Tip of the Day Windows 7 Jump Lists & Snaps

Windows 7 Jump Lists & Snaps

Jump Lists are one of the coolest features of Windows 7. Today we will take a closer look at this feature in this article. Jump Lists are designed to make it easier to find what you want and perform common operations associated with applications.

Jump List feature in a nutshell:
Jump Lists are little application-specific Start menus. They are found on the application icons that appear on the Taskbar when an application is open or pinned to the Taskbar. Jump Lists on Start menu appear differently than on Taskbar, but their functionality is the same. They contain the application's shortcut, the ability to toggle pinning, ability to close one or all windows, access to specific tasks associated with applications and provide a list of documents or destinations depending on the applications that are open.


Internet Explorer:
The Quick Launch Bar is no more. Now it's just the Taskbar which will provide access as well as launch for applications. By default Internet Explorer is pinned to the Taskbar and has a Jump List. Here the Jump List has two sections, one for Tasks and the other for Destinations. As you can see from the below image the Destinations section shows the History and the Tasks section contains the taskbar tasks.



When new items are added, the existing items in the History category will cycle out of the list. If you require any item from the History Category on to the Jump List, you can pin it to the list. When you hover your mouse pointer to the right side of an item a thumbtack icon appears. If you click on the thumbtack icon, this item will be pinned to the Jump List.



Pin folders and searches to the Taskbar:
Folders that are most frequently used can be pinned to the Taskbar. You can also pin a search as well. When you open the Windows 7 search and put the search criteria, you can then drag the icon from the location bar down to the Windows Explorer Taskbar button to pin it there.



Snap:
Aero Snap lets you resize windows just by dragging them to the edges of your monitors. In a single window you can line them side by side. If you are expert in using keyboard, you can also snap windows in place using keyboard shortcuts.



Shake:
This is the second new feature of Aero. If you need to minimize all windows except one, you can do it with this feature. If you move the window by the title bar and move it back and forth quickly, it makes all the rest minimize to the taskbar. Shake the window again, and the other windows come back to their original position.

Peek:
Unlike Vista, Windows 7 turns taskbar thumbnails into real preview panes which allow controlling the windows. You can view, close or switch between windows, and if an application has more than one instance, you can get a preview of each.