Why would I want to use the multi-desktop functionality in Windows 11?

Desktop 1: WFH environment - mail, terminal, ticket queue etc.

Desktop 2: Me-stuff - lemmy, gmail, youtube, netflix, steam.

It’s a feature that Microsoft was very late to rip off from other platforms. I’ve been using it in different Linux/UNIX graphical environments for ages.

You can think about it as a way to organize your windows by splitting them into groups. If you work on multiple things and require to have many windows opened simultaneously, you can make your desktop less cluttered. You can then switch between the desktop by swiping laptop touchpad (with 3 or 4 fingers), or hitting some keyboard combo.

I also use them kind of instead traditional task switcher. I’ve got one browser window maximized on workspace 1, fullscreen terminal on 2, mail and messengers on 3, even more apps on 4. It’s like multi monitor functionality with just one screen.

I've had cases where a game crashed and I couldn't open any other window including the task manager. I could alt tab to it, but when I try opening it it would instantly revert back to the crashed game. But if you move task manager to another desktop and switch to that desktop, you can force close the crashed game. Pretty much a fringe case and I've never found another reason to use this feature personally.

This is something I actually use all the time. It helps to mentally separate the tasks I'm working on and keep things from getting cluttered. For example, if I'm editing audio on one desktop and preparing a 3D print on another, I can keep all those programs and files siloed into their own little workspace. I can also just stop working on either task at any point and just switch to a new clean desktop without losing my open programs and windows so I can just pop back into them later.

I work as an engineer and I use it like a desktop for each project. Works very well when you need to work on more than one project at a time - all the programs, files, folders, browser tabs for one project are on one screen exactly where I left them, and exactly in the layout where I left off.

I also keep the first desktop as a HOME screen, where I have email, Teams, Zoom, and my timesheet program. If I need to talk to someone about a project while I work on it, I just pop that chat out into a new window and move it to the respective desktop.

The only limitation is that if you open something (like an Excel file) through Windows Explorer on desktop 1, but you have an instance of the program already running on desktop 3, it will jump around the desktops and open on the one where it's already open. I have no idea why, not all programs do that, but it's easy to move it to the correct place.

Also it's even more hand if you learn the keyboard shortcuts.

Another use I haven't seen mentioned is that it's good when you only have a single monitor. You can easily use shortcut keys to flip between the desktops. I could have my remote connection to another computer in one desktop and my local stuff in another and easily switch between the two.

Nitpick: the proper term is "virtual desktop" or "workspace", as "desktop environment" is already a common term for the software composing the entire user interface.

I enjoy using this feature on any operating system since it lets me quickly scan through and declutter open windows, and place categories of windows in their own workspaces. I might have only productivity windows on one, and leisure and socials on another. It's especially effective if you learn the keyboard shortcuts for navigating inside and between workspaces. All this improves my productivity and keeps distractions away.

When I was a university student I used this feature a lot (on Linux and macOS, I didn't use Windows which didn't have this feature yet then).

I usually had different things to do at any one time (homework for different courses) and put the stuff I needed to do for each of them on one desktop each, plus one for things unrelated to university work (forums, wikis, reddit, general browsing). That way I wasn't distracted by other stuff when working on one thing.

I hardly used the feature before and after that.

I use this regularly on a laptop, but almost never on a desktop.

It’s really nice if you have multiple full screen apps you’re switching back and forth from them pretty regularly, ie IDE in one env, browser in another, both can be full screen and switched without minimizing the other.

Multi Monitor setups often solve the same problem.

Oh wow, windows is finally getting that feature? Nice. As a mac user this one of these "how the hell do you not have this" features that really baffled me.

I use them when I have to work on multiple projects at once (programming). Basically, I have a desktop per project with all the documents and programms open that I need for that project. It's very convenient.

I'm a freelance consultant/trainer but I only have one computer, I use them to split my personal and client specific functions.

I actually use three desktops:

one for my "Normal" usage, so my personal e-mail, news, youtube, lemmy, netflix, etc. one for my gaming, I usually have up the game, notes, spreadsheets, streams, etc. one for my work, with client related websites, notes, code, file explorers, etc.

When I'm teaching I actually have a second user login for my computer that I switch over to. This is to prevent me accidentally sharing anything on my screen that I didn't intentionally prepare ahead of time. Especially things like accidentally showing my other client's files/notes, downloads/recent files, browser history/autocomplete, etc.

Don't know how it's implemented on Windows, but I have been using and loving this feature for decades on Linux, it allows you to have several workspaces and assigning different shortcut, so for example regardless of where I'am, if I hit Super+1 I get taken straight to my browser, and Super+9 takes me to Spotify, no need to be alt+, tabbing until I get the window I'm looking for.

Just putting out there use the Ctrl-Win-Left/Right shortcuts rather than the mouse, and you'll find much more convenience out of it. (Ctrl Alt left/right for many Linux desktops)

I use it all the time on Linux since forever, and with W11 at work...

It's to separate different uses, say have a gaming space, productivity space, background messaging/email/communication. You can shove anything that you'd want running but not in front of you away, while still being able to quickly access it.

At work I do multiple projects, so I can have Project A related folders and programs open on one workspace, with Project B stuff on another, letting me switch between. If someone calls me about project B while I was working on A, I can quickly switch over, rather than closing my current stuff, or just leaving it all open and fumbling with alt tab.

I use it at work to switch between my email+ticket desktop, my coding desktop+firefox, and my slacking off desktop. It makes it easy for me to organize things

i'm on Linux and i use a grid of 20 desktops... on 2 screens. (so 40 desktops total) but generally it's a single window per desktop. i have tiling, so windows don't overlap with each other

I'm on windows 10 and I use a tool called dexpot. It's the same function, multi desktop. In my home we only have one PC. 3 of us use it. Desktop 1 is my wife's, I'm on desktop 2, my daughter is on 3. Each desktop is personalized by the user.

When I am comparing branches or working on multiple tickets at a time, separating each instance of my IDEs, as well as Jira tickets and Confluence documents related to the specific projects into their own little sandbox. This way I can more easily remember which windows and browser tabs go with each project.

If it's anything like Mac's, it's a cleaner way to jump between apps without having to constantly adjust your windows. While I work, I have a desktop for Photoshop, Illustrator, Chrome, and one for both Slack and Outlook.

I run my game on one desktop... Swap quickly to the second desktop with Ctrl+win+right/left, open Firefox and Google whatever I need and then back into the game...

It’s basically GoScreen which I didn’t learn about until recently…but I didn’t see some of the features I like about go screen.

I have 3 monitors and I get to the point I have projects open for estimating claims (fire and water damage) with estimating software, pictures, pdf diagrams and notepad files open. Then my phone rings and I go to a different mode…I want all of that exactly where I left it, and jump back to a second desktop with all of my other software open. (Phone, email, web browser etc) to do normal business.

If I didn’t have this I would never get these projects done because I would close everything and have to open it all to get back to the same place in my analysis and evaluation.

I've never had a use for this, not even once. No clue who needs this.

I had thought it'd be useful for separating two different types of task. Like one project is one desktop and the other is another. But nope, they're not properly siloed at all. Making changes in one often affects the other unexpectedly. It's a very dumb design that has little use as a result.