How-to: Alt-tab on Mac OS X
November 5th, 2007 by Brendon Chase
Have you switched from Windows and looking for the Alt-Tab command on your Mac? Search no more because it's a breeze in Mac OS X Tiger and above. In this quick tip we'll show you multiple options to switch between your programs with a few simple keystrokes.
Basic application scrolling
If you're looking for a basic keyboard command to replace Alt-Tab on Windows to scroll through your open applications then look no further than pressing Command and tab.
Note: The Command key is the one with the Apple symbol on it. On most Apple keyboards there should be two keys on either side of the space bar.
Scroll through Windows inside one application
If you have multiple documents open, for example using a word processor or multiple browsers open, you'll want to scroll through the different windows to find what you're looking for. To do this hold down the Command key plus the ~ key to flick through your windows inside an application. The ~ key is located just above the tab key.
Quit applications while scrolling
While scrolling through your applications using Command + tab you can easily quit applications. Command + tab to the application you want to close. Keep a hold of the Command key though, now press Q on the keyboard. The application will close automatically. Make sure you have saved any documents before operating this command.
Find what you need by Expose'
Users don't necessarily need to use Command-tab to find the window or switch to an application. Inside OS X Tiger and above is a nifty keystroke command called Expose'. Expose has 3 keystrokes to find what you're looking for:
All Windows - Press F9 (fn+F9 on some keyboards) and this will show all open and unhidden windows to fit on a single screen. Simply click on the window you want to work in.
Application Windows - Press F10(fn+F10 on some keyboards) and this will open all windows for the currently active application. Again, click on the window you want to work in.
Desktop - To easily access the desktop with no windows in the background simply click F11.
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Dennis
November 6th, 2007 at 10:53pm
Thanks heaps for this info, great effort. I have already used them!! Fn+F9 is pretty nice, never new it existed, as with holding down the command key!
Brendon Chase
November 7th, 2007 at 9:34am
Thanks Dennis. Once you master those keystrokes it's hard to go back. Next up I'll write about a similar topic -- Active Corners.
Delishus
May 6th, 2008 at 2:20pm
. Since I am not a permanent mac user, only borrowing it for a while I keep reverting to alt tab. I managed to find a program called Witch (http://www.manytricks.com/witch/) which works wonderfully. But since the Command button is in the same location as a regular alt button would be, I used two other programs to allow me to reclaim command-tab and assign it to witch. First you need Ape (http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/ape/) and then Pulltab (http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/pulltab/index.html) And now it works like a charm.
Tim Riches
January 26th, 2009 at 3:13am
Priceless - I've been searching for the keyboard shortcut to cycle between windows in an application for eons - Thanks!
al
February 11th, 2009 at 9:47am
that's great, but what if you're working on two documents at a time (let's say two excel documents...A and B), but you also happen to have other Excel docs open that you're not working on at this moment (doc C, D, E, F). You should be able to switch back and forth between docs A and B by Command-tabbing instead of through through 6 different docs. I've found somewhat of a solution: pressing command + ~ (scroll forward) and command + SHIFT + ~ to (scroll backwards), but it gets confusing. If anyone knows a way to easily swith back and forth between the last two docs... it would be realy helpful
Gareth
May 23rd, 2009 at 12:01pm
Hi I find cmd tab annoying on mac os because you still have to select the application page you want! I would love to know how auto open the selected page when selecting an app using cmd tab!
gblack
December 28th, 2009 at 12:39pm
Yes, except, it is not the same as in Windows, where you can alt-tab until you hit the window you are after. In OS X you have to first find the relevant application (command-tab) then find the relevant instance of this application (command-~). This is advantageous if you have many different applications each running one or two windows. But if you have a desktop with, say four applications, each running five windows, it can be a real pain. The problem with a mechanism like expose, vs alt-tab (in both XP and Vista/W7 style) is that expose requires you to move your eyes around to find the desired window, whereas alt-tab has everything pass in front of a fixed focus point: you keep flicking until you get there. As always it is a question of what one is used too :-)