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How to run useful command "Desktop Show All Windows" without Microsoft Touch Mouse

Anonymous
2014-10-03T20:14:11+00:00

I have Windows 8.1 (64-bit) running on my laptop.  Earlier today, I

installed your Microsoft Touch Mouse.  This product is a few years

old, but it's compatible with both Windows 7 and Windows 8.  I

installed the latest software for it called Microsoft Mouse and

Keyboard Center (MouseKeyboardCenter_64bit_ENG_2.3.188.exe).  It's

working fine, but there's a feature I would like to ask about...

     In the settings in the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center, I can

set it so that the gesture for swiping 3 fingers up runs the

following command: "Desktop Show All Windows."  This is a great

feature, which shows all of my open windows as big as possible

simultaneously on the screen.  This feature is similar to (but

different from) the command Alt-Tab, which allows you to see all

your open windows, but only in small little icons in bar in the

middle of the screen.  The "Desktop Show All Windows" command is

much more visually helpful, as it shows much bigger views of the

currently-running open windows.

     Because I don't have my mouse with me when I'm on the go with my

laptop, I can't use this 3 finger swipe up gesture on my laptop, but

I would like to still be able to use this very useful "Desktop Show

All Windows" command.  Is there some way this can be initiated

without my Microsoft Touch Mouse, perhaps with a keyboard shortcut,

or a macro, or clickable link, or something else?  It's obviously

just triggering some kind of software command when I use the 3

finger gesture on the Microsoft Touch Mouse, so it seems that there

should be some way to setup a keyboard command or clickable link to

trigger the same software response.

     You can see a good example of what I'm talking about in the

question that was previously asked at the online post at the link

below.  A person posted 2 screenshots (if you scroll down a bit)

showing the option in the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center and an

example of what his screen looks like showing the open windows when

he runs the "Desktop Show All Windows" command gesture.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-desktop/show-all-windows/683d1aac-9ea1-49ed-a38d-7ddadeffe939?rtAction=1412363535220

     That post was posted years ago and never got an answer.  And to be

clear, this is *not* the same as the option "Show windows side by

side" that comes up when you right click on the empty space in the

task bar.

     Thanks very much for your help.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Search, touch, and mouse

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@CmdrKeene 90,626 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
2014-10-03T21:17:00+00:00

Well I went digging through all the resources that come with the Mouse and Keyboard Center Software (my mouse uses that same expose-like function with wheel click), but it looks like the resources for the effect are contained in a DLL file, so doesn't appear to be a way to invoke it that I can find.

Although it doesn't help yet, Windows 10 (very early, still a year away) has replaced the old Alt-Tab with something that's almost identical to what the mouse does.  Here's both on my computer:

Windows 10:

The Windows Mouse/Keyboard Center Instant View thing (buggy because it's running on Windows 10 right now).

But having said that, there are good options for achieving what you want. It does require a program, but it's very tiny and I've used it often.  It's called Switcher and has keyboard shortcuts you can configure to any you wish, and performs pretty identically to the mouse center's function.

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  1. Anonymous
    2014-10-06T03:02:41+00:00

    Thanks very much for the response, Shawn.  Sad to hear that there's no easy way to invoke the "Desktop Show All Windows" feature except for using the mouse.  But thanks for the tip on Switcher -- I may look into that.

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