DragThing on the Mac has the ability to bring all Windows to the front any time you access a running application. I think the similar command on Windows is "Restore Similar". I've tried Right-clicking in the Task icons and choosing this but it doesn't always work.
More importantly, I want all windows to the front all the time including Alt-Tabbing.
For instance, if I have 5 windows open in Chrome, I want to be able to Alt-Tab to Chrome and have all 5 windows appear, hopefully with the original Z-order that I left them with. I then want to jump to Outlook and have both the Mail window and Calendar windows appear.
From forums I've read,I don't think many Windows users know that this is possible but I bet they'd love it if it was!

This is General Discussion so I guess you can try to get a conversation going like that but I would suggest 1) Try to formulate it in terms of a question; 2) It would be nice if it were about Winstep products, because this is its forum.

What you say about the handling of windows I confess I am not familiar nor keen to learn every trick in the book. I am quite happy when things work, the way I want them to work, when I need them to work.

If you want to kick start a conversation tell us what you love in the Winstep products and the features you love the most. What other features would you like to see in them?

MacREFUGEE, actually "general discussion" is for threads that pertain to winstep products only. if you had taken the time to look at the thread titles you would would of noticed this and posted in the "off topic" section instead. to be honest though your question sounds like it belongs on sevenforums and not here.

Sorry, I assumed everyone would know I was asking about Winstep Xtreme, which I own. My reference to DragThing was to illustrate the importance as a productivity feature.

This is an extremely efficient way to work (bring an app to the front) and I'm amazed I'm the only one asking for it but maybe that's because it's not common.

Anyway, I really DO want this feature in Xtreme and hoping it's not too difficult to implement. For all the Mac users coming to Windows, it would be a very welcomed feature.

My bad. I really didn't understand your purpose in large part because I never ever put much emphasis in learning keyboard shortcut keys. I know CTRL C, CTRL V because in some cases I can't do it with the mouse and my work habits are click, drag, click, drag. That's one of the many reasons I appreciate Xtreme so much. The WorkShelf is always visible and when I need to launch virtually any application or even go get stuff from selected folders in the insides, it neatly slides on top of everything else giving me instant access. Tools that I dynamically use frequently, say a color picker or a screen ruler or the calculator, I have them on a hidden dock that slides in, again on top, so I can get the tools easily. This can be used even with docks that stay on the desktop. Configure them correctly and bump the mouse on their position and there they emerge from underneath all the paperwork. Finally, I run Windows 7 but NextStart allows me to have the Windows classic TaskBar which I find a whole lot more practical. Every window, application or open folder, has an instance there, so all I have to do to bring any of them to the front is click it.

These are my methods while I work. Perhaps tinkering a bit with what Xtreme already does, and the possibilities in configuring it just right (something that I admit haven't yet explored in depth) maybe you'll find neat ways of doing things that do not involve the supposedly gun-slinging attitude of the drop everything that I have a new pattern of keyboard shortcuts to learn. Ever heard of fly-by-wire? The Space Shuttle was filled with screens and switches and dials. The F22 and modern jet airliners have one maybe two screens and that's just about it. They fly with all the bells and whistles in them, but better, because random keystrokes that you have to memorize on a case by case basis is not a very efficient way of doing things. A large component of astronaut training used to be spent memorizing endless checklists. [But notice that Xtreme gives you plenty of opportunities to define your own keyboard shortcuts. That's an aspect I didn't put much effort into.]

Of course, you work in the ways you feel comfortable with, and what works for me may not be the exact right way you would prefer. Anyway, hope you appreciate the suggestions.

MACREFUGEE, you have 3 options. If you have Windows 7 you can use Aero Flip 3D.

Option 1: Press Ctrl+Win+Tab. You can then cycle through the running apps with the arrow keys forward and back. To exit Aero Flip 3D press the Win (Windows logo) key.

You can also press Win+Tab, but you have to hold down the Win key while pressing Tab to cycle through. It will exit Aero Flip 3D once you release the Win key.

Option 2: You can create a Dock and set it to only show running apps. See this thread. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8643

Option 3: You can create a Hotspot and set it to only show running apps. If you need help on how to do it let me know and I will post it as I did for Option 2 in the other thread.

Please let me know which option you decide to use if any.

Aero 3D is not very useful to me because it obscures windows behind it. But even if it did work, it still only brings one window to the front and not the complete application and all its windows.
I use Alt+Tab to cycle between applications but that too only brings the window I select to the front.
Once more on the DragThing suggestion, it allows you to bring an application to the front *and* all the other windows.
I rarely have less than 3 separate browser windows open. I want to be able to bring them all to the front, currently I have to click 3 times, or press 3 keyboard shortcuts. Multiply this by how many times I do it in a day, times a week, times a year and that's thousands of wasted keystrokes or mouse clicks.
Make sense?

Hi Jorge, I'm trying to help the OP MacREFUGEE. I thought I could make a Hotspot using a left, middle or right-click to launch Restore all windows but it will not work.

To accomplish what MacREFUGEE wants, I opened individual browser tabs, then changed to Show windows stacked (Shift+right-click on a running app on the taskbar) and dragged several windows to smaller sizes so I could fit 4 or 5 on the screen and minimized them. Is there a hotspot or other activation method in Xtreme to minimize all windows (WinKey+D) which is the Windows default hotkey?

The closet thing that works is using the Running Applications Menu in the Hotspots section but obviously that isn't the same thing.

Even if using a hotkey were to work, it would defeat the whole purpose of using the feature unless someone simply wants to change the default Windows hotkey to another combination to launch Restore all windows.

P.S. I do know of a program that somewhat accomplishes this but will hold off until I hear from you. I know you have your hands full so I'll wait a couple of days before posting it. If you have a solution or are going to make the feature available I won't bother to post it.

P.P.S. I didn't try to use a bump because I didn't want to take the chance of screwing up my bump settings. They took quite a bit of configuring to get to my liking. The link to the thread where I posted a short video of my bump settings in action is located in my previous post.

Well enough time has gone by so here it is. There's a free version (which is what I use) and a paid version. I use it on a very limited basis.

Removed link until further notice.

That's pretty cool but it's not what I need.
I want overlapping windows. If I tile 20+ windows on the screen, they will all be too small to see. I may only need to see 5% of a specific window in the background and not the whole thing, that's why tiled windows work for me.

I'm baffled at why this request is so difficult to implement and explain.
Thanks for pointing this out but I'm still hoping to have my Restore All dreams come true.

I just removed the link because I updated the program after receiving an update alert and now the one feature I used it for no longer works.

I even tried the older version but it still doesn't work. So until I find out if they in fact removed the feature or something else caused it on my end, it will stay removed.

The reason I'm not sure is because when I updated it the program would not open. I then uninstalled it and DL it from CNET. In the past, if there was an installer that had crapware, it was fairly easy to opt out. They purposely made it easy to recognize that it would install programs that practically no one wants on their computer.

But now, the damn installer was purposely deceptive in a stealthily crapware-ridden installer package that changes the homepage. By the 4th crapware program when I caught on, I cancelled the installation. Of course that's when I finally realized why my security program went into overdrive with at least 15 alert pop-ups inquiring whether to allow or block all of the crap.

At first I didn't allow or block so I could investigate what the heck it was installing. I then had to go and ferret out all of the crapware it installed and remove them. I'm going to contact CNET about this. I am not a happy camper!!

Windy, good luck with cnet they've been doing it this way for a long time now. if cnet is the only place i can find something then i don't need it.