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On Windows when I do alt+tab I can switch between windows. If I have 5 firefox windows open then using alt+tab will switch between them.

On my MacBook, cmd+tab switches between applications, not windows, so it will switch between firefox and xcode, but not between two different firefox windows.

I am sure there is some way to use keyboard shortcuts to switch between active windows. What am I missing?

Community
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Nir Levy
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    Just in case you never saw it: see also http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343 and http://www.apple.com/support/switch101/ – Arjan Sep 22 '09 at 22:07
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    @Arjan this mostly doesn't work on international keyboards, where often `\`` on same key as `´` and is obtained by pressing `Shift`+`´` :-( – t0r0X May 19 '13 at 11:46
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    @Nir Levy **THANKS!** On my german keyboard (OS X 10.8) the mappings were "Focus to next window" => `Cmd`+`\``, and "Focus to ?toolbar?(Seitenleiste des Fensters)" => `Cmd`+`Shift`+`\``. Since both `´` and `\`` are on same key (see my previous comment), rotating between application windows went only in one direction. All I had to to was change the 1st mapping to `Cmd`+`´` and 2nd mapping to something else, e.g. `Cmd`+`ß`, and suddenly window switching works in both directions: `Cmd`+`´` and `Cmd`+`Shift`+ `´`. That simple... BTW, the default suggested by OSX is `Cmd`+`<` for Window switching. – t0r0X May 19 '13 at 12:11
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    One of most annoying thing on MAC for programmers. Why are the making us use 2 shortcuts to switch between windows, so inefficient :/ Is there app which would let me group up my windows as I like? – Srneczek Apr 21 '16 at 21:38
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    An update from the future (as this question gets many views still): for users that prefer windows-type switching, you may wish to consider using an excellent little tool called HyperSwitch that does the job. – Nir Levy Dec 11 '17 at 13:48
  • How do we change the system keyboard shortcuts? In System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts there is nothing about changing window globally. On the Italian keyboard the `~` character is hidden behind Alt-5 so not usable for this. I would like to change this in system. What command should I write if I create a new global shortcut? – NotationMaster May 19 '20 at 08:11

17 Answers17

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Cmd-` toggles through the windows forward.

Cmd-Shift-` toggles through the windows in reverse.

Cmd - alt - arrowkey switches between tabs

Am1rr3zA
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    What's that *angle bracket* shortcut again? It does not work on my mac. And why is it the only one using '+' instead of '-' between keys? – cregox Apr 13 '10 at 19:50
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    cmd-shift is nice, didn't know that before. – Tomas Andrle Aug 23 '10 at 15:01
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    When did Cmd+> Cmd+< happen? I don't have them on 10.5. – taw Oct 07 '10 at 12:18
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    On my Macbook Air with Mountain Lion, Cmd+> just beeps like an invalid key combination. It does not switch windows. – Howiecamp Aug 10 '12 at 21:28
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    @Am1rr3zA - On my Macbook Air with Mountain Lion, Cmd+> just beeps like an invalid key combination. It does not switch windows. – Howiecamp Aug 10 '12 at 22:09
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    What happens if my keyboard layout is different? I have the italian layout, and to get the ` symbol you need to press Alt + 9. Pressing Alt + Cmd + ` does not work. Is there anywhere where I could see the italian correspondant of this? – kettlepot Nov 05 '12 at 21:14
  • My macbook plus with mountain lion only beeps as @Howiecamp describes. – drevicko Dec 19 '12 at 08:07
  • Doesn't work for Adium ( – Nakilon Feb 13 '14 at 09:06
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    On my new MacBook Pro with Mavericks this just cycles within windows of the current application. It doesn't cycle all open windows of all open applications which is what alt-tab on Windows does. – opticyclic Aug 09 '14 at 19:15
  • @TomasAndrle, Cmd Shift arrow doesn't work on Sierra. (I tried with two finder windows.) – Pacerier Dec 09 '17 at 14:48
  • @Am1rr3zA, Where is the alt key? – Pacerier Dec 09 '17 at 14:48
14

There's a 3rd party app called Witch which will let you cycle through all windows of all apps.

Doug Harris
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    Why in the world is there not an option in Mac OS to just enable this functionality over the default switcher? I have open windows of many apps, multiple windows of the same application, and I just want to switch between them. And without raising all windows of an application, which covers up my other windows. – theferrit32 Aug 05 '20 at 02:26
  • is there a free version? all I want is one shortcut to switch per window not per app – George Shalvashvili Apr 14 '22 at 11:12
13

Along with the other suggested shortcuts, you could always use Exposé.

On a recent MacBook, or aluminium keyboard, the 'F3' key is dedicated to Exposé. If you don't have a keyboard with an Exposé key on it, you can use 'F9' and 'F10':

  • F3 or F9 to show all windows on the current space.

  • Ctrl-F3 or F10 to show all windows belonging to the current application on the current space.

For even easier access, I use the four-finger upward swipe to activate Exposé.

Arjan
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Josh Hunt
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  • It's actually not F3 key, it's a *fn* key located on top of the F3. – cregox Apr 13 '10 at 19:50
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    The issue with Exposé is that the order of the windows tiles/miniatures shown by Exposé changes. E.g. I have FireFox with six open windows. As soon as I switch from one of those windows to another, Exposé shows them next time in another unpredictable order and I loose the overview. – t0r0X May 19 '13 at 11:36
  • @t0r0X, Expose = Mission Control? – Pacerier Dec 09 '17 at 14:51
10

On my Swedish Mac keyboard the ´ and ` are on the same key. For the back-tick is a shifted forward-tick.

So, I can only use cmd-shift-` to cycle the windows in one direction, and it doesn't work in all apps, like the terminal. Very annoying.

As Doug Harris pointed out Witch is a really nice way of "solving" this problem for Windows to Mac switchers that have alt-tab the muscle memory.

Jörgen Lundberg
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  • For future visitors: to remap the keys, see also [Victor's comment](http://superuser.com/questions/45310/switch-between-windows-on-mac-os-x?noredirect=1#comment735095_45310) on the question. (But I guess that for you, Jörgen, after more than 3 years you're used to it now.) – Arjan May 19 '13 at 12:44
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    Only $14 more to get your mac to be almost usable! (Witch currently costs $14) – Fixee Aug 25 '14 at 06:51
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    It's not just muscle memory, it often makes more sense to switch between individual windows and not applications: e.g. when you have multiple applications with multiple windows each, and want to keep one window of each on top and switch back and forth between the two. – Michael Aug 12 '15 at 21:29
7

You're looking for Cmd+`, or if you're not sure, the one with the ~.

This will cycle through all open windows for a single application.

Pang
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BinaryMisfit
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    Surround the text you want with and . – John Rudy Sep 22 '09 at 21:28
  • except in safari on a macbook plus with mountain lion... – drevicko Dec 19 '12 at 08:13
  • @drevicko It works for me on that setup – BinaryMisfit Dec 19 '12 at 08:20
  • @Diago interesting! Do you know if you did anything special to make it so? Mine is an out-of-the-box factory install just a few weeks old.. – drevicko Dec 20 '12 at 00:09
  • @drevicko Alt+` switches between **windows**. Ctrl+tab switches between **tabs**. Factory install on both my MacBook Pro and iMac. Just confirm which your trying to switch. I tend to ever only have one Safari window open but just tested again and it does work, actually it works in all application. – BinaryMisfit Dec 20 '12 at 07:08
  • @Diago switching windows is what I'm after. I havn't found a way to do it with the keyboard ): Apparently either I inadvertently did something to change the behaviour or perhaps my localisation (Australian) isn't set up properly?? As I recall, Alt-` works in some applications, but not most (my mac is in the office at the moment - I'll check which work when I go in tomorrow) – drevicko Dec 20 '12 at 09:01
  • @Diago I've discovered that Alt+` switches between windows (in the same application) only when the windows aren't in full-screen mode. I've not found a way to use the keyboard to switch between full-screen windows. – drevicko Jan 02 '13 at 04:57
  • @drevicko Interesting. I have a 27" iMac and at work a 24" external so hardly ever use fullscreen. Thanks for the additional info. – BinaryMisfit Jan 02 '13 at 05:50
6

Just a small clarification:

CMD+`

Switches between open windows for the same application, in OS "El Capitan" this works only when the windows are not in fullscreen mode. Maybe this is the reason because some guys reply saying that this shortcut doesn't work.

2ark0
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    Thank you, I was having this issue until I took the window responsible out of fullscreen. – hcs Nov 22 '16 at 00:02
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Optimal Layout is another commercial app that gives you a simple way to switch between application windows from the keyboard.

Disclaimer: I'm the developer of Optimal Layout.

Benedict Lowndes
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2

You can use Mission Control. CTRL + ARROW UP will activate Mission Control and it will show you all active windows separately. CTRL + ARROW DOWN will show you all active windows of the current applications. So if you just want to switch between Chrome windows, this might be your solution!

Marc
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2

CMD-` will cycle through open windows.

CMD-Shift-` will cycle through them in reverse.

Steve T
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2

For switching through tabs, I prefer these shortcuts:

Cmd-{ to move left.

Cmd-} to move right.

I find those keys more comfortable than the arrow keys.

Justin Voss
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1

I'm using HyperSwitch https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch/ these days as it not just supports window switching (as opposed to app switching) but also shows previews of windows in a way MS Windows started to do since Vista (or was it Windows 7?).

alexeit
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1

On Mountain Lion it became a (nicer IMO) opt+tab. On a US keyboard, that is.

Jan
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  • uh... on my US keyboard with mountain lion in chrome that switches which page element has focus... – Michael Aug 12 '15 at 21:30
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The best app for MS Windows like window switching is Contexts https://contexts.co/

Beautiful, perfect in every way and too cheap when considering how much everyday pain of OSX suboptimal window management it fixes.

alexeit
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0

If you want command + tab to switch between all windows, you can try Contexts. I love it.

Joseph Hansen
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0

I'm the author of Command-Tab Plus application which allows you to quickly switch between applications, and additionally between windows (using the ability of Mac OS cmd+tilde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL8CgMVptug

Serge Gerasimenko
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  • The problem of switching between applications and Windows applications faced by every Mac OS user, as I do not like the built-in Mac OS application switcher, then I have developed my decision. I tried a few solutions for switching between Windows and realized that I prefer to switch between applications. Maybe because I'm used to the MacOs, Mac OS x is slightly different ideology and so many people already switch between applications and not between windows – Serge Gerasimenko Mar 12 '17 at 21:17
  • Although your answer is 100% correct, it might also become 100% useless if that link is moved, changed, merged into another one or the main site just disappears... **:-(** Therefore, please [edit] your answer, and copy the relevant steps from the link into your answer, thereby guaranteeing your answer for 100% of the lifetime of this site! **;-)** You can always leave the link in at the bottom of your answer as a source for your material... – Donald Duck Mar 12 '17 at 21:36
  • Sorry, I don't quite understand what link you mean? Link to my website/site ? [main suite](http://www.noteifyapp.com) [command tab plus link] (http://commandtab.noteifyapp.com) – Serge Gerasimenko Mar 13 '17 at 16:10
0

On a swedish keyboard it's CMD + < to switch between windows of a same app

Brumor
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CMD+` Switches between open windows in an application.

Mokubai
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Parallax33
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