# Windows Common Operations Guide

This guide provides key steps for common desktop operations on Windows using Computer Use tools. Each operation describes the concept and critical steps — use screenshots to determine exact coordinates and UI element positions.

---

## 1. App Management

### Non-Blocking Launch Rule
- When using shell commands to launch a Windows GUI app, do **not** rely on foreground launch forms that may keep the tool call alive until the app exits
- Avoid patterns like directly running a long-lived GUI process in the foreground; if a previous workflow used `start notepad` and it blocked, treat that pattern as unsafe for agent loops
- Prefer detached launch forms such as:
  - `powershell -NoProfile -Command "Start-Process notepad"`
  - `cmd /c start "" notepad`
- After launching, use `wait` for 500-1500ms, then take a screenshot to confirm the window is actually visible before interacting with it

### Launch an App via Start Menu Search
- Press the `Win` key (or `Win+S`) to open Start Menu / Search
- Type the app name (e.g., "Chrome", "Visual Studio Code")
- Press `Enter` to launch the top result
- Wait 1-2 seconds for the app to open, then screenshot to confirm

### Launch an App from Taskbar
- The Taskbar is typically at the bottom of the screen
- Screenshot to identify the app icon position in the Taskbar
- Click on the target app icon

### Switch Between Apps
- Press `Alt+Tab` to show the task switcher overlay
- Continue holding `Alt` and press `Tab` to cycle through windows
- Release `Alt` to switch to the highlighted window
- Alternatively, click the app's icon in the Taskbar

### Close an App
- Press `Alt+F4` to close the current foreground window/app
- If all windows of an app are closed, the app typically exits

### Open Task Manager
- Press `Ctrl+Shift+Esc` to open Task Manager directly
- To force-end a process: find it in the list, right-click, select "End task"
- Alternatively: `Ctrl+Alt+Delete` then select "Task Manager"

---

## 2. Window Management

### Minimize / Maximize / Close
- **Minimize**: `Win+Down` (if maximized, first press restores; second press minimizes)
- **Maximize**: `Win+Up`
- **Close**: `Alt+F4`
- The window control buttons (minimize/maximize/close) are at the top-right corner of windows

### Snap Windows (Side by Side)
- **Snap left**: `Win+Left` — window fills the left half of the screen
- **Snap right**: `Win+Right` — window fills the right half
- **Snap to quadrant**: After snapping left/right, press `Win+Up` or `Win+Down` to snap to a quarter
- After snapping one window, Windows may suggest another window to fill the remaining space

### Snap Layouts (Windows 11)
- Press `Win+Z` or hover over the maximize button to see Snap Layout options
- Select a layout zone to position the window
- Then select other windows to fill remaining zones

### Task View
- Press `Win+Tab` to open Task View (shows all open windows and virtual desktops)
- Click on a window to bring it to focus
- Click on a desktop thumbnail at the top to switch desktops

### Virtual Desktops
- **New desktop**: `Win+Ctrl+D`
- **Switch left/right**: `Win+Ctrl+Left` or `Win+Ctrl+Right`
- **Close current desktop**: `Win+Ctrl+F4`

### Other Window Shortcuts
- **Show desktop**: `Win+D` (minimize all) — press again to restore
- **Minimize all except current**: `Win+Home`

---

## 3. File Operations

### Open File Explorer
- Press `Win+E` to open File Explorer
- Or click the File Explorer icon in the Taskbar (folder icon)

### Navigate to Common Locations
File Explorer's left sidebar contains Quick Access, This PC, and other locations:
- **Quick Access**: Shows frequently accessed folders and recent files
- **This PC**: Shows drives (C:, D:, etc.) and system folders
- **Desktop**: Usually accessible from Quick Access or `C:\Users\{username}\Desktop`
- **Downloads**: Usually accessible from Quick Access or `C:\Users\{username}\Downloads`
- **Navigate to specific path**: Click the address bar at the top (or press `Ctrl+L`), type the path, press `Enter`

### File Operations
- **Copy**: Select file(s) then `Ctrl+C`
- **Paste**: Navigate to destination then `Ctrl+V`
- **Cut** (move): `Ctrl+X` then `Ctrl+V` at destination
- **Delete**: Select file(s) then `Delete` (moves to Recycle Bin) or `Shift+Delete` (permanent delete)
- **Rename**: Select file, press `F2`, type new name, press `Enter`
- **New Folder**: `Ctrl+Shift+N`
- **Select all**: `Ctrl+A`
- **Undo**: `Ctrl+Z`

### Preview Panel
- Press `Alt+P` in File Explorer to toggle the Preview Panel on the right side

### Search in File Explorer
- Press `Ctrl+E` or `Ctrl+F` to focus the search bar
- Type the search term and press `Enter`

---

## 4. System Settings

### Open Settings
- Press `Win+I` to open Settings
- Or press `Win` key, type "Settings", press `Enter`

### Navigate to Common Settings Modules
Once Settings is open, use the left sidebar or search bar:

| Setting | Navigation Path |
|---------|----------------|
| WiFi | Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi |
| Bluetooth | Settings > Bluetooth & devices |
| Display | Settings > System > Display |
| Sound | Settings > System > Sound |
| Notifications | Settings > System > Notifications |
| Keyboard | Settings > Time & language > Typing |
| Mouse / Touchpad | Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Mouse / Touchpad |
| Network | Settings > Network & Internet |
| Privacy & Security | Settings > Privacy & security |
| Appearance (Theme) | Settings > Personalization |
| Apps & Features | Settings > Apps > Installed apps |
| Windows Update | Settings > Windows Update |

- Use the search field at the top of Settings to quickly find a setting
- Screenshot after navigating to confirm you're in the right section

---

## 5. Text Editing (Universal)

### Basic Operations
- **Copy**: `Ctrl+C`
- **Paste**: `Ctrl+V`
- **Cut**: `Ctrl+X`
- **Undo**: `Ctrl+Z`
- **Redo**: `Ctrl+Y`
- **Select All**: `Ctrl+A`

### Text Selection
- **Select character by character**: `Shift+Left/Right`
- **Select word by word**: `Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right`
- **Select to start of line**: `Shift+Home`
- **Select to end of line**: `Shift+End`
- **Select to start/end of document**: `Ctrl+Shift+Home/End`
- **Select a line**: `Home` then `Shift+Down` or `Shift+End`

### Navigation
- **Jump to start/end of line**: `Home` / `End`
- **Jump word by word**: `Ctrl+Left/Right`
- **Jump to start/end of document**: `Ctrl+Home/End`

### Find and Replace
- **Find**: `Ctrl+F`
- **Find and Replace**: `Ctrl+H`
- Type search term, use `Enter` or arrow buttons to navigate matches
- In Replace mode, type replacement text and click "Replace" or "Replace All"

---

## 6. Browser Operations

These shortcuts work in most browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox):

### Tab Management
- **New tab**: `Ctrl+T`
- **Close current tab**: `Ctrl+W`
- **Reopen closed tab**: `Ctrl+Shift+T`
- **Switch to tab by number**: `Ctrl+1` through `Ctrl+9` (Ctrl+9 = last tab)
- **Next tab**: `Ctrl+Tab`
- **Previous tab**: `Ctrl+Shift+Tab`

### Navigation
- **Focus address bar**: `Ctrl+L` or `F6` or `Alt+D`
- **Go back**: `Alt+Left`
- **Go forward**: `Alt+Right`
- **Refresh**: `F5` or `Ctrl+R`
- **Hard refresh** (bypass cache): `Ctrl+Shift+R` or `Ctrl+F5`

### Other Useful Shortcuts
- **Open Developer Tools**: `F12` or `Ctrl+Shift+I`
- **View page source**: `Ctrl+U`
- **Zoom in**: `Ctrl+=`
- **Zoom out**: `Ctrl+-`
- **Reset zoom**: `Ctrl+0`
- **Full screen**: `F11`
- **Downloads**: `Ctrl+J`

---

## 7. Terminal / Command Line

### Open Windows Terminal
- Press `Win` key, type "Terminal" or "Windows Terminal", press `Enter`
- This opens Windows Terminal (default on Windows 11)
- On older Windows: search for "PowerShell" or "cmd"
- If you need to launch another GUI app from Terminal for later Computer Use interaction, prefer `Start-Process` or `cmd /c start "" <app>` so the shell tool returns immediately instead of waiting for the GUI app to exit

### Terminal Basics
- **New tab**: `Ctrl+Shift+T`
- **New tab with specific profile**: `Ctrl+Shift+1/2/3` (PowerShell, CMD, etc.)
- **Switch tabs**: `Ctrl+Tab` / `Ctrl+Shift+Tab`
- **Close tab**: `Ctrl+Shift+W`
- **Split pane**: `Alt+Shift+D` (duplicate) or `Alt+Shift+-/+` (horizontal/vertical)
- **Switch between panes**: `Alt+Arrow`
- **Clear screen**: Type `cls` + `Enter` (CMD) or `Clear-Host` / `cls` + `Enter` (PowerShell)

### Command Control
- **Interrupt command**: `Ctrl+C` (stops the running command)
- **End of input**: `Ctrl+Z` then `Enter` (sends EOF on Windows)

### PowerShell vs CMD
- **PowerShell**: Modern, supports `ls`, `cd`, `cat` (as aliases), pipeline with objects, script files `.ps1`
- **CMD**: Legacy, uses `dir`, `cd`, `type`, batch files `.bat`/.cmd`
- Windows Terminal can run both — use the dropdown next to the `+` button to select

### Text Editing in Terminal
- **Move cursor to start of line**: `Home`
- **Move cursor to end of line**: `End`
- **Search command history**: `Ctrl+R` (PowerShell with PSReadLine) or `F7` (CMD)
- **Previous command**: `Up Arrow`
- **Copy selected text**: `Ctrl+C` (when text is selected) or `Ctrl+Shift+C`
- **Paste**: `Ctrl+V` or `Ctrl+Shift+V` or right-click

---

## 8. Office Software

### General Windows App Ribbon Pattern
Windows Office apps use the Ribbon interface:
1. Press `Alt` to activate Ribbon key tips (letters appear on tabs)
2. Press the corresponding letter to navigate to a tab (e.g., `Alt+H` for Home)
3. Press further letters to activate specific commands
4. Alternatively, click on Ribbon tabs and buttons directly

### Microsoft Word
- **New document**: `Ctrl+N`
- **Open document**: `Ctrl+O`
- **Save**: `Ctrl+S`
- **Save As**: `F12` or `Ctrl+Shift+S`
- **Print**: `Ctrl+P`
- **Export to PDF**: File tab > Export > Create PDF/XPS Document
- **Bold/Italic/Underline**: `Ctrl+B` / `Ctrl+I` / `Ctrl+U`

### Microsoft Excel
- **Navigate cells**: Arrow keys to move between cells
- **Edit cell**: Press `F2` or double-click on a cell to start editing
- **Confirm entry**: Press `Enter` (moves down) or `Tab` (moves right)
- **Cancel editing**: Press `Escape`
- **Select range**: Click a cell, hold `Shift`, click another cell; or click and drag
- **Select entire row**: Click the row number on the left
- **Select entire column**: Click the column letter at the top
- **Insert formula**: Type `=` followed by the formula (e.g., `=SUM(A1:A10)`)
- **Auto-sum**: `Alt+=` (inserts SUM formula for adjacent cells)
- **New worksheet**: Click `+` tab at the bottom, or `Shift+F11`

### Microsoft PowerPoint
- **New slide**: `Ctrl+M`
- **Start slideshow from beginning**: `F5`
- **Start from current slide**: `Shift+F5`
- **Exit slideshow**: `Escape`
- **Duplicate slide**: `Ctrl+D` (with slide selected in panel)
- **Switch between Normal/Outline/Slide Sorter views**: View tab in Ribbon

---

## 9. Dev Tools

### Visual Studio Code (VSCode)
- **Launch**: `Win` key, type "Visual Studio Code" or "code", press `Enter`
- **Command Palette**: `Ctrl+Shift+P` — the most powerful shortcut, search for any command
- **Quick Open file**: `Ctrl+P` — type filename to quickly open any file in the project
- **Toggle Sidebar**: `Ctrl+B`
- **Toggle integrated terminal**: `` Ctrl+` ``
- **New terminal**: `` Ctrl+Shift+` ``
- **Split editor**: `Ctrl+\`
- **Go to definition**: `F12` or `Ctrl+Click`
- **Find in files**: `Ctrl+Shift+F`
- **Find and replace in file**: `Ctrl+H`
- **Toggle line comment**: `Ctrl+/`
- **Move line up/down**: `Alt+Up/Down`
- **Multi-cursor**: `Alt+Click` to add cursors at multiple positions
- **Open Settings**: `Ctrl+,`
- **Open Extensions**: `Ctrl+Shift+X`

### Visual Studio
- **Launch**: `Win` key, type "Visual Studio", press `Enter`
- **Build solution**: `Ctrl+Shift+B`
- **Run (Start Debugging)**: `F5`
- **Run without debugging**: `Ctrl+F5`
- **Stop debugging**: `Shift+F5`
- **Step over**: `F10`
- **Step into**: `F11`
- **Toggle breakpoint**: `F9`
- **Go to file**: `Ctrl+T` (Go To All)
- **Solution Explorer**: `Ctrl+Alt+L`
- **Error List**: `Ctrl+\, E` or View > Error List
- **Terminal/Console**: View > Terminal
- **Find in files**: `Ctrl+Shift+F`
- **Find and replace**: `Ctrl+Shift+H`
