FancyZones on Windows
Pre-defined layouts with custom hotkeys as a smart way to improve windows management 🦾
Context switching
Typically, when you are working on something on a computer you are using multiple windows open at once. Since very often you need multiple apps to make your work complete, it is very difficult to avoid switching between windows. It translates to constant context switching 🔄 which cost becomes increasingly impactful.
Additionally, our ability to focus gets consistently degraded because we are getting distracted almost all the time. As a result, the flying windows cause issues with focusing on the work at hand and getting back to what you have started working on.
Let me ask you a few questions about your windows management:
- Do you notice that sometimes you get lost with all of the windows opened?
- Do you find that your monitor is far too small although you already have the 32'’ one?
- Do you assume your productivity would be higher if you would keep your apps always organized in the same way?
Windows management
Although Microsoft Windows is still the dominating operating system (OS) it is a common opinion that Mac OS wins the race in terms of working more effectively. It is especially noticeable when it comes to the windows management for which the Mac OS users have the OOTB utility called Mission Control.
Unfortunately, Windows 10/11 users have far more trouble since such a function does not come with OOTB.
FancyZones on Windows
Luckily, it is still possible to use a set of utilities called PowerToys to power users to improve their productivity. It includes the FancyZones tool as a window manager that makes it easy to create complex window layouts and quickly position windows into those layouts. When the user drags a window into a zone, the window is resized and repositioned to fill that zone.
With FancyZones:
- you can use pre-defined layouts,
- you can build your own custom layouts,
- you can set the space between zones,
- you can use hotkeys to arrange the zones,
- you can define a black-list app,
- you can apply the zones on multiple monitors.
Configuration ⚙️
Let’s dive into my configuration ️of the FancyZones you might find useful.
Arrange the zones respectively to the work you are doing by keeping in mind how many windows and which setup you would need for a specific activity.
You may consider a preferred way of snapping your windows as just dragging and dropping them to respective zones.
Be aware that the default hotkeys activating the zones might not be so handy for you, therefore I would recommend remapping them to custom hotkeys with the use of the Autohotkey. This way you can make them more intuitive and user-friendly.
- Custom layout 1 (Ctrl + win + alt + 1) -> remapped to Alt + q
- Custom layout 2 (Ctrl + win + alt + 2) -> remapped to Alt + w
- Custom layout 3 (Ctrl + win + alt + 3) -> remapped to Alt + e
- Custom layout 5 (Ctrl + win + alt + 5) -> remapped to Alt + r
- Custom layout 4 (Ctrl + win + alt + 4) -> remapped to Alt + t
- Custom layout 6 (Ctrl + win + alt + 6) -> remapped to Alt + yWith the use of the customized hotkeys quickly changing between custom layouts becomes definitely more straightforward and effective.
Get this configuration for free 👇
Do you want to reuse the setup I use? I have prepared for you the configuration pack containing:
- The settings for the custom zone layouts that are stored in the file:
%LocalAppData%\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys\FancyZones\zones-settings.json - The Autohotkey script for remapping the default hotkeys to be put in a folder:
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup
You can easily edit both files to meet your needs! You can download it here.
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