What the two tools are built to do
PowerToys Workspaces is a desktop manager utility that launches applications to custom positions and configurations with a single click. It is a window-layout and launch tool. It is not a session recorder.
Rewind is a much smaller and newer project. Its GitHub README describes it as a free, open-source Windows app that saves workspaces as profiles. The listed features are restoring applications and folders, restoring browser sessions, local-first storage, and no account or cloud requirement. It is MIT-licensed and currently supports 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11. These are the maintainer's own claims, not an independent audit. At the time of the source capture, the repository showed just 3 commits and 7 stars, so treat it as an early-stage project.
The author's A/B test
Akinleye opened Chrome, Brave, File Explorer and Sticky Notes. He saved that setup in both tools, closed everything and restored it. These are his results, not independently reproduced ones.
- PowerToys Workspaces: The windows returned to their saved positions. Chrome and Brave opened on a new tab and File Explorer opened at Home. Only Sticky Notes came back with its content.
- Rewind: The Chrome tabs, Brave tabs, the File Explorer folder and the note all returned. The windows did not return to their old positions, so he had to rearrange them by hand.
His summary is that PowerToys put the windows back and Rewind put the work back into them.
Why the comparison is not quite apples to apples
The author says he did not try launch arguments in Workspaces, so his result covers the setup as captured. Microsoft's documentation describes a feature he skipped. CLI arguments can be added to each app in its dropdown menu. They are specific to the app and are passed to it when it launches. Microsoft suggests passing a comma-separated list of URLs to Edge and other browsers to open those tabs, or passing a file path to an Office application, text editor or IDE to open that file directly.
The Microsoft Learn page documents a second point that bears on the window-placement complaint. It says PowerToys cannot tell an app to launch at a specific position. It launches the app first and then moves and resizes the window, so you can see the movement happen.
Third-party how-to sites add a caveat on argument syntax. Workspaces has no universal argument syntax. The text in the CLI arguments field goes to the selected application, so you must use the options that app supports. There is also a user-reported issue on the PowerToys GitHub tracker, titled "CLI parameter does not work when running workspace". It concerns Chrome and a URL argument. The search snippet did not show how it was resolved, so I can't say whether it still applies.
In practice, a carefully configured Workspaces entry can recover some of what the author's default test did not. For example, you could add a folder path for File Explorer or a URL list for a browser. That is manual, per-app work. It also only helps for apps whose command lines can express the state you want. Rewind's pitch is that it captures that state for you.
Rewind's browser extension is the catch
Rewind reads browser tabs through an extension, and the README says one is required. Browser extensions are required for tab, window and URL capture, and you install the extension once per browser. The README lists Chrome, Edge, Brave and Opera. It does not list Firefox.
That is how the author lost about 40 Firefox tabs, sorted into Sidebery trees. Firefox came back as a plain window. Sidebery's behavior here is his own observation. The README gives a plausible reason: there is no Firefox extension to capture those tabs.
The README's setup steps for a Chromium browser are:
- Open the browser's extensions page: chrome://extensions, edge://extensions, brave://extensions or opera://extensions.
- Turn on Developer mode.
- Click Load unpacked.
- Open the Rewind installation folder and select the matching folder under extensions (chrome, edge, brave or opera).
- Make sure the extension is enabled.
Because the extension is loaded unpacked rather than installed from a store, Chromium browsers may show developer-mode warnings. That is general browser behavior, not something the README says. Loading an unpacked extension also means you are trusting a small project's code. Reading the source before you install is sensible, and the project is open for exactly that.
Other behavior to know about
- It is not a freeze. The author says Rewind saves what is open and reopens it, so it works like a game save point rather than a suspended desktop.
- Captured items can be surprising. A save with four open apps produced 47 listed applications, which he broke down as nine workspace items and 38 background apps. You can untick items when restoring. The README doesn't document this count, so it is the author's observation only.
- Windows can multiply. His 15 Chrome tabs returned across three windows, and his six Brave tabs returned across two.
- Pages reload on restore. He says they come back in the state they were in before closing.
- There is no undo. Clicking Update overwrites the saved state with whatever is currently open. The README describes no version history.
- Window placement is manual. Windows did not return to their saved spots.
Which tool fits which job
Use Workspaces if you mostly care about layout, for example a multi-monitor arrangement of the same few apps. It is also the safer choice if you want something Microsoft documents and maintains. You can improve its restores by supplying CLI arguments where apps support them. The documentation also covers launching apps as admin. It lists a known issue that admin-launched apps can't be repositioned. It also notes that a clean re-capture removes earlier CLI arguments.
Rewind suits people who juggle several task contexts and want tabs, folders and notes to come back without hand-writing launch arguments. The trade-offs are the extension setup, no Firefox support, loose window placement and an overwrite-only Update button.
The two tools are also not mutually exclusive. The author notes that Rewind even picked up PowerToys' own background processes in one save. The README doesn't say how the two behave if you run them together, so that would need testing.
Practical safeguards
- Before pressing Update, check that every app you want to keep is open. Nothing in the README suggests you can recover the old state.
- If your main browser is Firefox, rely on its built-in session restore. The author did exactly that after his loss.
- Review the list at restore time and untick background apps you don't want relaunched.
Bottom line
This is a single reviewer's two-week experience, set against documentation that supports the broad outline. Workspaces restores layouts, and the state inside each app depends on the arguments you give it. Rewind tries to capture that state itself and succeeds for Chromium tabs, folders and notes in his test. It is a young, small project with sharp edges, and the Firefox gap and the lack of undo are the ones to plan around.