starred/terminal
1
0
Fork 0
mirror of https://github.com/microsoft/terminal.git synced 2026-02-04 05:35:20 +00:00
Code Issues 19.0k Packages Projects Releases 20 Wiki Activity

Bind-able command to move forwards and backwards through Windows Terminal instances #10928

New Issue
Open
opened 2026-01-31 02:34:00 +00:00 by claunia · 3 comments
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:34:00 +00:00
Owner
Copy Link

Originally created by @bavis-m on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020).

It would be nice to have a bind-able action that would select the next (or previous) running Windows Terminal instance (window). I often find when I'm editing a lot of code I have a terminal window with Vim on each of my monitors, which I have to Alt-Tab back and forth between. However, sometimes I will have opened some documentation or other various windows since the last time I visited a particular WT instance, and I have to expend a lot more mental energy figuring out exactly how many Alt-Tabs to get back to my 2nd terminal window. I used this all the time when I used mintty, which exposed it under the Ctrl-Tab key (which is already default bound to switching tabs in WT). Maybe Ctrl-Alt-Tab or something similar?

Proposed technical implementation details (optional)

Sample commands:

{ "command": "nextInstance", "keys": "ctrl+alt+tab" },
{ "command": "prevInstance", "keys": "ctrl+alt+shift+tab" },

Originally created by @bavis-m on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020). <!-- 🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨 I ACKNOWLEDGE THE FOLLOWING BEFORE PROCEEDING: 1. If I delete this entire template and go my own path, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 2. If I list multiple bugs/concerns in this one issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 3. If I write an issue that has many duplicates, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement (and without necessarily spending time to find the exact duplicate ID number). 4. If I leave the title incomplete when filing the issue, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. 5. If I file something completely blank in the body, the core team may close my issue without further explanation or engagement. All good? Then proceed! --> It would be nice to have a bind-able action that would select the next (or previous) running Windows Terminal instance (window). I often find when I'm editing a lot of code I have a terminal window with Vim on each of my monitors, which I have to Alt-Tab back and forth between. However, sometimes I will have opened some documentation or other various windows since the last time I visited a particular WT instance, and I have to expend a lot more mental energy figuring out exactly how many Alt-Tabs to get back to my 2nd terminal window. I used this all the time when I used mintty, which exposed it under the Ctrl-Tab key (which is already default bound to switching tabs in WT). Maybe Ctrl-Alt-Tab or something similar? <!-- A clear and concise description of what the problem is that the new feature would solve. Describe why and how a user would use this new functionality (if applicable). --> # Proposed technical implementation details (optional) Sample commands: `{ "command": "nextInstance", "keys": "ctrl+alt+tab" },` `{ "command": "prevInstance", "keys": "ctrl+alt+shift+tab" },` <!-- A clear and concise description of what you want to happen. -->
claunia added the Issue-TaskProduct-TerminalArea-UserInterface labels 2026-01-31 02:34:00 +00:00
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:34:01 +00:00
Author
Owner
Copy Link

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020):

This isn't the silliest idea, once #5000 lands. We'll need that for coordinating this action across processes.

Though, one question - wouldn't it be easier to just have one Terminal window with lots of tabs in it, and then use the already existing nextTab/prevTab actions?

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020): This isn't the silliest idea, once #5000 lands. We'll need that for coordinating this action across processes. Though, one question - wouldn't it be easier to just have one Terminal window with lots of tabs in it, and then use the already existing `nextTab`/`prevTab` actions?
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:34:01 +00:00
Author
Owner
Copy Link

@bavis-m commented on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020):

I use tabs for my terminal on a single window (editor in one tab, logs
in another, command line in a third, for example), but if I want terminals
in multiple monitors it is a pain to get a single terminal window to fit
(especially across different dimension/DPI displays)

@bavis-m commented on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020): I use tabs for my terminal on a single window (editor in one tab, logs in another, command line in a third, for example), but if I want terminals in multiple monitors it is a pain to get a single terminal window to fit (especially across different dimension/DPI displays)
claunia commented 2026-01-31 02:34:01 +00:00
Author
Owner
Copy Link

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020):

if I want terminals in multiple monitors it is a pain to get a single terminal window to fit (especially across different dimension/DPI displays)

Okay that makes perfect sense. Thanks for following up!

@zadjii-msft commented on GitHub (Oct 7, 2020): > if I want terminals in multiple monitors it is a pain to get a single terminal window to fit (especially across different dimension/DPI displays) Okay that makes perfect sense. Thanks for following up!
Sign in to join this conversation.
No Branch/Tag Specified
Branches Tags
Labels
Clear labels
⛺ Reserved
A11yCO
A11yMAS
A11ySev1
A11ySev2
A11ySev3
A11yTTValidated
A11yUsable
A11yVoiceAccess
A11yWCAG
Area-Accessibility
Area-AtlasEngine
Area-AzureShell
Area-Build
Area-Build
Area-Chat
Area-CmdPal
Area-CodeHealth
Area-Commandline
Area-CookedRead
Area-DefApp
Area-Extensibility
Area-Fonts
Area-GroupPolicy
Area-i18n
Area-Input
Area-Interaction
Area-Interop
Area-Localization
Area-Output
Area-Performance
Area-Portable
Area-Quality
Area-Remoting
Area-Rendering
Area-Schema
Area-Server
Area-Settings
Area-SettingsUI
Area-ShellExtension
Area-ShellExtension
Area-ShellExtension
Area-Suggestions
Area-Suggestions
Area-TerminalConnection
Area-TerminalControl
Area-Theming
Area-UserInterface
Area-VT
Area-Windowing
Area-WPFControl
AutoMerge
Blocking-Ingestion
Culprit-Centennial
Culprit-WinUI
Disability-All
Disability-Blind
Disability-LowVision
Disability-Mobility
External-Blocked-WinUI3
Fixed
Gathering-Data
good first issue
HCL-E+D
HCL-WindowsTerminal
Help Wanted
Impact-Compatibility
Impact-Compliance
Impact-Correctness
Impact-Visual
In-PR
InclusionBacklog
InclusionBacklog-Windows TerminalWin32
InclusionCommitted-202206
Issue-Bug
Issue-Docs
Issue-Feature
Issue-Feature
Issue-Question
Issue-Samples
Issue-Scenario
Issue-Task
Needs-Attention
Needs-Author-Feedback
Needs-Bisect
Needs-Discussion
Needs-Repro
Needs-Tag-Fix
Needs-Tag-Fix
Needs-Triage
No-Recent-Activity
Priority-0
Priority-1
Priority-2
Priority-3
Product-Cmd.exe
Product-Colortool
Product-Colortool
Product-Colortool
Product-Conhost
Product-Conpty
Product-Meta
Product-Powershell
Product-Terminal
Product-WSL
pull-request
Mirrored from GitHub Pull Request
 Resolution-Answered
Resolution-By-Design
Resolution-Duplicate
Resolution-External
Resolution-Fix-Available
Resolution-Fix-Committed
Resolution-No-Repro
Resolution-Won't-Fix
Severity-Blocking
Severity-Crash
Severity-DataLoss
spam
this-will-be-a-breaking-change
Tracking-External
WindowsTerminal_Win32
Work-Item
zAskModeBug
zInbox-Bug
No Label Area-UserInterface Issue-Task Product-Terminal
Milestone
No items
No Milestone
Projects
Clear projects
No project
Assignees
Clear assignees
claunia
No Assignees
1 Participants
Notifications
Due Date
No due date set.
Dependencies

No dependencies set.

Reference: starred/terminal#10928
Delete Branch "%!s()"

Deleting a branch is permanent. Although the deleted branch may continue to exist for a short time before it actually gets removed, it CANNOT be undone in most cases. Continue?