You know how minimize all windows except the active one? On Windows, of course. If you are an experienced user, this question will make you smile, because Windows 7 was the version of the Microsoft operating system that introduced this feature, although it is not particularly well known.

Of course, minimizing all windows is one of the easiest actions, regardless of the version of Windows we use. To stay in the present, we focus on the latest, with the cornerstone being Windows 10. But as I say, what applies to one applies to the other.

In short, there are several ways to minimize all windows: the best known is to click on that thin button to the right of the taskbar clock. But I prefer to do it with a simple gesture, for which – among other things – I use WinXCorners. Needless to say, this can be done using a keyboard shortcut.

Not only that: there is more than one keyboard shortcut to minimize all windows, depending on how you want to do it, although if I had to select one, it would be «Win + D«, Which In addition to minimizing all windows also serves to redisplay them. It’s good to remember, but that’s not what this MC Basics is about.

How to minimize all windows except the active one

The core of the problem is activates itthat is, how to minimize all windows except the active one, in the foreground. Which in turn raises other questions: why would anyone want to do something like that when the active window is already the one that is the focus of attention on the screen?

From now on, we would enter into discussions about design and usability, but the truth is that this is what the new macOS Ventura feature called visual organizer: Creates an additional task manager on the left side of the screen that shows the five most recently opened applications.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhP7pC2Jjec

To be precise, macOS Visual Organizer allows you to display groups of applications, not just individual applications, so it’s more powerful than I suggested, although the principle I’m interested in is the same: that when you open an application – or group – those that are in Organizer, the rest is minimized.

Or what is the same thing, minimize all windows except the active (or in this case, group of windows, read by the application).

The purpose of this function is get rid of what stands in your way for the user to focus on specific activities and it makes sense, although there are also a few shortcomings, at least from what Apple has learned, that I do not intend to embark on, because it is not essential and I am expanding more than necessary.

The story is that they knew about Visual Organizer and remembered the old function of Windows to minimize all windows except the active one, which you may not know and it would be good for you to do, remove from the middle – or. rather from the background – all the windows that interfere with it in the foreground.

This function is called aero shake and as the name suggests, you just have to twist it. To test this, open several windows, select one and click on the Windows taskbar and shake it order. This way you can minimize all windows except the active one, and if you do this again, the windows that were hidden will reappear.

You can also use Aero Shake using keyboard shortcuts «Win + M“Y”Win + Home«. Microsoft should have removed this feature, but seems to have removed it, although in Windows 11 it may require it to be manually activated via “Settings> System> Multitasking”.

Did you remember Aero Shake? It is true that the automatic behavior of Visual Organizer has advantages and disadvantages, and in terms of minimizing all windows except the active one, Aero Shake performs its function. And never better.