A powerful, lightweight utility built in Rust designed to enhance navigation and multitasking on Windows 11. It provides seamless keyboard-driven taskbar navigation, uncombines taskbar buttons, and lets you switch and move windows across virtual desktops.
I built WinGlide to supercharge productivity by keeping your hands on the keyboard. While native Windows shortcuts like Alt + Tab or Win + Ctrl + D exist, they can feel disconnected or visually cluttered when juggling many applications. WinGlide provides a fast, lightweight, keyboard-first approach to interact with your workspace.
| Feature | Description | Demo |
|---|---|---|
| Cycle taskbar windows | Use Alt + [ / Alt + ] to instantly cycle through open applications on your taskbar (Left/Right). | winglide-cycle-taskbar-button.mp4 |
| Uncombine taskbar buttons | Prevents taskbar buttons from being grouped together, giving you an individual button for each window. | winglide-uncombine.mp4 |
| Virtual desktop indicator | A compact indicator on the taskbar shows which virtual desktop you're on; click a dot to switch. | winglide-indicator.mp4 |
| Jump to desktop | Quickly jump to a specific virtual desktop using Alt + <index> (starting from 1). | winglide-jump-desktop.mp4 |
| Move window to desktop | Right-click a desktop dot to move the current window there ("Move" or "Move and jump"), or Alt + click a dot for a quick move-and-jump. | |
| System Tray Integration | Easily manage the app via a convenient system tray menu. | |
| Lightweight & Fast | Built with Rust for maximum performance and minimal resource usage (<10Mb ram usage). | |
| Free | Why not? |
You can download the latest version of WinGlide from our GitHub Releases page.
We offer two ways to run the application:
- Installer (
.msi): The standard installation experience. Download the file, run it, and follow the setup wizard to install WinGlide on your system. - Portable (
.zip): A standalone version requiring no installation. Simply download, extract the contents to your preferred folder, and run the executable directly.
Warning
WinGlide is currently not code-signed with a paid developer certificate. Because of this, Windows Defender SmartScreen or your antivirus software might flag the application as "unrecognized" or potentially malicious. This is a common false positive for new, open-source executables.
If you trust the source code, you can bypass Windows SmartScreen by clicking "More info" and then "Run anyway".
If you are unable to run or install the .msi file due to strict system policies or antivirus blocks, we recommend using the portable .zip version.
WinGlide runs quietly in the background, but you can easily customize its behavior by right-clicking the System Tray icon:
"To build from source, make sure you have Rust and Cargo installed https://rustup.rs/."
# Build the application
cargo build
# Build release version (binary -> target/release/WinGlide.exe)
cargo build --release
# Run normally
cargo run --release
# Run with debug
cargo run -- --debug --verbose| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Windows API | windows-rs 0.61 |
| Taskbar Enumeration | IUIAutomation (UIA) |
| Window Matching | EnumWindows + GetWindowTextW |
| Window Activation | SetForegroundWindow + AttachThreadInput |
| Global Hotkeys | RegisterHotKey + GetMessageW |
| Virtual Desktops | winvd |
| UI | windows-reactor |
- Found a bug or have a feature request? Please open an issue to let me know!
- Want to contribute? Pull requests are always welcome.
This project is open-source and licensed under the MIT License.
- Windows 11 Only: Relies on the modern Windows 11 XAML taskbar implementation (
Taskbar.TaskListButtonAutomationPeer).