The multiple virtual desktop feature which comes with Windows 10 is quite helpful. You can create an unlimited number of virtual desktops quickly and then separate opened windows into groups. One drawback is that you can’t quickly go to a specific desktop without cycling through all of them. This isn’t a big problem if you only have one or two open, but if you have 10 or 15 virtual desktops open, then it may take some time to find what you’re looking for.

There are many reasons you might want to use virtual desktops. With more than one desktop, you have more space to group your related windows. This allows you to quickly locate and switch to any group of windows. For example, you might want one desktop for work and another one for gaming.

Adding Desktops

To create a new virtual desktop, click the Task View button which is located, by default, next to Cortana in the Task Bar. If you don’t have the Task View button on your Task Bar, you can press the Windows Key + Tab. To add a new desktop, click where it says “New Desktop” at the bottom right of the Task View pane. Alternatively, you can just press Windows Key + Ctrl + D and a new virtual desktop will appear on the screen.

Switching Desktops

Open the Task View pane and you’ll see a list of all your open desktops at the bottom of the pane. Hover on the desktop which you want to open and at the top of the pane you’ll see a list of all the open windows on a particular virtual desktop. To switch between desktops, click the one which you want to open.

You can easily switch between desktops by pressing either Windows Key + Ctrl + Left Arrow or Windows Key + Ctrl + Right Arrow.

Moving Windows

You can move a window between desktops. Open the Task View pane, hover over the desktop and the open windows will appear at the top of the pane. Right-click a window and then select “Move to” and choose the desktop where you want to put the window. Alternatively, you can just drag and drop the window into any one of the open desktops.

This functionality allows you to keep your windows organized into groups. For example, if you are working on multiple projects at one time, you can separate the projects into different desktops. This will help keep things organized, especially if you have many programs open at the same time.

Closing Desktops

Open the Task View pane and then hover over one of the desktop icons at the bottom of the screen. You should notice a small “X” appear in the upper-right corner of the icon. Click the “X” and the desktop will close. To quickly close a desktop without opening the Task View pane, you can press Windows Key + Ctrl + F4. Any open windows will be moved to the previous desktop.

Multiple desktops can be especially helpful if you like to have many programs open at once, or need to arrange windows into groups. If you work on several projects simultaneously, you will find this feature quite handy as you can group those projects into multiple desktops.