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Trying to find some key+click combination to bring all windows for a given application to the top of z-order. For example, I have several Putty terminal windows open in the stacked taskbar icon and I want to display all of them, not just the last used. The only work-around I have found so far is to shift+right-click and "minimize all windows" followed by "restore all windows". Any simpler way to do this?

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9 Answers 9

Reset to default
21

A better option than the Windows key is to hold down Control and click once for each window on the taskbar icon.

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  • This works. If you click "extra" times, it will simply cycle again through the windows in the front.
    – Juha Untinen
    Commented Aug 9, 2016 at 10:39
  • CTRL does not work for me. SHIFT + right click on application on taskbar works for me really well especially when having many monitors. Normal applications only have "Maximize" and "Move" to choose from but Chrome does have a lot more options such as "Show all windows stacked" or "Show all windows side-by-side".
    – James H.
    Commented Aug 10, 2020 at 9:37
13

Hold down Shift, Right click on the taskbar Icon, Select "Restore all windows."

Found here with a bunch of good shortcuts:

http://lifehacker.com/5390086/the-master-list-of-new-windows-7-shortcuts

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  • Note that this only works if windows for that program are grouped (combined) on the taskbar. I have mine set to combine when full, which had me scratching my head for a while (I was getting the single window restore, not restore all windows).
    – Bob
    Commented May 8, 2012 at 13:51
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    This is not what was asked: the windows don't need restoring; they need to be brought to the front. Unfortunately there's no such option in the (default) right-click menu
    – Carl Witthoft
    Commented Jan 28, 2013 at 15:23
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As suggested by Wil, AutoHotkey can do it.

Here is a script that will put on top all PuTTY windows. It is activated when pressing the Win+p hotkey:

#p::
WinGet, id, list, ahk_class PuTTY
Loop, %id%
{
    this_id := id%A_Index%
    WinActivate, ahk_id %this_id%
}
return
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  • 3
    Thanks Snark. Ideally someone (VistaSwitcher author, this means you!) would write a more general-purpose tool that would let you alt-tab through the applications instead of the windows (at least with an additional key combo), and bring all of the windows of the chosen application to the front.
    – glenviewjeff
    Commented May 10, 2011 at 20:44
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    @Snark, nice - thanks. I've modified your script to work with any app, in another answer.
    – Ross
    Commented Oct 10, 2018 at 8:39
7

Let putty be one of the first 10 programs docked on the taskbar. Let's say putty is #4 from the left. To bring one of the open putty sessions to the front, hit Ctrl-Windows-4. Repeat to bring each session to the front until they are all on top.

I am using a Microsoft keyboard. There is a macro assignment feature in the keyboard software (free download from Microsoft). I've created a macro that does Ctrl-Windows-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4-4 and assigned it to the calculator key on the keyboard. Now I can bring all of the putty sessions to the front with just one key press.

(Hint for using the macro software: right click on a key icon to split it means to keep it pressed down.)

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1
  • This is the most useful Windows hotkey I have not yet known about ;) Thanks!
    – Roben
    Commented May 14, 2020 at 6:48
6

Following on from @Snark's answer, here's a modified version of the Autohotkey script that will bring all windows of the current application to front with Alt+`.

This means you can Alt+Tab to your desired application's window; then, hit Alt+` to bring all the other windows to front.

!`::
WinGetClass, class, A
WinGet, currentWindowId ,, A
WinGet, id, list, ahk_class %class%
Loop, %id%
{
    this_id := id%A_Index%
    WinActivate, ahk_id %this_id%
}
WinActivate, ahk_id %currentWindowId% ;bring the current window back to front
return
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3

Hold ctrl as you click on the grouped icon. Should bring each one up successively.

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2

I do not think that such a thing exists.... Possibly you could write a AHK script, but I am not an expert there.

The only built in function I know of is to do what you have done, or, if the application has a stack, you can bring them all up by pressing Windows Flag+Number (1-0), keep holding Windows Flag and press Tab to cycle through the selection.... But I think this is probably even longer.

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1

A little old a topic, but it's topical to me, as I switched to Win7 at work only recently.

I just left-click rapidly on the group icon in the task bar: each single click takes one more of the windows to the front, at some point you start cycling though them...

This continuous fire feels moronic, but maybe this impression is correct.

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    This doesn't work for me win Win7. I only get a pop-up of the window previews. Maybe your idea works only if Aero is disabled?
    – glenviewjeff
    Commented May 10, 2011 at 20:41
1

Shift+Right click the task grouping - show all windows stacked (or side by side)

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1
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    This method will resize all the windows as well. Usually not what I want. Now I have to go rearrange all my windows again. Ugh. Mac handles this kind of thing way better.
    – Sam H
    Commented Dec 13, 2020 at 0:43

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