| title | Windows Terminal Panes |
|---|---|
| description | Learn how to split panes in the Windows Terminal. |
| author | cinnamon-msft |
| ms.author | cinnamon |
| ms.date | 06/18/2020 |
| ms.topic | how-to |
| ms.service | terminal |
Panes give you the ability to run multiple command-line applications next to each other within the same tab. This minimizes the need to switch between tabs and lets you see multiple prompts at once.
You can either create a new vertical or horizontal pane in Windows Terminal. Splitting vertically will open a new pane to the right of the focused pane and splitting horizontally will open a new pane below the focused pane. To create a new vertical pane of your default profile, you can type alt+shift+plus. For a horizontal pane of your default profile, you can type alt+shift+-.
Configuration: Raspberry Ubuntu
If you would like to change these key bindings, you can create new ones using the splitPane action and vertical or horizontal values for the split property in your profiles.json file. If you just want a pane with the maximum amount of surface area, you can set split to auto. To learn more about key bindings, visit the key bindings page.
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "vertical" }, "keys": "alt+shift+plus" },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "horizontal" }, "keys": "alt+shift+-" },
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "auto" }, "keys": "alt+shift+|" }Using the dropdown menu (Preview)
If you'd like to open a new pane through the dropdown menu, you can hold alt and click on your desired profile. This will auto split the active window or pane into a new pane of the selected profile. The auto split mode splits in the direction that has the longest edge to create a pane.
Important
This feature is only available in Windows Terminal Preview.
The terminal allows you to navigate between panes by using the keyboard. If you hold the alt key, you can use your arrow keys to move your focus between panes. You can identify which pane is in focus by the accent color border surrounding it. Note that this accent color is set in your Windows color settings.
You can customize this by adding key bindings for the moveFocus command and setting the direction to either down, left, right or up.
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "down" }, "keys": "alt+down" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "left" }, "keys": "alt+left" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "right" }, "keys": "alt+right" },
{ "command": { "action": "moveFocus", "direction": "up" }, "keys": "alt+up" }You can adjust the size of your panes by holding alt+shift and using your arrow keys to resize the focused pane.
To customize this key binding, you can add new ones using the resizePane action and setting the direction to either down, left, right, or up.
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "down" }, "keys": "alt+shift+down" },
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "left" }, "keys": "alt+shift+left" },
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "right" }, "keys": "alt+shift+right" },
{ "command": { "action": "resizePane", "direction": "up" }, "keys": "alt+shift+up" }You can close the focused pane by typing ctrl+shift+w. If you only have one pane, ctrl+shift+w will close the tab. As always, closing the last tab will close the window.
You can change which keys close the pane by adding a key binding that uses the closePane command.
{ "command": "closePane", "keys": "ctrl+shift+w" }You can customize what opens inside a new pane depending on your custom key bindings.
The terminal allows you to duplicate the focused pane's profile into another pane.
This can be done by adding the splitMode property with duplicate as the value to a splitPane key binding.
{ "command": { "action": "splitPane", "split": "auto", "splitMode": "duplicate" }, "keys": "alt+shift+d" }[!INCLUDE new-terminal-arguments]