PowerToys is getting a new window management utility

If you use PowerToys on Windows 11 or 10, you probably know that the app has quite a few utilities for window management. Fancy Zones, Always on Top, Crop and Lock, just to name a few. Soon, Microsoft will add another one, and fans of Alt + Tab should be excited.

Proposed by Clint Rutkas, the module has a very simple idea: use a keyboard shortcut to toggle between windows within one app. For example, if you have four browser windows open, Alt + ` will let you switch between them just like Alt + Tab switches between all running apps. Here is the utility description from its GitHub pull request:

Introduces a new utility: AltWindowCycle to quickly switch between windows from the same process using Alt + `. It works like Alt + Tab, but scoped to the app you’re already in. Perfect for juggling multiple browser windows, terminals, or editor instances.

Like other PowerToys utilities, Alt Window Cycle will offer shortcut customization. You will be able to use default shortcuts (Alt + ` for the next window or Alt + Shift + ` for the previous one) or remap them to something else.

For now, there is no information on when Alt Window Cycle will arrive, so we will have to wait for the next PowerToys feature update (Microsoft usually pushes them on a monthly basis). Recently, Microsoft released version 0.100, which reworked the shortcuts guide, introduced an extension gallery for Command Palette, and more. Shortly after, version 0.100.1 arrived as a bug-fixing update.

PowerToys is available on Windows 10 and 11, and you can get the app from the official GitHub repository, the Microsoft Store, or winget. Although Windows 10 is no longer supported, PowerToys developers currently do not plan to drop the now-unsupported operating system. And with Microsoft giving Windows 10 one more year in the Extended Security Update, you can expect PowerToys to remain available on Windows 10 for quite a while.