by Mo Flanagan on November 8, 2009 - Comments

There was a bug in 570 which caused WindowTabs to not validate your license key (if you have one) until you open the “License” page on the settings window. This means that even though you have a license, you would still hit the three tab limit. This version fixes that.

  • Fixed issue with hitting the three tab limit on licensed versions of WindowTabs.
  • Added a cancel button to the “Feedback” form.

Install WindowTabs (v580)


by Mo Flanagan on November 1, 2009 - 3 Comments

There has been a long standing issue where settings are not saved for some users on 64-bit Windows Vista / Windows 7 due to the fact that WT was saving to the local Program Files directory.

In an effort to fix this, WindowTabs is now installed to your Local User Data directory instead of Program Files – this is the same way Google Chrome and all “ClickOnce” .NET applications are installed.

Also, I will be moving to a more manageable release cycle (2-4 week) which will give me time to tackle bigger features between releases.

  • Fixed an issue which caused settings to not be saved on x64 Windows Vista and Windows 7
  • Fixed a bug where you are prompted to restart WindowTabs after viewing advanced settings, even if you have not made changes to the settings.
  • WindowTabs is now installed to your user data directory instead of Program Files.
  • Added version info to the WindowTabsSetup.exe file.
  • Added the WindowTabs version to the WT notify icon tooltip.
  • Removed the license.txt and desktopstate.dat, save that data to settings.dat.

Install WindowTabs (v570)


by Mo Flanagan on October 16, 2009 - 4 Comments
  • WindowTabs sends an error report if the WindowTabs dll fails to unload, this will help me eliminate some of the errors caused by locked dll’s when upgrading
  • WindowTabs sends a ping to Google Analytics when it starts, this will help me track the number of successfully completed installs.
  • Added a feedback form, right click on a tab and click “feedback”.
  • Changed the AutoHide setting back to false by default.
  • Save the location of the settings form.
  • Made the settings form a tool window.
  • Fixed an issue which prevented tabbing between items in the settings form.
  • Minimizing a window now minimizes the whole group instead of removing the window from the group (this was an issue when you turned the Hide in taskbar setting off).

Install WindowTabs (v540)

For next week

My goal for next week is to provide an “upgrade” button in the app which will download the latest version, do the upgrade and restart in one click.


by Mo Flanagan on October 9, 2009 - Comments

Now you can choose to show only the active tab in the taskbar (the default behavior) or you can choose to show all windows in the Taskbar. This is a pretty significant feature that still needs some more work. I am really excited about improving the taskbar integration over the next few weeks and I would appreciate feedback on this so please give it a try!

Install WindowTabs (v510)

For next week

Next week I am going to focus on the user experience around updating. I’m not happy with the update process right now and with a weekly release cycle, updates need to be painless.


by Mo Flanagan on October 9, 2009 - 1 Comment

By default, WindowTabs only shows a taskbar button for the active window in each tabbed group. This works well for some people but others have asked for a way to show all windows in the taskbar. Now you can control this behavior, here’s how:

This feature is a work in progress. There are some exciting new capabilities with the Windows 7 “SuperBar” that I will take advantage of over the next few weeks to provide much smarter taskbar grouping and integration.


by Mo Flanagan on October 5, 2009 - Comments

You work with a lot of open email windows at once and your desktop gets cluttered with open windows, making it harder to multitask and stay productive — the solution is WindowTabs.

WindowTabs lets you group your Outlook email, task, calendar and other windows together into logical groups with a simple drag-and-drop interface. Use WindowTabs to organize your email windows, documents, spreadsheets, development tools, chat windows and many other applications.

After you have organized your windows, WindowTabs continues to support you by providing advanced features like auto-grouping, filtering, auto-hiding and seamless multi-monitor support.

WindowTabs lets you:

  • Combine windows from different applications into tabbed groups
  • Organize your desktop using a simple drag and drop interface
  • Free up space on your Taskbar so you can work with more open windows
  • Easily drag and drop files between tabbed windows
  • Find and switch between windows quickly with keyboard shortcuts
  • Automatically group windows from the same process
  • Configure filtering rules for tabbing your applications

Who needs WindowTabs?

You do if you’ve ever:

  • Wanted to organize your Outlook email windows into tabbed groups
  • Suffered from a desktop and Taskbar cluttered with too many open windows
  • Needed a program to help you logically organize your windows into more manageable groups

See how you can use WindowTabs to organize Microsoft Outlook


by Mo Flanagan on October 2, 2009 - Comments

This isn’t the most exciting release I have ever made but its still an important one. I fixed several crash issues and a nasty issue where you could get duplicate tabs if you drag a tab out of a group fast enough. Also, if you have been running into problems upgrading due to “WindowTabs32.dll” being in use, this new version should help going forward, the installer will now only try and replace WindowTabs32.dll if the version of that dll has changed.

  • Added a version check to the installer for the WindowTabs32.dll. This should make it much less likely that upgrades will fail due to the WindowTabs32.dll being in use.
  • Fixed a bug where tabs appear “behind” windows sometimes. This often happend on top level windows like Task Manager.
  • Fixed a random crash bug that was introduced in build 465 (sorry!)
  • Fixed a bug where a two tabs could appear for the same window if you drag the window out of a tab group quickly.
  • Fixed a minor issue where windows would be shuffled around in zorder when WindowTabs starts.
  • Fixed a very rare crash issue when restoring a window.

Install WindowTabs (v490)

For next week

Next week, I want to provide an option which keeps windows in the taskbar. This would allow you to switch between windows using tabs or the taskbar. The lack of this feature has been a deal breaker for many people so I am eager to get this in there!


by Mo Flanagan on October 1, 2009 - Comments

One of the files that ships with WindowTabs is “WindowTabsLoader32.exe”. There is no reason for you to ever run this program directly, nothing bad will happen, there just isn’t any reason to run it.

WindowTabsLoader32 is run by the main WindowTabs.exe when you are running on a 64 bit system. For those who care, the loader allows WindowTabs to “hook” 32bit processes running on your 64 bit OS. For example, many people run the 32bit IE7 and the loader allows WindowTabs to attach tabs to that process.


by Mo Flanagan on September 25, 2009 - 2 Comments

This release includes some look and feel improvements and (finally!) adds a simple context menu to access the settings by right clicking on a tab. I’ll be adding a lot more to the context menu over the next few weeks.

  • Added a right click context menu for accessing WindowTabs settings.
  • Fixed a bug where hidden tabs would reappear incorrectly when your mouse moved over another window.
  • Disabled DWM transition animations so that you don’t see as much “flicker” when switching tabs and so that tabs don’t appear before the window when you restore a window from minimize.
  • Reduced the delay when hiding tabs on a maximized window.
  • Fixed a crash on Windows 2000.

Install WindowTabs (v465)


by Mo Flanagan on September 18, 2009 - Comments

This weeks release is a bunch of little bug fixes with some rendering issues and some problems with message boxes getting lost. Also, after a long hiatus, the diagnostics report is working again.

  • Fixed the diagnostics report, it was not working at all in previous builds.
  • Fixed an issue where “close all tabs” dialoge box would fall behind other windows when closing IE8. This also affected text editors which promt when you close with unsaved text.
  • Fixed a very rare crash which happens if a window closes while the trial splash screen is showing.
  • Fixed an issue where IE8 would display artifacts and not properly redraw.
  • Fixed a rendering issue where Chrome would not draw its tabs on Windows 7.
  • The drag thumbnail now dissapears before showing the window which looks nicer.

Install WindowTabs (v450)


by Mo Flanagan on September 16, 2009 - Comments

The new “Aero” interface on Vista and Windows 7 displays an animation sequence each time you hide or minimize a window. This can get a little distracting when you are using WindowTabs because this animation is triggered each time you switch between windows in a tab group. Fortunately, you can turn of this animation, here is the menu sequence:

Computer -> Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance -> Visual Effects -> “Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing”


by Mo Flanagan on September 15, 2009 - Comments

Diagnostic reports provide useful information about the programs and windows running on your system. If you are running into a problem with WindowTabs, sending a diagnostics report along with your email can help me fix the issue faster.


by Mo Flanagan on September 11, 2009 - Comments

This weeks release gets Windows Live Messenger working again on Vista / Win7, thanks to Oli for the heads up! Also, I added a much requested feature, the ability to activate tabs while dragging – especially useful for moving files between explorer windows.

  • Windows Live Messenger works (again) on Vista / Windows 7
  • Restarting windows tabs after changing settings no longer causes random crashing
  • Whitespace is now correctly removed from your filtering settings, this was causing the filter to not recognize some process names
  • You can now drag files, text – anything – over a tab and the tab will activate, take a look

Install WindowTabs (v430)


by Mo Flanagan on September 11, 2009 - 1 Comment

WindowTabs now supports dragging and dropping between tabs, making it much easier to move files between explorer windows, move text between Word or Excel documents or copy code snippets between your IDE’s and command windows -- take a look:


by Mo Flanagan on September 10, 2009 - Comments

cruisecontrol The latest version of WindowTabs is build 423 and its growing fast – sometimes it grows by two or three version numbers in a single day. So what is with this crazy version number and why not a more familiar Major.Minor version? It all comes down to the development cycle.

Release often, release early

I take an “iterative” approach to building WindowTabs which means that instead of releasing a big batch of changes a few times a year, I am constantly adding features in small steps and releasing these new versions every few weeks. Each time I make a small improvement, the version number goes up. After a few days of testing, I make one of these new version the “latest” so that users are notified through the WindowTabs version checker.

The main benefit of making frequent incremental releases is that I get more frequent and timely feedback from my customers which helps me fix issues faster and keeps me focused on adding features that my customers care about.


by Mo Flanagan on September 9, 2009 - 2 Comments

wordpress-logo-stacked-bgYesterday evening, I launched a new version of the WindowTabs website running on WordPress. By moving from a static site (hard to change) to a dynamic WordPress site (easy to change) I’ll be able to provide a better experience for WindowTabs users. Here are  a few improvments you can expect to see:

  • Frequent videos and articles about WindowTabs features, reviews and tips
  • A new forum that allows you to comment and track feature requests
  • RSS / email notification of new releases

Please let me know if you run into any issues on the new site, or if you have any ideas on how I can improve it.


by Mo Flanagan on September 8, 2009 - Comments

It’s a long time since the last release but this version makes up for it with one major new feature (auto hiding) and a bunch of important bug fixes for Outlook, Visual Studio and Microsoft Word users

  • Automatically hide tabs on maximized windows so they don’t cover the caption bar (in Chrome for example), take a look
  • Fixed an issue where apps like VS .NET and Windows Live Messenger stayed on top of other apps
  • Fixed an issue where the tabs would disappear on maximized VS.NET windows
  • Removed the keyboard shortcut to hide tabs on a window – auto hide makes this unnecessary
  • Fix a bug where closing a Word document in a group of multiple documents would leave tabs floating in space
  • Fixed an issue where tabs were not being hidden after you close an Outlook window
  • The “latest version” checker wasn’t working quite right, now it is
  • Fixed an issue where Outlook would dissapear if you closed an email window in a group

Install WindowTabs (v420)


by Mo Flanagan on September 4, 2009 - Comments

I just found this video of WindowTabs on YouTube and it made me smile. The movement of the tabs are choreographed with beautiful background music. WindowTabs looks even better on Windows 7, it’s probably time for me to upgrade…


by Mo Flanagan on September 2, 2009 - Comments

I often move maximized windows from one monitor to another as I work on different tasks. WindowTabs make this easier by allowing me to drag and drop maximized windows between monitors instead of having to restore, move, maximize. It’s a little thing but it makes for a more fluid window management experience.


by Mo Flanagan on September 1, 2009 - 3 Comments

WindowTabs can be overwhelming if you have lots of windows open -- all those tabs sprouting up can be a little distracting. The new Auto Hide feature streamlines WindowTabs by hiding tabs on inactive and maximized windows. The tabs are shown when you:

  • move your mouse over a tab area
  • move your mouse to the top of the screen (for maximized windows)
  • drag a window tab
  • switch windows in a tabbed group


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