12 days of tech tips: Use Windows 10 virtual desktops to stay organized
The holidays are wrapping up, and the New Year is here. If being more productive in 2018 is on your list of resolutions, here's one small way you can work toward that goal with Windows 10.

Staying productive is often as much about staying organized as anything else, especially while multitasking. And when it comes to productivity on PCs, many people may opt for a desktop setup with multiple monitors. But that's not an option for everyone – particularly if you do most of your work on the go with a laptop.
Thankfully, Windows 10 includes a pretty handy feature that can mimic the experience of spreading your work around multiple monitors without the extra hardware: virtual desktops.
Virtual desktops essentially let you multiply the number of distinct desktops you have at your fingertips on one PC. This can come in handy if you just want to keep work tasks separated from your personal windows. But if fostering focus is your goal, you can get granular by, for example, dedicating one desktop to your image-editing tools, another for coding, and another for communication. This lets you keep things separate and organized while still having access to everything at a click.
How to use Windows virtual desktops
Accessing your virtual desktops is fairly easy, but it's not immediately obvious unless you're looking for it. The most obvious way to get started is through the Task View icon located on your taskbar. You'll find it located to the right of the Cortana search bar; it looks like a rectangle flanked by two other, partial rectangles. Click the Task View icon and you'll be greeted with a screen that shows all of your currently open apps. This is essentially a birds-eye view of your first, primary desktop, which can be quite an asset if you lost a window and need to find it without too much hassle.
Task View is handy in and of itself, but we're here specifically as a gateway to opening up more desktops. On the bottom right-hand corner of the Task View screen, you'll find a "+" icon that says "New Desktop" underneath. Simply click the button and Windows 10 will surface a bar at the bottom of your screen showing your original, primary desktop and your newly created one. You can keep tapping or clicking the "New Desktop" button to add as many as you want (or, more realistically, as many as your PC can handle).
Switching between desktops is as easy as selecting one from the Task View screen. You can also drag and drop specific programs from Task View on one desktop to the others listed on the screen. And when you're done with a desktop, you can close out of it by hovering over it with your mouse and clicking the "X" button within Task View.
Getting around quickly with keyboard shortcuts
Of course, while the steps described above are fine for getting started, you'll want to move around more quickly as you get used to things. Fortunately, there are some keyboard shortcuts associated with virtual desktops that can speed things up.
- To quickly access Task View, you can forego clicking the taskbar icon and use the Windows key + Tab shortcut.
- If you want to move even faster, you don't even have to go into Task View to add a new desktop. Instead, you can create a new desktop by using the Windows key + Ctrl + D shortcut.
- Deleting a desktop you're currently in is just as quick with the Windows key + Ctrl + F4 shortcut.
- Finally, pros can quickly zoom between virtual desktops they've created by holding Windows key + Ctrl and pressing either the left or right arrow keys.
Getting used to the keyboard shortcuts can take some time, but you can think of clicking around Task View as a set of training wheels until you've got the shortcuts down pat. Once you do, you'll find yourself zipping through things at the speed of light.
Sure, unlike a setup with multiple monitors, you can't keep an eye on everything at once; you're restricted to viewing one desktop at a time. However, the upshot is that it makes it that much easier to quickly tuck away your personal chats and solitaire windows when the boss is around and you're supposed to be "working." And even if you have multiple monitors, you can look at virtual desktops as a way to add even more screen real estate.
What's not to love about that? We hope your holidays and the upcoming New Year are as productive, and as organized, as possible.
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Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl.
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Where is the article?
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I think you have to open in browser and not the app
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I can't be bothered to use virtual desktops until I have the ability to save a desktop configuration as a template that I can launch with one click. It is too time-consuming to have to start a desktop and then launch the programs I need each and every time I need it. I want to be able to create a virtual desktop with, let's say my regular graphics programs ready to go and to save it as 'Graphics Desktop' and have a shortcut to that ready to go. I could do the same for writing projects or audio projects, etc... This way, I could click on a virtual desktop config shortcut and have it create the desktop and launch the programs I need and get everything ready to go. Now THAT would make virtual desktops a really useful thing to have.
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Great point I tried to use this but found it functionally not needed for me at this time. But the saving desktop woudl be great addition nice idea.
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Have you provided this suggestion through the feedback hub?
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Totally agree , and whats the point with virtual desktops if you cant delete a shortcut on one desktop when it automatically gets deleted on the first one ? I would rather have a blank desktop presented when creating a new one and of course the option to save them.
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I have tried about a dozen times to use this, and it does sometimes help on days I'm jumping around between projects a lot. But until I memorize all the commands properly it usually ends up taking longer than it is worth to open the Task Manager. Once my boss came over and asked me about a project I had left open on a different desktop, so I attempted to switch with a keyboard shortcut to re-open it quickly. I got the wrong command and ended up switching my monitor to portrait instead, then he was confused and it took me a few tries to figure out what I did before I could actually switch desktops. Persistence would also be great if I could save a virtual desktop and re-open with a click. Maybe in RS4 with Sets/Timeline.
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windows is getting good
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Multiple desktops are nice for hiding stuff when the boss approaches.
Otherwise it feels like Windows is working harder with no real benefit.
And why is that sticky notes cannot stick to a specific desktop when you power your PC.
I have three virtual desks and it be useful if sticky could stick to the third desk
I don't want to see sticky every time i switch on. -
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I was so happy comming from a Mac this is supported in Windows now, but it's stupid both monitors are changing desktops. It's not possible to put a video fullscreen on the secundairy monitor and keep working using multiple desktops on the main one.
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Nice... I love this
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It is useless to me if I cannot arrange different desktop shortcuts for each virtual desktop.
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nice article. I found it useful for placing full screen remote desktop connections on one virtual desktop.... and my own work on the other...