closing several windows on taskbar at once

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Is there a quick way to close several windows at once on a task bar?
see attachment for illustration as to what l mean.
I would like to close all those tasks highlighed by red at once rather than one at a time.

Justin

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In the particular example that you show, all the windows you want to close are from Word, so simply exiting the Word application will do what you want.

I don’t think there is a general solution to closing a random collection of windows.

StuartR

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To close several or all the open windows on the taskbar …

* Choose the programs and documents you want to close by holding down the CTRL key while you click each item’s button on the taskbar.
* Right-click one of the selected buttons, and then click Close or Close Group.

HTH

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Thats exactly what l need.

Many thanks indeed.

Justin.

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Thanks, I love this place because I learn something new every day.

StuartR

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Me too !!!

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Hey that IS a great tip – thanks Doc! However, although it didn’t happen with the previous two fellas, I did it like one would do file selection with the Control key and it didn’t work. You have to continue holding down on the Control key while you right-click to get that “Close Group” menu item. This really is a nice find. I’m using XP Pro – do you remember if it works in other versions of the OS?

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I think it’s pretty general Al. I’ve used it routinely since ’95, now 98SE and I’ve probably used it on other Windows O/Ss too.

Alan

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Like I said to Stuart, “Me Too !!!”. I Googled that one up. The reference was for Windows ME, but I figured if it works with ME it should work with all the others too.

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WOW — I can’t believe I never thought of EVER doing that!! I use CTRL and click daily in all applications, but that I never thought of doing this to control the windows themselves…..????

Thanx for this tip Doc…amazing!!

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Ready for another top tip from the same concept.

The trick above does not work on folders that are open!!!

But it DOES work if you use Alt+Ctrl and multi-click

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Your a star!

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I’m sure I’m dense, but what exactly do you mean by ‘folders that are open’? On my PC (Windows XP SP-2), I can select multiple folder windows the same way as any other items listed in the Windows task bar, by Ctrl+clicking them. What am I missing?

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Me the gullible. Shall I wait for his answer and maybe convert the star into a white dwarf???

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Hans

I am now back on my 2000 machine. I sometimes have a few folders open and minimised on the Task Bar. On my win 2000 PC the above trick work(just ctrl). For some reason on my XP laptop it would not. It did work when I used the ctrl+alt option, don’t ask me why it just did

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Jerry,

I was aware of the CTRL+right click going back to previous versions of windows (don’t recall how far) and it works on any button/task including folders. However, on my laptop XP, I think the menu has changed slightly. See attached screen shot – I think it used to say just “Close” and I don’t recall there being a “Minimize”. I hardly use this but probably should do so more (eg, right now I have 9 windows open).

Fred

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I think this depends on whether or not you have “Group similar taskbar buttons” selected in your Taskbar and Start Menu Properties – see the difference in right click menus below.

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(Edited by fburg on 17-Sep-05 11:58. )

Leif,

I have to disagree with you and I know that I do so at my own peril. I think you’re confusing 2 things.

I believe that what “Group Similar Taskbar Buttons” does is use one taskbar button “space” for buttons related to the SAME program/task. In fact, when I opened my taskbar properties, that box was NOT checked and yet I still had the ability to close multiple windows by holding the CTRL key down as I selected taskbar buttons even if they were not of the same task (eg. an Excel window, a Word window all at the same time), per my previous email and the screen shot associated with that.

So I checked “Grouped Similar…” to verify what it does (I’ve played with it before but don’t feel that I’d gain much with it checked – see below). But even this feature does not “kick in” until you’ve filled your taskbar with “normal” size buttons (size that is used when you open your first window) even if you have 2 windows for the same program open but nothing else.

For example, looking at my attached screenshot (see “group2.jpg” in attached zip), I have 4 Outlook Express tasks open. When I opened the first 2, they were not grouped even tho I had now checked “Group Similar…”. But with 2 Outlook Express tasks open plus a few other things, my taskbar was now filled with “normal” size buttons. So when I opened the 3rd (and then the 4th) OE task, they were grouped and “normal” button size maintained. If “Group Similar…” had NOT been checked, then when I opened the 3rd OE task, ALL the taskbar buttons would shrink. In fact, I think Windows, when it first shrinks the buttons, does not shrink them so that the current set of buttons are sized so that they all just fit on the taskbar. It makes them even smaller so that you have room for even one more button at the now-reduced size (I always wondered about this). Open one more window and that fills the space. Open yet another one and the resizing process starts again. But that’s an aside to this.

Now once you have “Group Similar Taskbar Buttons” checked, you’ll see all buttons of the same program/task taking up the space of one taskbar button space with:
– a number (x) indicating how many buttons/tasks there are of that type
– a down arrow that allows you to expand the button like a menu by left clicking it to see the specific x tasks (as if they were buttons on the taskbar).

With that menu, you can now left click one of the menu items and restore that OR you can RIGHT click a menu item (task/window) and get a menu that is the same as you’d get by right clicking an ungrouped taskbar button. That is, a menu with restore, maximize, close, etc. What I have found that you can NOT do is play the game of CTRL+right click on the items in the menu to, say, close multiple (but not all) of the menu items at once. Hmmm, maybe a feature for Windows xyz.

Frankly, I don’t work with the “Group Similar…” because I’d rather see all my buttons on the taskbar. I can tell which ones are which by the tooltip if I hover over it although I usually remember which is which anyway. That extra click is just a bother to me.

Now, with “Group Similar…” checked and right clicking the “group button”, you get the menu that you showed and I showed in my last email (see “group2a.jpg” in the zip). “Minimize Group” is grayed out if there isn’t at least one restored window from the group (implying a “group” can consist of as little as one window when dealing with a grouped taskbar button but not when right clicking an ungrouped taskbar button or a menu item/window within a “group” button).

So there are some differences between the “Group Similar…” feature and just CTRL+left/right clicking buttons on the taskbar. In fact, you can combine the two features. You can CTRL+right click a “group” button and an “ungrouped” button and get group behavior across all the combined tasks/windows.

One thing I noticed absent was the ability in a “group” button (or CTRL+right click a bunch of taskbar buttons) to “Restore All”. Now that would be useful (and not the same thing as the Quick Launchbar button for restoring all). What would even be better in a group button is to be able to select which windows/menu items to restore and restore them at once. Now, after restoring one item, you have to start over again by clicking the group button. More xyz features.

edited: You can restore all of a group in any of cascade or tile horizontal or tile vertical modes. But you still can’t select multiple but less than all to restore without starting over again, as just mentioned.

Now getting back to Jerry’s issues for a moment: there is a difference between
– not holding the CTRL key before you click a first taskbar button restores that window
– holding the CTRL button while left clicking does not restore the window

Either way, if you now CTRL+left click, you’ve now defined a group of buttons. Now CTRL+right click to get the “group menu”. Better yet, you can CTRL+right click a second taskbar button and get the “group menu”.

Anyway, that’s all from me for now.

Continue enjoying that British Summer. I’ll be enjoying the spectacular color show of changing leaves in NJ.

Fred

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