Shrink Your Visual Studio Window (and Put it Back)
I suspect I'm like most developers and keep Visual Studio open and maximized all day (in fact, I've written at least one tip about how to get even more room to edit code). But, I admit, sometimes I switch to other programs. And sometimes, when switching between windows isn't good enough, I need to see that other window beside my Visual Studio window.
You could fiddle with your mouse and window borders. Or, you could hold down the Windows key and press the left arrow button (win_left). The current window will be moved to one side of your screen, have its height set to the full height of your screen and its width set to half of the screen's width. If you switch to another window and press win_left the same thing will happen to that window -- but it will be moved to the other side of your screen so that the two windows display side-by-side. If a window was in maximize mode, it will be taken out of it.
As you might suspect, other combinations of the Windows key and the arrow keys do interesting things. If you press win_up, the current window will be maximized. Both win_right and win_down take the window back to its prior "non-maximized" state (and that half-window display that win_left put you in doesn't count as your prior "non-maximized" state).
And, yes, I realize this isn't really a Visual Studio tip since it works with every window.
Posted by Peter Vogel on 07/30/2015