How To Organize Windows Folders and Applications in Multiple Tabs

Imagine a situation when you have a lot of applications and windows open and you have to constantly switch different windows. This takes away the focus from your work and kills your precious time. What if we could arrange all the windows folders and running applications in tabs just as we open multiple websites in Firefox?

Earlier we have used QTtabbar, which lets you import tabbed features to your windows explorer but WinTabber is even more useful. It is a free desktop tool for windows that lets you organize open windows and running applications in tabs. All the open folders can be grouped together which keeps your desktop clean and uncluttered. Another advantage of using tabbed applications is that you get a lot of space in the taskbar and the running applications do not get huddled together. (also see : useful Firefox extensions for better tab management)

Earlier my desktop used to contain a lot of open applications and took me quite a lot of time to figure out a particular program or window. Here is how my desktop looked

After using WinTabber the same desktop looks quite different.

As you can see, all the running programs and open folders are neatly organized in multiple tabs under one common explorer window. You can open almost any program in a new tab. This may include your browser,Microsoft word,command prompt or even a video playing in your favorite media player.

How does WinTabber work ?

Nothing that geeky. Following are the steps involved to use WinTabber :

1. Start the application and open a new tab or a new window.

2. WinTabber will ask you which applications and folders you want to dock. Select the desired applications which you want to group together.

3. The selected applications will open in a new tab inside the WinTabber window. You can drag and rearrange the tabs and change the position just as you do with Firefox tabs.

4. You can run multiple instances of WinTabber simultaneously. So if you are working on different browsers then open a new WinTabber window and dock all the browsers together. Similarly you can group all the open folders in another WinTabber window and so on.

5. Ctrl + tab moves to the next tab while Shift +tab takes you to the previous tab.

6. You can release a particular window or you can release all of them with a single click. If you want to close all the applications just hit “Remove and close all”.

7. If you have a large number of tabs open,you can compress the appearance of tabs just as it appears in Google chrome. Go to View–>Tab layout—>Compressed and it’s done.

8. There are quite a handful of themes to choose from so that you can give the tabbed environment your own feel. Personally, I like the Office 2007 theme.

There are two editions of WinTabber available for use. One is Free while the other one requires a one time registration fee of $5. The registered version allows you to open an unlimited number of tabs while the free edition limits you to a maximum of 4 tabs. Here is a quick rundown of all the features of WinTabber.

Other Tabbed applications for Windows

1. Window tabs: This app is quite similar to WinTabber. It lets you group similar windows and programs into a tabbed interface. Comes with a licensed version as well a free one.

2. Xplorer2 : Instead of organizing the open folders in tabs, Xplorer2 adds multiple panes in your windows explorer so that you can work on different folders at the same time.

Do you use any of the apps that we have discussed here? Do share your thoughts and ideas so that we get to know what makes you productive.

Tags: desktop, free software, tabber, windows