Windows – Shortcut to show desktop on Windows 7

keyboard shortcutswindows 7

Is there a keyboad shortcut for the 'Show desktop' feature ? (Show desktop happens when you mouse over on the little taskbar demarcation to the right of system clock (on a typical task bar))

Best Answer

If you click Show All on the Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts page, you can see under Windows logo key keyboard shortcuts the following related keys:

⊞ Win + Spacebar     -  Preview the desktop.
⊞ Win + D            -  Display the desktop.
⊞ Win + M            -  Minimize all windows.
⊞ Win + ⇧ Shift + M  -  Restore minimized windows to the desktop.

There is a small difference between how ⊞ Win+(⇧ Shift+)M works from how ⊞ Win+D works.

Pressing ⊞ Win+M stores the state of the windows before minimizing all windows so that you can see the desktop. Then pressing ⊞ Win+⇧ Shift+M restores them from that stored state (assuming the windows still exist at that point) as they were before you pressed ⊞ Win+M. If you minimize or restore windows between the two key presses, then ⊞ Win+Shift+M will restore any windows that had previously not been minimized and leave the rest as is.

On the other hand, pressing ⊞ Win+D minimizes all windows so that you can see the desktop, then pressing it again restores the windows to their previous state, if all windows are still minimized when you press it again. If you press it, then show some windows, then press it again, it will just minimize them all again (restoring a window basically resets the stored state).

So the D hotkey is a combination of the M hotkeys, but with the catch that it only restores them correctly if you have not done anything since you minimized. In other words, it is meant to literally be a shortcut to Show Desktop, especially for the Aero Peek feature, and is primarily to quickly access the desktop for a moment, whereas the M keys are for pausing what you are doing for a bit with the intention of coming back to it later on.

You can use ⊞ Win+Space to use Aero Peek to see the desktop without actually minimizing any windows. It will show the desktop as long as you hold ⊞ Win, but you can release Space.

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