Switch between windows of the same app on a Mac
· 6 min read
Command-Tab moves between apps, not between the windows of one app. To switch between windows of the same app on a Mac, press Command-backtick (the key above Tab on a US keyboard), and add Shift to go the other way. To see every window of the app at once and pick one, press Control-Down Arrow for App Exposé, or press Down Arrow while the Command-Tab switcher is open.
Command-backtick, and when it seems to do nothing
Command-backtick moves to the next window of the app in front, in the order you last used them. Pressed repeatedly, it walks through all of them; Shift-Command-backtick walks backward.
A few things explain the times it seems not to work:
- The key is somewhere else on your keyboard. On many non-US layouts the backtick is not above Tab. The shortcut is listed in System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, under Keyboard, as “Move focus to next window”. Double-click the shortcut there and press a new one if the default is awkward to reach.
- The shortcut is switched off. In the same list, make sure the checkbox beside “Move focus to next window” is ticked. If another app has claimed the combination, A keyboard shortcut stopped working on a Mac covers how to find it.
- The window is minimized. Command-backtick skips minimized windows. The other methods below can bring them back.
- The window is in full screen or on another desktop. Each full-screen window lives on its own desktop, so it may not join the cycle. Mission Control, or the methods below, will reach it.
Windows are not tabs. In apps with tabs, Control-Tab and Control-Shift-Tab usually move between tabs in the same window, while Command-backtick moves between separate windows.
App Exposé: every window of one app, laid out
App Exposé spreads out every window of the current app so you can pick one by sight. It is the better choice when an app has several windows with similar names.
- From the keyboard: press Control-Down Arrow. Use the arrow keys to choose a window and press Return, or click one. The shortcut is listed under Mission Control in System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, where you can change it.
- From the app switcher: press Command-Tab and keep holding Command. Move to the app you want, then press Down Arrow (Up Arrow also works). App Exposé opens for that app, so you can switch app and window in one move.
- From the trackpad: open System Settings, Trackpad, More Gestures and turn on App Exposé, which is off by default. A swipe down with three or four fingers then opens it.
Minimized windows appear in a row along the bottom of App Exposé, so this is also the quickest way to bring one back from the keyboard. Pressing Tab while App Exposé is open moves on to the next app’s windows.
If App Exposé feels sluggish, the animations behind it are the same ones Mission Control uses; Mission Control feels slow on a Mac covers what can be turned down.
The Dock and the Window menu
Two methods use the mouse and show windows by name, which helps when they are hard to tell apart by sight.
The Dock. Control-click an app’s icon in the Dock. The top of the menu lists its open windows by title; choose one to bring it forward. Show All Windows in the same menu opens App Exposé.
The Window menu. Most apps have a Window menu in the menu bar, and the bottom of it lists every open window by title, with a checkmark beside the one in front. Minimized windows are listed there too, and choosing one restores it.
If you minimize windows into the app’s own Dock icon (System Settings, Desktop & Dock, “Minimize windows into application icon”), they disappear from the right end of the Dock, which is a common reason people think a window has closed. Click the app’s Dock icon, or use the Window menu, to get it back.
Making the switch a single gesture
The built-in options cover most needs, and changing the “Move focus to next window” shortcut to something easier to reach is often enough.
If you would rather do it with a gesture, Trill is a menu bar app that adds trackpad gestures, keyboard shortcuts with a Hyper Key, and window snapping. Its catalog of more than a hundred actions includes App Exposé and Mission Control, and its “Press keys” action can press Command-backtick for you. Press New gesture, do the gesture on the trackpad, and Trill names what it saw; you pick the action and the rule reads back as a sentence. A gesture can work everywhere or only in the apps you choose. If macOS already uses the gesture you picked, Trill keeps yours off, says why, and offers a one-click fix. With the Hyper Key switched on (it starts off), the same actions can go on a shortcut instead, and holding the Hyper Key shows a cheat sheet of everything set up for the app in front.
Trill needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later and Accessibility permission to press keys. It is free for 24 hours with every feature, then $29 once, not a subscription. Everything earlier in this guide works without it.
For arranging the windows once you have found them, Make a window fill the screen on a Mac without going full screen covers sizing and placement.
Questions
Command-backtick types a backtick instead of switching windows. Why? Either the shortcut is turned off or reassigned in System Settings, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, or your keyboard layout puts the backtick on a different key. Check “Move focus to next window” in that list and set a combination that suits your keyboard.
Can Command-Tab show windows instead of apps? Not on its own. The closest built-in option is pressing Down Arrow while the switcher is open, which shows that app’s windows in App Exposé.
Why does a window I just used not come up? It is probably minimized or in full screen. Use the Window menu or App Exposé, both of which list minimized windows.