GlideShellWindow overview
Swipe three fingers up and every window flies from where it is into a tiled layout, with its app icon and title underneath and a close button on hover.
2.1 Now in English, with a new installer package
Touchpad gestures on Windows
Touchpad gestures on Windows
that follow your fingers
The screen moves as far as your fingers do. Stop and it stops, reverse and it rewinds, and nothing is decided until you lift. macOS-style multitasking for Windows 11 precision touchpads.
Desktop 1Desktop 2Desktop 3＋
Press and drag up to try it
Stop halfway and the picture holds; drag back and it rewinds. On release, position and speed decide whether it opens or closes.
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Why GlideShell
A gesture should push, not flip a switch
Most native Windows multi-finger gestures play a fixed animation once a gesture is recognized. GlideShell reads raw touchpad contacts directly, so every frame on screen is set by where your fingers are.
Native Windows
Gesture recognized → fixed animation plays. It ignores your fingers stopping or reversing.
● Finger■ Screen
GlideShell
The screen follows your fingers 1:1. Stop and it stops, reverse and it rewinds, and your release speed feeds straight into a spring animation.
● Finger■ Screen
Features
A complete set of macOS-style multitasking
Every gesture follows your fingers, and a new gesture can catch any animation midway.
Desktop strip
All virtual desktops sit along the top of the overview: click one to switch, drag a window onto it to move it there, "+" adds one and "×" removes one.
App windows view
Swipe three fingers down to see only the current app's windows (App Exposé), with minimized ones in their own row. Clicking a title in the overview gets you there too.
Four-finger desktop switching
The neighboring desktop slides in with your fingers, with no dead zone and a rubber band at the ends. Ctrl+Win+←/→ uses the same animation.
Three-finger window switching
Swipe three fingers sideways and a strip of windows pans with them; on release the selected window flies back into place and comes to the front. Alt+Tab uses the same switcher.
Show desktop
Swipe four fingers down and windows slide off the screen edges with your fingers; swipe up to bring them back in their original stacking order.
Mouse gestures too New
Like Mac Mouse Fix: hold a mouse side button and drag. Left / right switches desktops, up opens the overview, down shows app windows. A plain click is still Back.
macOS-style physics
Distance and velocity decide the outcome on release, velocity feeds the spring, overshoot rubber-bands, and a new gesture can catch any animation.
Polished details New
Window shadows that match the system, rounded cards that scale with the window, a frosted desktop strip, and a seamless hand-off to the real desktop when the overlay goes away.
Hot corners
Turn any screen corner into window overview, app windows or show desktop, and rest the pointer there to trigger it.
Windows 11-style settings New
Mica background and rounded cards that follow the system theme, a plain-language note on every option, changes that apply immediately, in English or Chinese.
Lightweight and reversible
No drivers, a native program of about 6 MB. On exit, pause or crash it restores the system gestures to your original settings.
Gestures
Four directions cover everyday multitasking
Every gesture can be changed in settings or handed back to Windows. A three-finger tap is a middle click.
Three-finger up / down
Up opens the window overview; down shows only the current app's windows.
Three-finger left / right
Move between windows and lift to switch.
Four-finger up / down
Down shows the desktop; up brings the windows back.
Four-finger left / right
Switch virtual desktops, with the desktop following your fingers.
Performance
Keeps up with high refresh rates, barely uses resources
Input, logic and rendering each run on their own thread and sample late against the display refresh, so input reaches the screen in about one frame.
165HzP50 frame interval 6.1 ms, keeping up with the refresh rate
≈1 framefrom finger movement to screen update
16MBprivate memory right after start
5.6MBNativeAOT native program, no drivers
Measured on the dev machine: Radeon 780M, 2560×1600, 150% scaling, 165 Hz.
Download
Installed in a minute
No administrator rights and no drivers. Uninstalling restores the system gestures automatically.
- Download the latest releaseGet
GlideShell-<version>-win-x64.zipfrom GitHub Releases. - Extract it and double-click Install.cmdGlideShell installs to your user folder and adds a Start menu entry and startup at sign-in.
- Swipe up with three fingersThe window overview opens with your fingers. Right-click the tray icon for settings.
Requirements
- Windows 11 (developed and tested on 24H2)
- A precision touchpad (most recent laptops have one)
- For mouse gestures: a mouse with side or middle buttons (optional)
The app isn't code-signed yet, so Windows may warn that it can't verify the publisher the first time it runs; choose "More info → Run anyway". It's fully open source, so you can also build it yourself.
FAQ
Questions?
How do I know whether I have a precision touchpad?
Open Windows Settings → Bluetooth & devices → Touchpad. If the top of the page says "Your PC has a precision touchpad", you're good to go.
Will it mess up my existing gesture settings?
No. GlideShell only takes over the gestures it implements and records your original settings first. On exit, pause, uninstall or even a crash, they're restored automatically. If that ever fails, run GlideShell.exe --restore-native.
What if I want Windows' own gestures in a particular app?
Add it under Excluded apps in settings, and GlideShell leaves gestures alone while that app is in front. Full-screen games and videos are left alone by default too.
Does it support Windows 10?
Not yet. GlideShell relies on compositor interfaces that only exist in Windows 11.
Does it cost anything? Does it collect data?
It's completely free and open source (MIT license). It collects no data, and logs stay on your computer. The only network access is a daily check with GitHub for a new version (the version number only), which you can turn off in settings so it never goes online.