Windows 10: Navigating to the Desktop

When I had Win7 installed, I could easily bring the Desktop to the front (minimize all open windows) by clicking the left mouse button anywhere on the desktop. The Desktop acted like any other window in that clicking on it would bring it to the front of all other windows. I don't remember if this was a special setting or not, because it had been that way for so long. Now that I've installed Win10, clicking on the Desktop does nothing. Clicking on any other window brings it to the front, but not the Desktop. The only way to get to the desktop is through explorer, Win+D, or the Desktop button at the right end of the taskbar. These are fine for when windows are fullscreen and clicking on the Desktop isn't possible, but when the desktop is clearly visible it's waaay easier to simply click on it.

So is this even possible? If not, is there any software that can do this?

Thanks for your help.

:)

 

Speech to text while navigating different applications

Hello Joseph,

With regard to your concern, you can check more information on this article on how you can use speech recognition.
And to address your query, once you use this feature there is no option to apply it in a particular application.

We appreciate all opinions and suggestions. We suggest that you send a feedback using Windows Feedback hub so we can take note of this feature for future updates. You can locate it by pressing
Windows key and type Feedback in the search box and then select
Feedback Hub.

Your reply is most important for us to ensure we assist you accordingly.

Regards.

 

Speech to text while navigating different applications

Hello,

I want speech recognition to only apply to MS Word even though it is not the active window, whether I be reading a pdf, looking up the internet, or many other things. The idea is to be able to keep recording and transform into text in the background
whatever I might be doing.

I've tried looking it up, but could not find any specific answer to my question. I then went on asking tech support who was not able to tell me whether it was purely and simply impossible, or whether it could be done using different software than the
built in Windows 10 speech recognition tool. I felt the answers were not so much directly adressing my question, but rather targeting specific keywords and providing a generic reply.

Thanks in advance to any whom may help,

***Post moved by the moderator to the appropriate forum category.***

 

Put your mouse pointer at the bottom-right corner and left click. Now all windows will be minimized and show the desktop. If you right clock at the bottom right corner you can select "Peek at desktop". Then you don't have to left click, just move your mouse pointer to the bottom right corner and all open programs will minimize.

 

Look for the taskview icon on your toolbar:

. If you haven't set up multiple desktops yourself, clicking this option will give you the ability to choose Desktop 1 (where all your stuff is strewn about) and Desktop 2 (with nothing on it -- ergo, an empty desktop). Click Desktop 2 and you've got room in which to work. But you'll need to keep this cleaned off if you want to keep using it this way (that is, to get to an empty desktop). OTOH, you can also click the + (PLUS) sign at the far right at any time to produce a new (and empty) desktop instead. Yes, it's a workaround but a fairly usable one, I hope.
Happy holidays,
--Ed--

 

"The only way to get to the desktop is through explorer, Win+D, or the Desktop button at the right end of the taskbar."

So yes, I realize there are other options to get to the desktop. What I was asking about is why isn't it possible to access the desktop window by simply clicking on it? Why doesn't it behave the same as any other window - click it, and it moves to the front? It used to work this way, so I thought maybe there was a setting somewher that could change back this behavior. However it appears it was purposefully changed to make it more difficult.

So what you're saying is that this is no longer possible, correct?

 

Just for reference, my W7 does not hide other windows when I click on the Desktop. *Smile

 

Well, I've just tried that on Win7 Pro (I restored a system image just to try it out) and it doesn't happen the way you describe. All the other methods mentioned above do ('peek' at bottom right, Win+D) as well as Win+M. There are also ways to minimise all but the current window - Win+Home and the quirky 'Aero Shake' (grab the title bar and jiggle the window from side to side). All these work in Win10 exactly as they did in Win7. So, if your 'click the desktop' was an obscure feature in win7 I would have thought it should still be there in Win10 (all the others are) trouble is, as far as I can see it doesn't seem to exist in either.

It does sound like a neat feature though. Are you sure it wasn't a little 3rd-party add-on?

 

There's Show Desktop button in W7 if I remember it right but a right click always produces a menu.

 

If I put pointer on the taskbar icon of an open program and move it to the popup it temporarily closes all windows to reveal desktop.
There's also "Show the Desktop" in the right click menu on the taskbar which closes all open windows but doesn't exit programs.

 

Sounds like @Bree might be right, I know Desktop FX from Stardock had a setting for that.
Or, maybe it was a custom Mouse gesture, most devices now a days can be configured extensively.