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Sometimes I might be working with 4 or 5 different folders, all open in different windows. Then I go and work in some program windows. But when I want to go back to working with the file explorer I need to bring each and every individual window forward manually.

Mac OS's Finder brings all windows to the front when clicked in the task bar. Is there a similar function in Windows 8 I can use?

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  • Essentially the same as this question.
    – Karan
    May 14, 2015 at 21:49
  • Not exactly the same scenario but the comment seems to indicate that there's no way to bring more than one window to the front at the same time. Which if true is rather silly...
    – Bjorninn
    May 14, 2015 at 22:03
  • Essentially the same in that both are asking about activating multiple background windows simultaneously. I much prefer it the way it is now. When I want to focus on a specific Explorer window and have it on top with some other program window, I don't want all open Explorer windows to be brought to the top and obscure the program window as well.
    – Karan
    May 14, 2015 at 22:08
  • No but I want the option to be able to call them all at once sometimes. Shift clicking the task bar icon or something.
    – Bjorninn
    May 14, 2015 at 23:06
  • This utility is your best option to do what you want. If it doesn't already support it you can ask the developer, who's generally very responsive.
    – Karan
    May 15, 2015 at 16:34

2 Answers 2

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It's not perfect, but if you hold Ctrl and click the application icon in the taskbar it will bring the most recently used window forward. Clicking again brings the next most recent forward and so on.

tl;dr Hold Ctrl and click the Explorer icon a few times quickly.

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You could use a "multiple desktops" feature and switch between the desktops, where the explorer windows are on one "desktop" and the apps are on another. Windows 10 will have this out of the box, but apparently there is a way to enable it in Windows 8, or there are 3rd party apps to do this:

http://www.howtogeek.com/195962/unlock-virtual-desktops-on-windows-7-or-8-with-this-microsoft-tool/

http://virtuawin.sourceforge.net/

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  • Hmm, yeah that's at least better than nothing. Thanks for the suggestion.
    – Bjorninn
    May 15, 2015 at 1:00

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