Description of the new feature / enhancement
A new PowerToy (or an addition to an existing one) that keeps the user on their current virtual desktop when opening files, and forces new application windows to open on the desktop the user is currently working on.
Scenario when this would be used?
Windows' virtual desktop implementation has a fundamental usability flaw that Microsoft has failed to address for years, despite countless reports on Microsoft Q&A, the Feedback Hub, and app vendor forums dating back to Windows 10:
When an application (e.g. Excel, Adobe Acrobat, Word – any single-instance app) already has a window open on virtual desktop 1, and the user double-clicks a file in File Explorer while on virtual desktop 2, the shell hands the file to the already-running process via DDE/COM. The new window is created on the desktop where the process's existing windows live, and Windows forcibly switches the user away from their current desktop. The same happens in reverse when closing a document: Windows jumps to another desktop where the app still has windows open.
Steps to reproduce:
- Create two virtual desktops (Win+Ctrl+D).
- On Desktop 1, open any Excel workbook or PDF.
- Switch to Desktop 2 and double-click another .xlsx/.pdf in File Explorer.
- Windows yanks you back to Desktop 1 and opens the document there.
This defeats the entire purpose of virtual desktops – separating workflows and contexts. In practice, the feature is unusable for anyone who works with documents across multiple desktops: you cannot organize documents of the same application on different desktops, and you are ripped out of your current context every single time you open or close a file. The built-in Multitasking settings ("On all desktops") do not fix this. Even Adobe support investigated and confirmed the behavior is controlled by the OS, not the application. Microsoft has not shipped a fix or even a setting for this in years – which is exactly the kind of gap PowerToys exists to fill.
Supporting information
No response
Description of the new feature / enhancement
A new PowerToy (or an addition to an existing one) that keeps the user on their current virtual desktop when opening files, and forces new application windows to open on the desktop the user is currently working on.
Scenario when this would be used?
Windows' virtual desktop implementation has a fundamental usability flaw that Microsoft has failed to address for years, despite countless reports on Microsoft Q&A, the Feedback Hub, and app vendor forums dating back to Windows 10:
When an application (e.g. Excel, Adobe Acrobat, Word – any single-instance app) already has a window open on virtual desktop 1, and the user double-clicks a file in File Explorer while on virtual desktop 2, the shell hands the file to the already-running process via DDE/COM. The new window is created on the desktop where the process's existing windows live, and Windows forcibly switches the user away from their current desktop. The same happens in reverse when closing a document: Windows jumps to another desktop where the app still has windows open.
Steps to reproduce:
This defeats the entire purpose of virtual desktops – separating workflows and contexts. In practice, the feature is unusable for anyone who works with documents across multiple desktops: you cannot organize documents of the same application on different desktops, and you are ripped out of your current context every single time you open or close a file. The built-in Multitasking settings ("On all desktops") do not fix this. Even Adobe support investigated and confirmed the behavior is controlled by the OS, not the application. Microsoft has not shipped a fix or even a setting for this in years – which is exactly the kind of gap PowerToys exists to fill.
Supporting information
No response