How to switch between different Chrome windows with keyboard shortcuts?

Question

Switching between applications is easy with command-tab.

Switching between tabs is easy with command-} or control-tab.

Switching between separate windows within an application is easy with command-`.

However, that last one doesn't seem to work with Google Chrome (Version 27.0.1453.110) on OS X 10.8.4. Is there a leopard shortcut specific for Chrome to switch between different windows?

also for reference is http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/193937/shortcut-for-toggling-between-different-windows-of-same-app/193938#193938 — bmike, Mar 11 '17 at 12:58
Ctrl+Shift+Tab also allows you to switch directions between tabs. — Guy P, Jul 22 '17 at 09:43

score 169 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 30 '15 at 09:39

169

⌘ Cmd+` works for me with the same versions of Chrome and OS X, so it might be something specific to your installation.

You could try temporarily resetting Chrome's preferences or disabling extensions. Or change the shortcut from System Preferences or test if it works on a different account.

edited Dec 30 '15 at 09:39

WangYudong

135

answered Jun 13 '13 at 15:42

Lri

105,117

23

You're right... it does work. The problem is with OSX spaces. If I have two chrome windows open in the same space, CMD + switches between those windows. However, if I move chrome, or any other application, to two or more spaces, CMD + does not switch between those windows. I'm going to mark this as the answer since it does answer my question. I'll create a new question regarding switching between windows in different spaces. – Kris Anderson Jun 13 '13 at 21:34
3

You guys save life time for me!!! it's awesome – dan zen Sep 28 '14 at 01:48
13

@KrisAnderson, did you manage to ask that question somewhere? I'm struggling with the same problem. – Rafał Cieślak Dec 02 '14 at 20:23
4

@KrisAnderson, would you mind sharing the new question you mentionned regarding switching between windows in different spaces. – Eric Labelle May 15 '15 at 15:35
2

@KrisAnderson is it this question - https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/50445/switching-between-windows-of-one-application-in-multiple-spaces. Unfortunately it doesn’t have an answer – Chaitanya Bapat Aug 09 '21 at 12:42
I am using a guest computer right now, I just logged in just to upvote this, damn, why cant mac keep 1 shortcut to switch between apps and windows just like the windows. You start to appreciate windows when you leave it! – Shreyan Mehta Apr 24 '23 at 06:08

I'm a frog dragon · Answer 2 · 2023-05-19T06:45:28.233

59

This issue is so annoying for me, and today I finally got it resolved! So, in hope to help some poor soul like myself, I want to share what I did:

Go to System Preference --> Keyboard --> Shortcuts tab --> Move focus to next window
Set it to ⌘ + `

Updated screenshots for MacOS Ventura 13.3.1:

edited May 19 '23 at 06:45

answered Apr 22 '16 at 01:06

I'm a frog dragon

691

Thanks for this! Using a non english layout, it made it easy to figure out what it was – DannyThunder Feb 20 '20 at 20:42
In my case, this was already checked, but pressing this keystroke simply does nothing. I disabled and re-enabled the option, and edited the key to set it to the same thing (still ⌘ + `), then it suddenly starts working. – SOFe Aug 23 '21 at 02:42
Saved my life - got kb with German layout (vielen dank) - key above Tab contains §/± chars. The backtick is between left shift and Y but cmd + ` didn't switch the window by default. – DraganS Aug 31 '21 at 15:26
This only works if the window isn't maximized. – Max Ghenis Dec 18 '21 at 00:56

kenorb · Answer 3 · 2017-06-20T08:57:09.687

14

To show Chrome windows (this applies to other apps as well) press: Control-↓ (arrow down).

Active windows of the current application would be shown larger (if you've multiple monitors, they will show on other screen as well), including minimized at the bottom.

From there, use arrow keys to switch between different windows and confirm your selection with Enter or Space (to switch between all apps press Tab). It should work for multiple displays as well. Hit Escape to cancel the selection.

_{Above tested on El Capitan (10.11).}

edited Jun 20 '17 at 08:57

answered Mar 10 '16 at 13:24

kenorb

12,695

1

Doesn't show all windows if they're spread across different workspaces, which is what the gist of the problem is. – Dan Dascalescu Oct 06 '16 at 16:36
@DanDascalescu It works for me with multiple monitors though. – kenorb Oct 06 '16 at 17:50
1

Right, but do you have multiple spaces? – Dan Dascalescu Oct 06 '16 at 21:06
Maybe if you hit your arrows towards another workspace, it'll switch to another? Or use the shortcuts, like Control-1 or 2, or Alt+Arrows? – kenorb Oct 07 '16 at 09:07
2

This is the best answer for me, I need to be able to quickly identify and switch to Gmail vs. Hangouts vs. Calendar. – ukayer Sep 06 '19 at 19:11

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 20 '14 at 06:52

For those using Snow Leopard 10.6.8, these options can be set under the OSX "System Preferences" > Keyboard > "Keyboard Shortcuts" Tab > "Keyboard and Text Input".

Apparently, by default Cmd+` is set to "Move focus to next window in appl...". However, this shortcut doesn't work for me because my keyboard is Japanese, and therefore I need to press Shift to access the `. It turns out that OSX always receives a Shift+Cmd+@. So, what I did was to replace that shortcut with Cmd+@ and now it works.

Hope that helps people having similar issues.

PS: You can use the "Move focus to active or next window", which defaults to Ctrl+F4, Shift+Ctrl+F4 for the previous window.

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered May 24 '14 at 10:40

5

@Hugo Chrome allows to set up more users to get more "environments" inside your chrome (bookmarks, opened tabs, session and so forth). it's very useful to split your business and private browsing.

So, ⌘ Cmd-Shift-M is very useful. :)

answered May 24 '14 at 10:40

Jehu

75

2

Welcome to Ask Different! This does not provide an answer to the question—leave a comment once you have sufficient reputation. – grg May 24 '14 at 11:19
4

This doesn't address the question asked in any way... Would have been a down-vote if I had the reputation on this SE site for it. – josiah May 01 '15 at 14:21
1

@Jehu, Hmm, there seems to be no way to switch between these "environments" when they have more than one windows. – Pacerier Jul 15 '15 at 15:03
At least for me on a SE keyboard layout the Command + ` shortcut for witching between windows in chrome profiles does not work - so this would be the ONLY way to switch between chrome profiles via the keybaord – Yordan Georgiev Jan 20 '22 at 09:33

score 4 · Answer 6 · answered Jun 17 '19 at 19:22

My case was slightly different - one chrome window was normal ( not maximized ) and another chrome windows was maximized. The above solution cmd + ' didn't work in my case.

When one chrome window is maximized it gets its own space, found that i can use control key + left or right arrow keys to switch back between these 2 chrome windows.

Hope it helps.

Daisuke Shimamoto · Answer 7 · 2014-10-23T07:27:02.237

2

Interestingly, the ⌘ Cmd-` shortcut doesn't work for me (Chrome 38.0 on Mac OS X 10.9.50).

But ⌘ Cmd-F1 seems to work instead (and works for other apps too).

Though, again, it doesn't work if the windows are spread across desktops/spaces.

edited Oct 23 '14 at 07:27

answered Oct 23 '14 at 07:17

Daisuke Shimamoto

121

5

CMD+F1 does nothing. Tested in Google Chrome 48 in El Capitan. – kenorb Mar 07 '16 at 06:44

Mila01 · Answer 8 · 2015-09-16T20:29:40.820

2

Control + F4 will switch back & forth between open chrome browsers but only after configuring the Function keys to only work with Fn key in System Preferences > keyboard options.

edited Sep 16 '15 at 20:29

answered Sep 16 '15 at 19:45

Mila01

21

This cycles between all windows. So it would work if you only had two chrome windows open. – Håvard Geithus Dec 11 '15 at 23:24

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Dec 16 '15 at 14:03

2

So I found what was , for me , the real problem. I went into System Preferences" > Keyboard > "Keyboard Shortcuts" Tab > "Keyboard and Text Input and I found this:

Sorry for Italian lang.

Start from bottom, third row. Have attention for cmd + ' at first it was cmd + `

So I simply changed it and now It works perfectly.

Hope this can help.

answered Dec 16 '15 at 14:03

Alligatore3

21

It helped me to active the last radio button option (All Controls). Because I am not always in a Text Field. – Markus Zeller Oct 21 '16 at 08:58

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Jan 30 '22 at 22:30

You can toggle between windows in the same Space/desktop, and also across all of them.

To toggle between windows of the same application in the same space use Cmd ⌘ + ` ("Move focus to the next window").

However, what shows windows in all spaces from the same app is the "Application Windows" shortcut: Ctrl ⌃ + ↓ which shows all of them:

Now you can either use keyboard arrows or click the one you want to transition to.

Pro tip

What's very helpful to me is using configuring a hot corner so I don't even need to press keys.

(Preferences -> Desktop & Screensaver -> Hot Corners):

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Nov 01 '13 at 14:40

1

To switch between users in Chrome, use ⌘ Cmd-Shift-M and then use your arrow keys to select the user you want and hit Enter.

This isn't as fast as a key combination normally is but it is quicker than using the mouse. To see where this key combination comes from see Chrome's support forum.

edited Nov 01 '13 at 14:40

Jawa

2,484

answered Nov 01 '13 at 13:47

Jordan

31

1

Chrome users? What is that? The command doesnt do anything for me – Hugo Nov 27 '13 at 13:14
"Chrome users" are currently seen in the "People" menu in Chrome on MacOS and also via clicking your user icon in the upper right hand corner. You can have multiple google accounts associated with Chrome (very handy). The keyboard shortcut in this answer allows to switch between people, even when minimized, which is exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks. – AdamE May 16 '19 at 22:46

score 1 · Answer 12 · edited Jan 13 '19 at 19:19

1

There will be ShortCuts “Alt+PageUp” & “Alt+PageDown” available in the next version of our extension TabIt - NewTab (precisely in v15.01). They will allow to switch between neighbouring Chrome windows.

edited Jan 13 '19 at 19:19

Glorfindel

4,057

answered Jan 13 '19 at 15:54

Alex

111

Welcome to Ask Different! Please note that we have some rules you have to follow when linking to your own website. – Glorfindel Jan 13 '19 at 19:20
On a second thought, these ShortCuts aren't appropriate for such an extension. But I have moved them to another one, called ChRAM: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chram/pogibncdlnomiioielcgkhhgcmhokcma – Alex Feb 15 '19 at 15:07

score 1 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 24 '20 at 20:42

1

In order for any suggested keyboard shortcuts to work, none of the windows can be in Full Screen. To exit Full Screen, choose View > Exit Full Screen.

answered Sep 24 '20 at 20:42

Life5ign

111

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Jan 07 '21 at 08:32

If you have Chrome Windows maximized (ie. each Chrome window is in its own Spaces), the keyboard shortcut to toggle between Spaces will do the job for you. By default keyboard shortcut to toggle between Spaces is control + right arrow key or control + left arrow key. If this doesn't work, check for keyboard shortcuts on your mac under System Preferences > Keyboard > Mission Control and attributes 'Move left a space' and 'Move right a space'.

Carmen Santacruz · Answer 15 · 2022-09-28T22:42:09.537

1

[MAC users] When you have several google sessions open or other applications as vscode with different projects per window, you can switch between them using COMMAND + TAB after that UP or DOWN to choose.

edited Sep 28 '22 at 22:42

answered Sep 28 '22 at 22:41

Carmen Santacruz

11

score 0 · Answer 16 · answered Jun 01 '17 at 06:34

0

I had the same problem and when I went in to system preferences and keyboard shortcuts the shortcut was set to cmd+. When I marked it and gave it the same shortcut, It suddenly works just fine:)

answered Jun 01 '17 at 06:34

Terje

1

NerdOfDoom · Answer 17 · 2021-01-18T16:06:25.547

0

I just do control+left/right arrow. Not sure if this only works because I have the swipe between apps enabled with my apple mouse...
UPDATE
I found that the problem was apparently in chrome itself(for me) and that to make it work you need the chrome windows to be minimized for it to work. The problem might be in the shortcut itself, but "cmd+`" does work with other applications. So, the solution I'm currently using is just to minimize and then manually increasing the window size to fit the full screen.
Found this answer from https://superuser.com/a/1177594. If this isn't the problem, try the other solutions.

edited Jan 18 '21 at 16:06

answered Jan 10 '21 at 22:57

NerdOfDoom

1

That's the space switching shortcut, you need to place your windows in different adjacent spaces. – grg Jan 10 '21 at 23:38
I changed it... – NerdOfDoom Jan 20 '21 at 23:46

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Oct 16 '22 at 18:08

0

Review the mission control shortcuts for switching between OSX spaces. The following link answers your question because you are using Chrome browser AND OSX spaces. Also some sources frequently refer to spaces as desktops.

macOS: Navigating between desktops using keyboard shortcuts

answered Oct 16 '22 at 18:08

Paul Lewallen

101

The link you have provided opens up a question with three answers. Which of them are you referring to? Note that you can provide a direct link to an answer using the share button at the bottom of an answer. In addition, it is better practice to describe in your answer how the linked material answers the question explicitly with enough detail so that someone reading your answer later on can figure it out even if the linked material is deleted for some reason. – Alper Oct 16 '22 at 19:03

score 0 · Answer 19 · edited Oct 19 '23 at 19:44

0

Happy news for German/Austrian/Swiss keyboard users:

You cannot toggle with

cmd + `

You need to do

cmd + shift + `

edited Oct 19 '23 at 19:44

Greenonline

2,004

answered Oct 19 '23 at 16:21

Felix Olszewski

101

This does not provide an answer to the question. Once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. Also, this has been available for the keyboard layouts you state for some time already. I think users could just refer to this answer. - From Review – Thinkr Oct 19 '23 at 16:47

score -2 · Answer 20 · answered Jan 24 '22 at 23:23

-2

cmd + works only if the windows are not in fullscreen mode. If they are in fullscreen mode, cmd + doesn't work.

answered Jan 24 '22 at 23:23

Joseph Pasala

1

score -3 · Answer 21 · edited Aug 03 '14 at 15:00

-3

I'm using Mavericks and CMD+` does not work for me. However, CMD+. does.

edited Aug 03 '14 at 15:00

killswitch

1,626

answered Aug 03 '14 at 13:17

user3711588

101

3

CMD+. does nothing. Tested in Google Chrome 48 in El Capitan. – kenorb Mar 07 '16 at 06:45

How to switch between different Chrome windows with keyboard shortcuts?

21 Answers21

Pro tip