Usage¶
Basics and UI¶
- Borderless, semi‑transparent window with rounded corners.
- Drag the top bar to move; resize via the window grip.
- Toggle always‑on‑top from the menu (☰).
- A system tray icon provides quick assignment actions and Exit.
Layout presets¶
Open the menu (☰) → Layout:
- 1 × 4
- 2 × 2
- 2 × 4
- 1 × 6
- Configure rows/columns… (custom up to 8 × 8; visible slots capped at 64)
Icon sizes auto‑adjust to fit the grid. Hidden slots are preserved when shrinking layout.
Assigning apps/windows to slots¶
You can assign a slot in multiple ways:
- Drag‑and‑drop: Drop a
.exe
or.lnk
file onto a slot. - Click an empty slot: Assigns the last external or current foreground window.
- Tray menu: Right‑click the tray icon and choose “Add active window to Slot N”.
- From the menu (☰):
- “Assign from running (pick window)…” to pick from a list of top‑level windows.
- “Assign this slot from running… (Slot N)” for a specific slot.
When assigning from a running window, AppSwitcher records:
- Executable path (or shortcut target)
- Window title
- Window handle (for the current session) and approximate bounds (for heuristics)
- For Chrome: best‑effort current tab URL and favicon
Tip: If you have a custom image in the clipboard when assigning, it will be used as the slot icon.
Per‑slot actions¶
- Left‑click:
- If the assigned app/window is running, brings the best‑matching window to the front.
- Otherwise, launches the target executable with stored arguments/working directory (if any).
- Middle‑click: Clears the slot immediately.
- Double‑click: Captures a screenshot of the assigned app’s window group to the clipboard.
- Right‑click: Slot context menu with:
- Rename: Set a custom label (overrides auto‑label).
- Clear slot.
- Change icon…: Pick a custom image file.
- Change background color…
Notes on window activation:
- The app prioritizes a saved window handle (if still valid), then title matches, then size/position heuristics, and finally the process’s main window.
Hotkeys¶
- Global hotkeys: Ctrl + Alt + 1..9
- Action: Assign the current foreground window to Slot 1..9 (respecting the current number of visible slots).
- These hotkeys do not switch; they assign. To switch/activate, click the slot.
- Hotkeys rebind automatically when you change the number of visible slots (up to 9).
If a hotkey is already in use by another app, registration may silently fail for that number.
Screenshots¶
- Double‑click a populated slot to capture a screenshot of the target window group.
- The capture is copied to the clipboard; paste it into an editor, chat, email, etc.
- “Window group” includes owner and popup/tool windows from the same process when possible.
Shortcuts reference¶
- Global: Ctrl + Alt + 1..9 → Assign active window to Slot 1..9
- Slot: Left‑click → Activate/launch
- Slot: Middle‑click → Clear slot
- Slot: Double‑click → Copy screenshot to clipboard
- Window: Drag top bar to move; resize with the grip