Shortcuts to minimize, maximize, or close windows in Windows 11

Windows 11 is the latest operating system from Microsoft, and it comes with many new features and improvements. One of the areas that has changed is how you can manage multiple windows and tabs on your screen. Whether you want to multitask, focus, or organize your work, you may need to know how to minimize, maximize, restore, and close windows and tabs in Windows 11. You may also want to know how to disable some of the automatic features that Windows 11 offers, such as Snap Layouts and auto-minimize.

Here are some of the questions and answers that can help you with window and tab management in Windows 11.

How do you minimize all windows at once in Windows 11?

There are two keyboard shortcuts that can help you minimize all windows at once in Windows 11.

The first one is:

which will minimize all open windows to the taskbar.

The second one is:

which will minimize all open windows and show the desktop.

To restore the minimized windows, you can use:

or Windows key + D again.

Alternatively, you can also use the:

button on the far right of the taskbar, which will do the same thing as Windows key + D .

To restore the minimized windows, you can click the button again or hover over it to peek at the desktop.

How do I minimize all tabs at once?

If you are using a web browser, such as Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome, you may have multiple tabs open within a single window. To minimize all tabs at once, you can use the same keyboard shortcuts as above:

• Windows key + M

or

• Windows key + D .

This will minimize the entire browser window to the taskbar or show the desktop.

To restore the browser window with all tabs, you can use:

Windows key + Shift + M or

Windows key + D again, or click on the

browser icon on the taskbar .

However, if you want to close a single tab or manipulate open tabs within a browser window, you can use a different shortcut:

How do I turn off auto minimize in Windows 11?

One of the new features in Windows 11 is Snap Layouts, which allows you to quickly arrange multiple windows on your screen by dragging them to the edges or corners. However, some users may find this feature annoying or distracting, especially if they accidentally trigger it when moving windows around. If you want to turn off Snap Layouts in Windows 11, you can follow these steps:

• Open the Settings app by pressing Windows key + I .
• Select System from the sidebar .
• Scroll down and click on Multitasking .
• At the top of the screen, click on the Snap Windows toggle to turn it off .

Another feature that may cause windows to auto-minimize is Task Manager. If you have Task Manager open on your screen, it may automatically minimize when you switch to another window or app. If you want to prevent Task Manager from auto-minimizing in Windows 11, you can follow these steps:

• Open Task Manager by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Esc .
• Click on Settings in the left pane .
• Uncheck Minimize on use .

How do I close all windows in Windows 11?

If you want to close all windows in Windows 11, there are a few keyboard shortcuts that can help you. The first one is:

Alt + F4 ,

which will close the current window or app that you are using. You can repeat this shortcut until all windows are closed. The second one is Ctrl + W, which will close the current tab or document that you are viewing. You can repeat this shortcut until all tabs or documents are closed.

However, if you want to close only some of the windows or tabs that are open, you can use a different keyboard shortcut:

Ctrl+F4.

This will close the current window or tab that you are working on, without affecting the others. For example, if you have multiple tabs open in your browser, you can use Ctrl+F4 to close the one that you don’t need anymore, while keeping the rest open. This can help you save time and avoid cluttering your screen with too many windows or tabs.

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned how to minimize all windows at once in Windows 11, how to minimize all tabs at once, how to turn off auto minimize in Windows 11, and how to close all windows in Windows 11. These are useful tips for managing your desktop space and multitasking efficiently. We hope you found this article helpful and informative. Thank you for reading!