Workspaces Capture Won't Pick Up All Apps

[tompetrocelli]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.84.0

Installation method

PowerToys auto-update, Microsoft Store

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Workspaces

Steps to reproduce

Open up the following apps:
Visual Studio Code
DevToys
Terminal
Git GUI

With all windows displayed (i.e. not minimized) Launch Workspaces, then Create Workspace. The Capture dialog is displayed but GitHub GUI is not "captured".

✔️ Expected Behavior

All open Windows are captured.

❌ Actual Behavior

Git GUI is not captured. The other three are.

Other Software

Git Gui

[similar-issues-ai]

We've found some similar issues:

• Workspaces does not capture .NET winforms applications #34681 , similarity score: 83%
• Workspaces does not capture "Total Commander" and "JDownloader" Windows #34632 , similarity score: 82%
• Workspaces doesn't capture "Slack" Window. #34614 , similarity score: 81%

If any of the above are duplicates, please consider closing this issue out and adding additional context in the original issue.

Note: You can give me feedback by 👍 or 👎 this comment.

[donlaci]

@tompetrocelli
Hi, thanks for your feedback!
We are looking for a solution for the issue. It is not a simple one.
Until we find it, you can try the following workaround to have git GUI in your workspace:
1: edit your workspaces.json file located in the directory: c:\Users\ ... \AppData\Local\Microsoft\PowerToys\Workspaces
2. find your workspace among the listed workspaces and its "applications" section
3. add a new application to the list (copy+paste) or by rewriting an existing app in the list. It should look like:
{
"application": "git gui",
"application-path": "C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin\wish.exe",
"title": "Git Gui (PowerToys) C:/Janea/Project/PowerToys",
"package-full-name": "",
"app-user-model-id": "",
"command-line-arguments": "c:\Users\ ...
\AppData\Local\Microsoft\PowerToys\Workspaces\start_git_gui.tcl",
"is-elevated": false,
"can-launch-elevated": false,
"minimized": false,
"maximized": false,
"position": {
"X": 0,
"Y": 0,
"width": 1918,
"height": 1039
},
"monitor": 7
}
4. Modify the parameters like location, monitor id as you wish. The important attributes are the "application-path" which should point to the wish.exe file typically located in "C:\Program Files\Git\mingw64\bin".
5. The next important attribute is the "command-line-arguments", which should point to a *.tcl file. It could be located anywhere (c:\temp is fine).
6. You have to create the file, its content should be something like this:
cd "C:\Janea\Project\PowerToys"
exec "c:/Program Files/Git/mingw64/bin/git.exe" gui
7. where the directory in the first line is your repository and the directory in the second line is where your git.exe is located.
8. If you did all this correctly, the Wokrspaces utility will launch your git gui app with the repository you specified.

Please give us a feedback if this helped for you. We apologise for the inconvenience, the issue is that some applications, like git gui are launched specially and our utility can't always collect the information from the running app.

[tompetrocelli]

Thank you for the solution. I also noticed that it doesn’t always (but sometimes) pick up minimized applications. Tom Petrocelli (He/Him) * Retired Tech Executive, Writer, and Industry Analyst * EMail: ***@***.***> ***@***.***; ***@***.***> ***@***.*** Phone: 716-912-2074 Social and other Contact Info: <https://linktr.ee/tompetrocelli> https://linktr.ee/tompetrocelli

[donlaci]

Please update to PT version 0.88 and retest. If the issue persists, send us a /bugreport. Thanks!

[tompetrocelli]

This was fixed in a release a little while back.

[Olanrewaju]

Thank you for the solution. I also noticed that it doesn’t always (but sometimes) pick up minimized applications.

Tom Petrocelli (He/Him)

• Retired Tech Executive, Writer, and Industry Analyst *

EMail: @.> @.; @.> @.

Phone: 716-912-2074

Social and other Contact Info: https://linktr.ee/tompetrocelli https://linktr.ee/tompetrocelli

Not picking up some minimized apps is still happening as at 18/02/25 on v0.88.0. If this happens, one has to first of all capture all windows maximized, then manually change the settings to minimized. PowerToys team: keep up the good work and thanks for everything.

[donlaci]

@Olanrewaju @tompetrocelli
Yes, there is an issue, some packaged apps are not recognized in minimized state. We are working on that issue.
(Yeah, obviously one can workaround this issue by leaving the app normalized then set it to minimized in the Workspaces editor. It is annoying, but working).
Thanks for your feedbacks