There are more than 1.4 Billion Windows 10 and 11 users out there. Although it is not clear how many users have Windows 11 compared to Windows 10, it is slowly and steadily catching up. Windows 11 has gone all the charm you need thanks to a refined UI, slick new looks, performance advances, useful new tools, and more.
When you are using Win11 regularly, Windows 11 tips and tricks can be instrumental as you will certainly improve your productivity. Here’s a list of 13 excellent Windows 11 tips and tricks that we came across and you must try too.
1. Shortcut to Desktop
Have you ever wanted to close all windows and tabs immediately, be it at an office or school? Well, Windows 11 has a shortcut to do it. Go to the Taskbar on the extreme-right corner, locate the time and date section, and hover your mouse to the right-bottom corner. You should see an option pop up called Open Desktop. Tap on it, and all the windows and tabs will get minimized instantly.
2. Instant Screenshot
Windows OS still retains the ‘prt sc’ feature to copy the screen and paste it in Paint or any other editor. However, Windows 11 has a shortcut to take screenshots too. Hit the Windows + Shift + S, and you will get a pop-up asking you to select between Rectangular snip, free-form, window, and full-screen snip. Remember to save those snips as they pop up on the bottom-right of the screen, or else you will have to redo it. Perhaps, this is one of the most widely used features and a great Windows 11 tip that you must keep handy.
3. Toggle Snap Layouts
You can resize a window size of File Explorer or any Window by manually resizing it with the mouse. You can manually minimize the window to either right or left half of the screen vertically. However, Windows 11 lets you enjoy these settings automatically with four different options. You can select two equally sized windows on a screen, one big and another small, one big and two small, or four small windows using just the pop-up menu.
- Go to the Minimize button on the start menu of the file explorer or app or browser you are using and hover on it.
- A pop-up with different screen layouts will appear where you can select how you want the windows to resize themselves.
- Tap on the appropriate one, and that’s all.
- Or tap on Windows + Z and select the appropriate window pane.
4. Voice Typing
Windows 11 also offers a built-in feature of voice typing. You have to press Windows + H, which will launch a voice typing pop-up on the screen. Select the section where you want to write; it could be a text editor like Google Docs or NotePad or a form with a text field. Speak up, and the feature will listen to your dictation and convert speech into text in real-time. You can start auto punctuation, and it will take care of the same.
5. Tweak the Taskbar
The Taskbar is all great as you can launch an app or go to search or toggle the volume. But not everyone wants it to stay put every time you use your PC. Windows 11 lets you hide the Taskbar, and you can recall only when you hover the mouse at the bottom of the screen. You can tweak the Taskbar to show all icons to the left rather than the center. Here’s where you will find these settings.
- On the desktop, move your mouse to the Taskbar and right-click, select Taskbar Settings.
- Scroll to find Taskbar Behaviours, where you need to toggle Taskbar Alignment to either Left or Center.
6. Create multiple virtual desktops
It doesn’t involve using different accounts or virtual machines, but it is something Windows 11 users can do with a native feature. On the Taskbar>> locate the desktop icon and click on it. You can now create multiple desktops and open several apps and windows, keeping each desktop separate from one other. You can still drag apps from one desktop to another, but it pretty much keeps everything sorted.
7. Widgets
One of the fantastic features of Windows 11 is the widgets. These are the same as what your phone has but on a computer. It updates you about the latest news, calendar, temperature and weather, lists out stock prices, photos, to-do lists, gaming, etc. You can add new widgets, remove the ones you no longer need and create a buffet of everything you would need right with a click.
To recall the widgets, simply over the mouse cursor to the extreme left corner of the Taskbar (i.e., bottom extreme left) on the temperature indicator. It should launch the widgets menu.
8. Try Your Phone
Windows 11 lets you use your phone on the PC using the Your Phone app. You can manage notifications, view recent photos, make calls and chat with your friends, and more with a PC using this app. You require an Android smartphone with Android 7.0 and above and pair it with the Your Phone app. That should do the trick.
Launch the search option and type Your Phone. It lets two seconds to launch the app, but once you are all set up, you will see a massive improvement in your phone-PC balance (like work-life balance, chuckles).
9. Scroll at the background
If you’re too much of a multitasker, this feature can help. You can scroll through windows and folders in the foreground and background, meaning you don’t have to change the window selected for scrolling.
Say you have two windows (browser tab and file explorer) opened side-by-side. If you are working on the browser, you can still scroll through the file explorer, which is inactive. The same goes for any combination of windows, be it two or more.
You need to check whether this feature is enabled or not via Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Mouse and change Scroll inactive windows when I hover over them to ON.
10. The obvious Windows 11 shortcuts
One would guess that there are probably hundreds of keyboard shortcuts on Windows 11 that you can use. Although it isn’t possible to remember each of them, here are a few primarily used shortcuts that you should.
- Press Ctrl + X for CUT
- Press Ctrl + C for COPY
- Press Ctrl + V for PASTE
- Press Ctrl + Z for UNDO
- Press Alt + Tab for Toggling between open apps
- Win + L for LOCK
- Alt + Left arrow for GO BACK
- Alt + Right arrow for GO FORWARD
- Win + Right arrow for Toggling window to right-half of the screen
- Win + Left arrow for Toggling window to left half
- Win + Up arrow for Maximize window
- Win + Down arrow to minimize the window to the bottom of the screen
- Win + R for RUN
- Shift + Del for Delete Files without Recycle Bin
- Win + E to open File Explorer
- Win + Alt + B to Turn HDR on/off
- Win + I to open SETTINGS
- Win + M to minimize windows
- Win + S to open SEARCH
- Win + V to open CLIPBOARD HISTORY
Concluding Thoughts
With that, we conclude our listicle on excellent Windows 11 tips and tricks that you must use in your everyday lives to make it productive with these bit of tweaks here and there. Shortcuts and macros on Windows OS has been around for ages and knowing these can really help you do certain functions in a jiffy rather going down the strenuous path. Windows 11 has simply numerous tips and techniques you can follow and this is just the tip of the ice berg. You can watch out this space to know more about Windows 11 tips and techniques in our future articles.