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When I switch windows in GNOME shell with Alt-tab, I find it really hard to distinguish between windows just from the little preview thumbnails.

Back in the old days, metacity (and Compiz, iirc) would draw a border or otherwise indicate the screen position of the window you were switching to. Even better would be highlighting the window in some way. Is there a way to do this with GNOME Shell?

I'm on Ubuntu 18.04, GNOME Shell 3.28.

(Related, but I'm just hoping for an outline or highlight, not necessarily a window preview: Is there a window switcher for GNOME that shows the actual window?)

pomsky
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Steven Bell
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    Do you mean something like Alt+Esc? Switch windows directly. – Pablo Bianchi Aug 30 '19 at 16:12
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    Oh, I hadn't discovered that! That's way better, but my ideal would be to combine both of them. It's nice to see the tabbing order at the same time. – Steven Bell Aug 30 '19 at 16:36
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    Do you mean something like [Alt + `](https://askubuntu.com/a/908793/349837) for current application windows, or [like this with all windows](https://blogs.gnome.org/fmuellner/2018/10/11/the-future-of-alternatetab-and-why-you-need-not-worry/), using Alt+Tab? – Pablo Bianchi Sep 01 '19 at 00:20
  • I prefer the AlternateTab behavior, where Alt+Tab switches between all windows on the current workspace. Although it seems like highlighting the window should work with either behavior. – Steven Bell Sep 01 '19 at 19:28

1 Answers1

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The AATWS - Advanced Alt-Tab Window Switcher Gnome Extension does what you're asking I think. You can change the setting “Show Selected Window” to “Show Preview” and then as you cycle through windows with Alt-Tab, the current window is raised and a prominent border is added to the window so you can easily identify it.

Peter V. Mørch
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