Office apps should move to bottom of alt-tab order when minimized

[Toby Vinnell]

This is more of a bug report than a suggestion. Office applications are the
only programs I know that do not follow the normal alt-tab switching order
rules. That is when a program is minimized it should move to the bottom of
the alt-tab order. Currently all office apps move to the second position when
minimized which means that when you alt-tab after minimizing it the program
pops up again which is fustrating.

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...-6f74d533dcf0&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc

 

[Bob I]

Humm, the just minimized Office application occupies the First position
here.

 

[Tony Jollans]

I hadn't registered that. I do get irritated when switching to the Desktop
and then finding the window I was previously viewing has gone to the bottom
of the heap except when its an Office window I now note. I guess I only
notice when it doesn't do what I want.

What are the 'rules' you mention? Are they documented somewhere? As you
might have gathered I think the Office apps have got it right but no matter
what, you can't please all the people all the time

--
Enjoy,
Tony

This is more of a bug report than a suggestion. Office applications are the
only programs I know that do not follow the normal alt-tab switching order
rules. That is when a program is minimized it should move to the bottom of
the alt-tab order. Currently all office apps move to the second position when
minimized which means that when you alt-tab after minimizing it the program
pops up again which is fustrating.

----------------
This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the
suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I
Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this
link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then
click "I Agree" in the message pane.

http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=38dbeebc-5e
35-4857-a3b9-6f74d533dcf0&dg=microsoft.public.office.misc

 

[Toby Vinnell]

I wrote second because when you hold alt-tab it shows second in the list but
it is the first application to pop up so you could call that the first
position. But regardless this behaviour is wrong and annoying!
This link from the knowledge base describes what should happen:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138604/en-us

 

[Toby Vinnell]

The rules are described in this knowledge base article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/138604/en-us

What I want most is consistency but to me it makes sense putting it to the
bottom of the pile when you minimize because you normally do that when you
have finished with it for awhile.

 

[Bob I]

I see in the article "Applies to is" only,

• Microsoft Windows 95
• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

So perhaps expected behavior isn't equal to documented behavior

 

[Toby Vinnell]

Then why do all other non-office apps still follow the original rules? It
makes no sense for some applications to follow one set of logic and all
others to follow another. This causes the alt-tab switch to be far less
intuitive than it was before this bug.

 

[Bob I]

Sorry, you got me there, I'm a user just like you. But as you observed,
the behavior changes from operating system to operating system and
"Office version" to "Office version".

 

[Tony Jollans]

That KB is a bit old and only claims to apply to 95 and NT4 so no actual
'rule' appears to be being broken in XP, but ...

What I want most is consistency

I agree wholeheartedly.