If you are using a command line utility for most tasks, chances are, there are often multiple utility windows open on your screen at the same time. Managing these windows becomes a little more difficult as the number of windows grows. The tabbed command line interface will help you with this.
Like your browser tabs, you can also enable tabs in command line windows. This way you don’t need to open a new window for every CMD task. Instead, you can open a new tab for command line instances. This will help you avoid cluttering the screen with all your CMD windows scattered here and there.
This is possible with some of the applications available for your Windows computer.
Use Windows Terminal for Tabbed Command Prompt
The current command line utility on your Windows 10 computer does not support tabs. So, at the moment, the only way to run multiple instances of the utility is to open a new window for each.
However, a preview version of the Windows Terminal app is now available in the Microsoft Store. This will help you add a tabbed interface feature to your computer so that you can open new tabs instead of Windows to execute commands.
- Launch the Microsoft Store app on your PC, find and click Windows Terminal Preview Install the application on your computer.
- Launch the application and you will immediately notice several new icons next to the application name at the top.
The X icon allows you to close the current tab that is open on the screen.
The + (plus) sign allows you to open a new tab in the same window in the utility.
The down arrow icon allows you to select the desired utility to open a new tab for (PowerShell or CMD).
- You can select any of the available options and a new tab will open in the utility. You can manage these tabs in the same way as tabs in a browser.
Windows Terminal is currently in the preview stage, which means it is not yet ready to be included in a Windows installation. However, it will soon appear as a standard application on your Windows computers.
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Using Windows Tabbed Console
Another way to enable Tabbed Command Prompt on your Windows computer is to use a third party application. There is an application called Console (free) that allows you to have a tabbed CMD interface on your computer.
This app offers several additional features than the Windows Terminal app.
- Download the console and extract the files from the ZIP archive.
- Double click Consoleexe to run app.
- It will immediately open your first command line tab. To add a new tab, click the File menu at the top and select New Tab and then Console2.
- You can switch between tabs by clicking any tab name. You can also customize the names of these tabs.
- To close a tab, you can click the X in the upper right corner of the tab, or select the File menu and then Close Tab.
This utility has been around for quite some time and is great for using a tabbed command line interface.
Get Tabbed Command Prompt with PowerCMD
PowerCMD (free) is another way to add tabbed functionality to your command line utility. This application offers much more than what you get with the default utility on your computer.
- Download and install the application on your computer.
- Right-click the application icon. on your desktop and select “Run as administrator”.
- The application will launch with the CMD tab open. To open new tabs, click the + icon, or select the File menu and then New Prompt Window (although it says Window, it actually opens a tab).
- You can access open tabs by clicking them, just like in other applications.
Enable Tabbed Command Prompt with ConEmu
ConEmu is a free and open source tool that allows you to open multiple tabs in a Command Prompt window on Windows computers. It comes with a simple and easy to use user interface so you can focus on real commands.
- Download and install the application on your computer.
- You will be asked to configure the application settings. This is optional and you can do it later.
- Click on the + (plus) sign to add a new tab. You will see the number of open tabs next to this sign.
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