Minimize WoW in Fullscreen Windowed

With the inability to use traditional Fullscreen mode in BFA, I found it annoying to always have wow in the foreground when using other programs, since using Win+D, etc. only minimizes wow for one action. I tried for a while to find a way to keep wow minimized in traditional Fullscreen nature, and the following is an attempt to do so for anyone else shares my annoyance with border less windowed mode.

Using a program called AutoHotkey (google it, first result), create a .ahk file (behaves like .txt files) and use the following command to minimize wow:

!esc::
WinMinimize World of Warcraft
return

This command, after you run the .ahk file, minimizes wow when you press alt-escape (!= alt, esc = escape). You can use whatever command you want - consult the AutoHotkey tutorial. This is about the simplest way to minimize wow, but it does the job. You can also put the .ahk file in your startup folder so it will automatically run without having to click the file before running wow every time you restart your computer. Also, AutoHokey uses very little memory to run.

I’ve read that a lot of people have various issues with forces windowed mode, and this is not an attempt to fix any of those issues, but rather a way to put wow in the background in the nature of traditional full screen mode.

3 Likes

I just use the traditional alt-tab

1 Like

Alt+tab works for me too

Alt+Tab is for switching between programs, and does not minimize wow in the manner that I am talking about.

6 Likes

Is there any reason the standard Windows shortcut “Windows+D” wouldn’t do the trick? It minimizes all windows, including the WoW windowed fullscreen, revealing the desktop (including the taskbar).

It minimizes all windows, but with the taskbar revealed you can select the app you wanted to un-minimize again.

Works fine for me. YMMV, although that seems like the baked-in (since Windows XP, at least) answer.

1 Like

This keeps wow minimized, if you primarily used true fullscreen before, you will understand. I was very happy when I found this, so I assumed others will be too.

4 Likes

I’m not sure why everyone was debating this with you. Every other suggestion didn’t do exactly what you were stating in the original post. This is great and thank you very much for sharing. Alt-Esc and I’m back to the other items I was working on and Wow is minimized. Thanks again!

2 Likes

Howdy Fesster,

Be mindful of the dates on these forum threads and avoid replying to old posts.