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I often use the Cmd+Tab shortcut to switch between different applications (for example: Xcode and Google Chrome), but is there a shortcut to switch between different windows of the same application (for example, from one window in Google Chrome, to another)?

slhck
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wip
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    Thank you for the answers so far (and for moving the question to the correct forum). I found the "backtick key", but the "command + backtick" command didn't work. I forgot to mention my computer is a Macbook with a "japanese keys layout" : the backtick is located on the top of the "@" key, to the immediate right of the "P" key. To type a backtick I have to press "shift+@" so I tried "Command+Shift+@" but it didn't work. I think there might be a way to enable some shortcuts on a japanese Mac but I cannot find how. – wip Jun 19 '11 at 15:23
  • You don't have "instances of the same application". You have windows. – Daniel Beck Jun 20 '11 at 06:34
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    There is a duplicate of this QA on Ask Different, which also includes other keyboard language layouts - for info https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/193937/shortcut-for-toggling-between-different-windows-of-same-app – Tetsujin Jan 01 '18 at 15:18
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    @wip: In Japanese layout keyboard, default is "Command + F1" – The Anh Nguyen Jan 14 '21 at 08:06
  • @TheAnhNguyen It doesn't work – newguy Sep 15 '22 at 11:46
  • @newguy Or Can you try this?: Command + Fn + F1 – The Anh Nguyen Sep 16 '22 at 14:55
  • @TheAnhNguyen The default is Command + backtick, I have to manually change it to Command + Fn + F1 in keyboard settings. I don't know how to type Command + backtick in the Japanese keyboard. – newguy Sep 17 '22 at 03:56
  • @newguy, Can you try Command + Shift + @ (on the right of P key) – The Anh Nguyen Sep 18 '22 at 14:04
  • @TheAnhNguyen It didn't work – newguy Sep 19 '22 at 01:30

10 Answers10

487

The default shortcut is Cmd` (that's a backtick).

You can always change that shortcut if the given one does not work out for you. Go to  → System Settings (or System Preferences for older macOS versions) → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Keyboard.

Here, assign a custom combination to Keyboard » Move focus to next window (under OS X 10.9 and above)

Above, I chose Cmd<.

This will allow you to toggle between the open windows of any application.

Note:

  • Cmd` works only if all windows are on the same workspace (comment @thias).
  • Some applications may intercept your chosen shortcut, so you might have to find another one that is unique.
slhck
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    Not only you can change the keyboard shortcut, but the dialog will give the most correct answer for the OP and hishers keyboard locale. For example `⌘` + `<` is the system default in Finnish locale that I'm using and "command backtick" answers wouldn't work. – Jari Keinänen Jun 20 '11 at 12:16
  • @koiyu Nice to know that! Yeah, with the different layouts around, it's always best to look what'd the default setting. – slhck Jun 20 '11 at 13:50
  • Thank you ! That solved my problem. The default shortcut was Command+F1 on my computer. – wip Jun 26 '11 at 17:47
  • "You can always change that shortcut if the given one does not work out for you." Oddly enough, this doesn't seem to work for the shortcut the OP used as an example (switching between apps with Cmd+Tab). That one appears to be unchangeable. – BHSPitMonkey Mar 02 '13 at 20:22
  • @BHSPitMonkey Yes, that one cannot be changed through System Preferences, as it's a system-wide default. Might be possible to change it with tools such as KeyRemap4MacBook? – slhck Mar 02 '13 at 20:48
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    I wish I understand what Apple was thinking there. The same justification used for making all the other shortcuts configurable could be used to toward making that one configurable as well. – BHSPitMonkey Mar 12 '13 at 06:41
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    is there anything that works between different workspaces (cmd+backtick works only if all windows are on the same workspace) – thias May 05 '13 at 13:36
  • Thanks this helped me find it again... for some reason mine was disabled. – Marius Jun 14 '13 at 13:12
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    I don't think your answer works for the latest versions of Mac OS X. I'm using 10.9.3 myself with norwegian keyboard layout. I'm not able to add new shortcuts under Keyboard. I can under App shortcuts, however that does not work with the given text «Move focus to the next window in application». – Andreas Åkre Solberg Jun 30 '14 at 12:07
  • @AndreasÅkreSolberg It's there. You can't add any, but it's named a little differently. See my updated screenshot from 10.9. – slhck Jun 30 '14 at 18:35
  • This shortcut does not appear to be working in the MS Office 2016, is there a way to fix it? – Konrad Jan 17 '16 at 14:42
  • @Konrad Works for me in Office 2016. Is there any other shortcut that Office is overriding this with? – slhck Jan 17 '16 at 18:52
  • @slhck Doesn't appear to be. – Konrad Jan 17 '16 at 19:01
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    Is there a way to treat all windows as independent application, so Cmd+Tab switches among all windows, without having to think whether to press Cmd+Tab or Cmd+`? – Dan Dascalescu Apr 29 '16 at 00:32
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    @DanDascalescu exactly! Apparently you have to `cmd`' + `tab` let off the keys and then `cmd`' + ``` to cycle through each instance of your choice. This is crazy. – Ben Racicot Dec 24 '16 at 16:16
  • If you're using a keyboard layout where ` is a problem, I can highly recommend mapping your Caps Lock key to Ctrl (⌃) and then binding Cmd+Ctrl+Tab (⌘⌃⇥) for this purpose :) – damd Jan 21 '17 at 18:51
  • Doesn't work when the windows are in fullscreen mode (different workspaces?) wish there was a trick for this – Vadorequest Jan 22 '18 at 11:15
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    @Vadorequest In that case you can only navigate between different workspaces using `Ctrl` plus arrow keys. – slhck Jan 22 '18 at 12:42
  • @thias See the answer below to toggle between same app in different workspaces: https://superuser.com/a/764763/483389 CTRL+Down and then tab to toggle. As I mention in the comment there, I wish it was just one key combo, but better than resorting to using the mouse. – technoplato Sep 05 '19 at 16:00
  • Great answer! The German Mac os apparantly also doesn't have the backtick mapped by default so I had to remap it as well. – Flov Jan 07 '20 at 09:32
  • In a **german keyboard** on macOs Mojave **cmd** + **>** (left of "y") works – daco Jan 23 '20 at 09:07
  • @daco, that did not work for me. Despite being set to that shortcut, nothing happend. I had to use another shortcut to make it work (^ + cmd). – Kuronashi Jan 12 '21 at 19:33
  • Does anyone know why @thias is correct? Why do all of the windows need to be in the same workspace? Is there any way to fix that _problem_? – Mike Williamson Oct 31 '21 at 10:19
  • Obviously the right shortcut should be ```cmd``` + ```§``` – gagarine Sep 25 '22 at 20:57
  • @gagarine Not sure what you mean by "the right shortcut". People can choose whatever they want or what suits their keyboard best. I noticed your edit suggestion, but AFAIK the default shortcut is the same no matter which keyboard you have – which is the main reason I change mine, because the backtick is a dead key combo on the German keyboard. – slhck Sep 26 '22 at 18:31
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    @Nikos Check that the application itself does not have a shortcut interfering with the one you want to use. If so, you need to find another, or override it in Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. – slhck Apr 07 '23 at 12:04
  • @thias Try ^ (control, not cmd) + left/right arrow **if the windows are fullscreen and side-by-side**. Otherwise it won't work - _even on 13.0.1 (Ventura)_. – ozanmuyes Jun 14 '23 at 22:24
  • @Nikos Please stop spamming the comments here. What's the problem specifically? This seems to work for most users as indicated by the votes. If you have an issue or if this isn't working, please ask a new question, reference this post, and explain your problem in more detail. – slhck Aug 31 '23 at 15:05
  • @slhck I can't get any shortcut to work exclusively between windows of the same app. It only works if I manually switch between them, then alt + ` will work until it reaches the last window of the same app then it will move to another app. I've prob messed up something, ah well, next mac I'll just do a fresh install – Nikos Sep 02 '23 at 10:11
61

command backtick

⌘ + `

slhck
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Abizern
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    Yes, on a US keyboard. On my non-US-keyboard it is not so obvious, since backtick is located on a combined 'accent' key. So to get a backtick I need to press Shift-accent. So switching to the next window is Cmd-Shift-Accent. Now, how do I switch to the _previous_ window? Cmd-Shift-_Shift_-Accent? – Vidar Ramdal Mar 03 '16 at 09:30
  • @VidarRamdal Even if you had an US keyboard, it wouldn't be possible to move to the previous window, because (as you can see in the settings by yourself) there is no shortcut for "move to previous window". – winklerrr Sep 07 '16 at 20:10
  • Help me please: the second key What is (Right Side of P letter, Right Side of 0 "Zero")? – joseluisbz Sep 12 '16 at 22:15
  • **NOTE:** It doesn't work for windows running in full screen – VVK Mar 28 '20 at 16:46
42

This is what I found on my default US english keyboard setting.

  1. Toggle between Different Apps -> Command + Tab

  2. Toggle between Same App in Same Workspace -> Command + `

  3. Toggle between Same App across different Workspace:

    1. View same App windows across All Workspaces -> Control + Down Arrow
    2. Then select with arrow keys or click the app window you want.
KyleMit
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leoismyname
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    Yes. This should be on top. This concept of windows vs apps vs workspaces is confusing. – Peter Feb 10 '16 at 14:42
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    For #3, after cntrl + down you can hit tab to toggle applications, then use arrow keys to select the window you want. – OIS Jul 20 '17 at 15:21
  • @OIS that is really cool. Thank you for sharing. I upvoted this answer instead of the selected answer because it covers shifting between same app in different workspaces. Although it does take 1 + N key combos, it's still better than not being able to switch. I wonder if we could get this to just one key combo to go to previous instance of same app... – technoplato Sep 05 '19 at 15:59
  • If you want to toggle between same of different apps, including minimized and hidden windows, Contexts is the right tool for that. – quotesBro May 07 '20 at 09:29
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    Should clarify that option 3 is for non-full screen apps in different workspaces. There's no way to cycle through full screen instances of the same app. – RCross Nov 11 '20 at 11:19
4

I'm on Mavericks and I was looking for a keyboard shortcut to quickly switch between tabs in Chrome. Cmd +` didn't work for me, although I made sure it was correctly setup in System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts. What I found is that Ctrl + Tab works! So for me it's Cmd + Tab to switch between applications, and Ctrl + Tab to switch between the same application's windows, try this if other suggested solutions don't work.

lidkxx
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  • I'm on Yosemite and Ctrl + tab was only one working for me, thank you for that. But it doesn't seem to work for terminal instances.... Still trying to find out what to do there. – eis Oct 02 '15 at 08:12
  • Can update 4 years later; I think newer MacOS' use control + tab now. Seems more intuitive. – Aryaman Dec 11 '18 at 16:50
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    Not by default it doesn't. Ctrl + Tab performs whatever app-specific action is assigned, e.g. in Chrome it switches tabs, in Visual Studio Code it launches the action prompt, etc. – RCross Nov 11 '20 at 11:23
2

Press ^ + ↑ to show all open applications

Press ^ + ↓ to show all open instances of the current applciation

(it's not perfect but I found this better than the cmd + ` way, also if you have apps open full screen use ^ + left or right)

atreeon
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2

I believe command + option + ` change the tab between one app windows

Moe Far
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  • The answer “command + backtick” has been given many times already.  Does it work *better* when you add the “option” key? – Scott - Слава Україні Jun 26 '19 at 02:05
  • This is exactly what works for me on macOs mojave. “command + backtick” only switches between two windows. with option, it goes throw all windows of the same application – MasterMind Jan 28 '20 at 21:33
  • Weird that I had to come this far down to find the answer I actually wanted. If I'm in a program with two fullscreen instances and I want to switch between them, this is the only thing that does exactly what I want. – Alex Pritchard Oct 21 '21 at 17:46
  • @Scott-СлаваУкраїні any luck? slava ukraini – Nikos Jul 31 '23 at 16:08
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So I have found that sometimes certain applications do not want to cycle through the different open windows using Cmd+Tab or Cmd+' - VMware is one example, especially when one of the windows has been minimized to the dock. So what I have found is using expose to view all windows helps - there is a mouse gesture for this which is a four finger clinch I think - or F3.
Then you can select which window you want to view.

Hope this helps!

wonea
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super
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1

On my Macbook Air, with OSX Lion, to switch application windows:

press

CMD+FN+F6

Funnily enough, the option 'Move focus to next window in application' has gone from System Prefs → Keyboard → Keyboard and text input. I just played around with various keys until I found the right one!

wonea
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Nick Read
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    "Move focus to next window in application" was just renamed to "Move focus to next window" in Lion. `⌘F6`? What locale or keyboard layout do you use? – Lri Oct 28 '11 at 05:39
  • Hooooooorayyyy thank you! I couldn't do this in Mountain Lion. It turns out I thought it didn't work, because I had the same key bound to the two window switch shortcuts, and even though the first one was disabled (un-checked), it prevented the other one from working. –  Sep 16 '12 at 15:50
0

On my Macbook Pro with a german keyboard layout and language setting it's

CMD< by default to "Move focus to the next window in application"

Andi
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0

In macOS 13.x Ventura, this is where the setting is located. In the System Settings, choose Keyboard in the left-hand pane. Then, click the Keyboard Shortcuts… button in the right-hand pane. That opens the following pop-up window, where again, you need to choose Keyboard in the left-hand pane. In the example shown, I have manually set the shortcut for Move to next window to Command + "<":

Setting for "Move focus to next window" in macOS Ventura

Otto G
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