Is there a way to search across all open applications and browsers on Windows 10?

Question

It's very possible that what I'm asking is either (a) impossible or (b) difficult to search for given the terms in the search string or my ignorance of the right terminology.  In any case, here's the context, what I'd like to do, and the questions (skip to "What I'd like to do" and "The questions" if you're in a hurry).

Context

I often have many applications and browsers opened simultaneously.  When I need to do something else (eg, send an email, find a research paper on a given question, get to the wiki on a concept, open up Obsidian to capture an idea on a note, use VS Code to tinker with code), I currently have 2 options:

1. Open up another instance of the needed application

   • open new tab/window of FireFox to get to email/Google Scholar/wiki
   • open up Obsidian to capture thought
   • open up Anki to make new flashcard
   • open up VS Code to play with idea or code snippet

2. Look through currently opened applications that may or may not already have what I need

   • When the number is small enough (and is only on one virtual desktop), using Win+Tab does the trick

Oftentimes, neither of these is great since personal working memory is a huge constraint/bottle neck.

Pros & Cons of 1. Open up another instance

1. Pros:

• Can be very fast (when using keyboard shortcuts and not many things are running)
• Usually quick enough so that the task being held in working memory (eg, "I need to do X, so let me open Y") isn't lost by the time the application/webpage is open

1. Cons:

• Often leads to duplicates which clutters things
• Creates resource burden on computer memory & processor
• Eventually slows down computer to the point where the task in working memory is forgotten

Pros & Cons of 2. Manually look through open instances

2. Pros:

• Less resource intensive on computer memory & processor
• Avoids duplicates

2. Cons:

• Is usually slow enough to forget what app I was looking for or what I wanted to do with it
• Can lead to getting distracted by other open apps/webpages (eg, "Oh yeah, I meant to finish Z, let me do that now")

What I'd like to do

In the ideal case, I'd be able to open up some kind of single search box that searches simultaneously across all of these things:

• (A) open instances of applications (eg, Obsidian, Anki, FireFox, VS Code)
• (B) titles of open webpages in FireFox
• (C) both (A) & (B) but across all Windows 10 virtual desktops

The would allow me to quickly see if what I'm looking for is already open and either continue using that instance or make an instance.

The questions

Is what I'd like to do even possible on Window 10?

Is what I'd like to do possible on some OS (Windows 11, Mac, Ubuntu, Manjaro, etc)?

Answer 1

It's possible!

I stumbled onto this solution by sheer dumb luck; I had a specific set of utilities installed (PowerToys) and pressed the keyboard shortcut by accident that ran the utility I've been looking for (default Alt + Space for PowerToys Run).

Windows PowerToys Run utility: a test-drive

When using PowerToys Run, I was able to search the term "visual" to look for VS Code and it displayed the following options:

1. Launch the Visual Studio Code application

2. Launch my default browser (FireFox) going directly to "https://visual/" (not a real website)

3. Switch to the Visual Studio Code Wikipedia article I had open in FireFox running in my current virtual desktop (say, virtual desktop 1)

4. Switch to the file called "Release Notes" which was already open within an instance of VS Code in another virtual desktop (say, virtual desktop 2)

5. Switch to the folder called "Python Script" which was already open in another instance of VS Code in virtual desktop I use for projects (say, virtual desktop 3)

6. Switch to a webpage "Visual Studio Code -- Code Editing. Redefined" which was already open in MS Edge on virtual desktop 1

7. Search the web for the term "Visual"

8. Select some local files on my hard-drive that had the term "Visual" in them

Limitations

Only works on active tabs in browser windows

As far as open browsers with multiple tabs goes, it can't seem find pages that aren't the currently selected tab. So if I have one open window with 3 tabs, it only looks at the active tab.

Seems to only match titles

Also, it only seems to be searching the titles of the webpages with a kind of fuzzy match. For example, when I used the search string "vs" similar results came up but weren't in the title, and when I searches some specific word that was in the body of the webpage, it didn't return it as an option.

Concluding remarks

Even with these limitations, this will definitely help (and already has so far). Just need to get in the habit of using multiple windows instead of multiple tabs.

Answer 2

I don't think you'll find something that searches both open apps + firefox tab in a single search query. But what you can do is use https://github.com/kvakulo/Switcheroo to search open apps and for firefox tabs you can use the address bar to search tab titles.