Windows 8: "minimise" shortcut

Question

How can I minimise the active program on Windows 8, using a keyboard shortcut?

Win+down isn't good:

if the program is maximised, it un-maximises it before, and I don't want that
if the selected window isn't the main one, it doesn't work at all

Also Alt+space+N doesn't always work.

@Kwaio nope, that minimises all the windows, i.e. "shows desktop". I just want to minimise the active one. — o0'., Sep 02 '13 at 14:09
My bad, misread. Win + down should work... could the Win key be disabled by BIOS ? — mveroone, Sep 02 '13 at 14:10
@Kwaio nope, it doesn't work for two reasons, as I wrote in the post. — o0'., Sep 02 '13 at 14:11
What do you mean by "not the main one" ? (and i think the first point can't be addressed) — mveroone, Sep 02 '13 at 14:13
@Kwaio a program can have more than one window, with the control buttons only in the main window. Some combinations only work if the active window is the main one. My point one is the most important one, btw, and the existance of "alt+space+n" shows that it _can_ be addressed (alt+space+n doesn't work properly, though, and that's why I'm still asking). — o0'., Sep 02 '13 at 14:35
possible duplicate of [What is the Windows hotkey to minimise a single, currently active, window?](http://superuser.com/questions/189194/what-is-the-windows-hotkey-to-minimise-a-single-currently-active-window), [Minimize one, single window in Windows 7 with keyboard shortcut](http://superuser.com/questions/306521/minimize-one-single-window-in-windows-7-with-keyboard-shortcut), [What is the keyboard shortcut for minimizing a normal window?](http://superuser.com/questions/254361/what-is-the-keyboard-shortcut-for-minimizing-a-normal-window) — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Sep 02 '13 at 16:42

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 23 '20 at 08:21

This is one of my most oft-used autohotkey tricks. Just aim your mouse at the target window and it gets minimised.

Alt & LButton::

    ; window ID under the cursor (not necessarily active!) 
    MouseGetPos, TB_X, TB_Y, TB_ID

    ; get the class of the window under the cursor
    WinGetClass, TB_Class, ahk_id %TB_ID%

    WinMinimize, ahk_id %TB_ID%

return

tmkadamcz · Answer 2 · 2013-09-02T14:11:16.190

0

If you want to reduce any window to the system tray, I can heartily recommend RBTray.

From their website:

RBTray is a small Windows program that runs in the background and allows almost any window to be minimized to the system tray by right clicking its minimize button.

You can put the program in your startup folder and it will always run in the background. To access your startup folder, type shell:startup into explorer.

if you want to minimize a window, you could hit alt-space and this will show a menu in which you can press a letter (depending on your language) to minimize the window.

edited Sep 02 '13 at 14:11

answered Sep 02 '13 at 13:57

tmkadamcz

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I wanted to minimise, I edited the post (didn't know the correct term, sorry). – o0'. Sep 02 '13 at 14:06
1

ok, and I just saw you also mentioned that alt space doesn't always work, rendering my second edit irrelevant. Please ignore. – tmkadamcz Sep 02 '13 at 14:12

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 02 '13 at 14:49

0

This can be partly done using AutoHotKey, with this script:

#v::WinMinimize, A

It only minimises the active window, instead of minimising all the windows of the active program, but that's a start.

answered Sep 02 '13 at 14:49

o0'.

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Windows 8: "minimise" shortcut

3 Answers3