In Windows 11 there’s a button on the taskbar next to the start button that lets you switch between multiple desktop environments. It seems like something that would probably be useful in theory, but I can’t think of any reason why I would want to use it. Is it actually useful? What do people use it for?
Oh wow, windows is finally getting that feature? Nice. As a mac user this one of these “how the hell do you not have this” features that really baffled me.
I use them when I have to work on multiple projects at once (programming). Basically, I have a desktop per project with all the documents and programms open that I need for that project. It’s very convenient.
I personally really like the way macOS handles multiple desktops and full-screen apps. Would love to recreate it in KDE.
I use it at work to switch between my email+ticket desktop, my coding desktop+firefox, and my slacking off desktop. It makes it easy for me to organize things
Desktop 1: WFH environment - mail, terminal, ticket queue etc.
Desktop 2: Me-stuff - lemmy, gmail, youtube, netflix, steam.
Why not just have all of that open on one desktop? Is it because you want your personal stuff to be hidden in case you need to share your screen?
Nitpick: the proper term is “virtual desktop” or “workspace”, as “desktop environment” is already a common term for the software composing the entire user interface.
I enjoy using this feature on any operating system since it lets me quickly scan through and declutter open windows, and place categories of windows in their own workspaces. I might have only productivity windows on one, and leisure and socials on another. It’s especially effective if you learn the keyboard shortcuts for navigating inside and between workspaces. All this improves my productivity and keeps distractions away.
It’s a feature that Microsoft was very late to rip off from other platforms. I’ve been using it in different Linux/UNIX graphical environments for ages.
You can think about it as a way to organize your windows by splitting them into groups. If you work on multiple things and require to have many windows opened simultaneously, you can make your desktop less cluttered. You can then switch between the desktop by swiping laptop touchpad (with 3 or 4 fingers), or hitting some keyboard combo.
I also use them kind of instead traditional task switcher. I’ve got one browser window maximized on workspace 1, fullscreen terminal on 2, mail and messengers on 3, even more apps on 4. It’s like multi monitor functionality with just one screen.
