still not what I am searching. As I've described, I am missing a command which would show a list of opened windows of the current application and, another one which would show a list of running applications. I think this should be part of NVDA rather than an Add-on, in a similar fashion as JAWSkey + F10 showing a list of all opened windows is also part of JAWS.

Joseph, as for your recommendation to use the systrayList add-on, that's useful too, however, this one shows all opened windows, as opposed to showing only the windows of the application currently in the foreground, so that is also still not what I exactly want..

Best regards

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[DrSooom]

@Adriani90: @adamsamec already wrote that this isn't a solution for him. Please see the issue description.

@adamsamec: Why don't you use the Windows-own Task Manager (CTRL+Shift+ESC) to switch between windows?

[adamsamec]

Hi @DrSooom,

Windows Task manager is close, but still not what I need. It doesn't let me choose between all the running apps, e.g., I cannot switch to File explorer using it. Also, it does not allow me to jump to an item by writing first letters of its name. And lastly, Ctrl + Shift + Esc is very unhandy shortcut. However, thanks for your suggestion.

[DrSooom]

On Windows 7 you are able to move the selection in the Windows Explorer to a folder or file by directly typing its name. It's the same behaviour for the lists in the Task Manager and also in some other Windows-own applications. But I'm not sure if these behaviours still exist in Windows 10-1809.