Cmd+Tab does not work on hidden or minimized windows

Question

When I want to switch between windows using ⌘ Cmd + ⇥ Tab it does not work with hidden or minimized windows. I can see the icons of these windows in the application switcher but choosing them does nothing. How can I get this to work again?

I just got a Mac, and this whole minimizing shit and not being able to restore that Window from Cmd+Tab—although it is shown within the window switcher—is super illegal UX. — Kalaschnik, Aug 05 '20 at 12:02
This is f. crap. I work on a mac for 8 months and I can't get used to it. Its bad user experience. I do recall some articles praising intelligent people working in Apple on the design. I don't get it why they decided like this. — Marecky, Feb 04 '22 at 16:02
Not sure how it exactly was back in 2013 but I remember Cmd+Tab working on hidden apps at least since macOS Sierra in 2016 (and possibly before that as well). — Alper, Jan 31 '23 at 02:03
@Marecky Just use Cmd+H to hide your apps and you should be fine. Apps hidden by Cmd+M not being brought forward by Cmd+Tab is useful because it prevents the screen from being cluttered if one accidentally releases the tab key on the wrong app. It is nice to have such an option. — Alper, Jan 31 '23 at 02:09
Apple has a habit of of prioritizing system performance and aesthetics over usability features, when the tradeoffs are significant. What is unforgivable is Apple's assumtion that users will eventually get used to their design decisions. Doesn't work in all cases. This is one glaring example. The dumb mouse is another. — Sandeep Deb, Sep 02 '23 at 07:39

score 219 · Accepted Answer · edited May 07 '21 at 18:29

219

This one is a bit tricky :

press ⌘ Cmd + ⇥ Tab to show your running apps. Keep holding ⌘ Cmd.
press ⇥ Tab until you've selected the app
press the ⌥ Option, and let go of the ⌘ Cmd.
( You must release ⌘ Cmd after pressing ⌥ Option ! )
( You must release ⌘ Cmd before release ⌥ Option ! )

edited May 07 '21 at 18:29

Little Helper

103

answered Dec 01 '13 at 02:22

Matthieu Riegler

21,486
11
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31

Thank you, that worked. It's not very intuitive though. Is there a reason why it is necessary to press option to get the app back? – urbaindepuce Dec 01 '13 at 11:24
21

I did not know this trick. A little difficult for the fingers. – Nicolas Barbulesco Dec 01 '13 at 17:11
4

After playing, here are some notes. Contrary to what one could think, the Option trick does not show all windows in the target application. As long as the target app has at least one non-hidden window, the Option trick does nothing. Otherwise, when the target app has one or more hidden window(s), the Option trick shows one, and only one, of these windows. More interesting yet : with apps like the Terminal, or the Activity Monitor, the Option trick will create a new window. In fact, Apple Tab with the Option trick is the equivalent of clicking the target app in the Dock. – Nicolas Barbulesco Dec 17 '13 at 10:58
8

Is there a way to make it "opposite"? – Kyslik Jan 16 '16 at 11:24
27

would be nice if osx could be configured to behave properly here ... osx is falling behind linux more every day – Scott Stensland Jun 11 '17 at 23:27
1

This, along with hotkeys for Print Screen and Chrome history, gives me the Mac-migraine. – Matt Canty Oct 03 '17 at 15:08
10

This is great but command tab should do this!! – Bradley Thomas Apr 08 '19 at 16:25
@MattCanty try ⌘ Cmd + y for Chrome history and ⌘ Cmd + Shift + 4 for screenshot (then, select with mouse drag&drop which part of the screen you want to save as an image) – Ricardo Apr 03 '20 at 18:33
1

You don't need to release ⌘ Cmd after pressing ⌥ Option in step 3, if you use mouse click on app icon. – Stefan Dec 18 '20 at 09:46
Stills works 2022 – Timothy Nov 06 '22 at 13:52
@NicolasBarbulesco It is showing the last used one. If you minimise a window and use this trick, it will pop the last used window but it doesn't do that when you click a different app and hide the other on-screen window, this seems to make the on-screen window the last used. But he is 100% right it is exactly the same behaviour as clicking in the dock. Clicking the dock is the same expected behaviour as CMD-TAB, but Apple in their wisdom chose not to, for some reason. APPLE SORT IT OUT! – TheArchitecta Nov 10 '22 at 06:12
1

Alternatively at step-3 hit the up cursor and the (multiple) minimised windows will be shown in thumbnail and you can tab/enter the one you want back to life – gingerbreadboy Jan 11 '23 at 16:49
What a bizarre user-interface show the app, but make it such that alt-tab doesn't focus it without a weird incantation that no one knows. – Evan Carroll Apr 07 '23 at 02:46
"think different" – airtonix Aug 23 '23 at 06:07
@Stefan Thank you - very helpful. This does not bring up application that are in full screen. Do you know how to focus them without three finger swipe? – Quazi Irfan Oct 21 '23 at 06:08
@QuaziIrfan I think it's not possible because macOS make that window like separate virtual screen – Stefan Oct 22 '23 at 08:22

Pirate X · Answer 2 · 2021-04-15T15:48:58.400

61

Majority of the answers are years old. This is a 2021 solution

Use AltTab, it is the exact replica of windows functionality of Alt+ Tab. Takes care of both minimised/maximised window.

It's free and open source.

edited Apr 15 '21 at 15:48

answered Jul 16 '20 at 16:10

Pirate X

765

6

Thanks, this works perfectly! brew install alt-tab --cask – PaloDravecky Jan 13 '21 at 10:48
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It didn't make a difference here :/ – alansiqueira27 Jun 14 '21 at 12:51
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It defaults to a different keyboard shortcut, but you can choose your own to fit your muscle memory. – seanf Sep 10 '21 at 06:16
6

Been checking back every year for a "real solution" and seems 2021 is my lucky year. So exciting! Works, and you can disable the thumbnails so it looks more likely the regular version. This is now the correct answer. – TechRemarker Oct 25 '21 at 14:10
1

Heads up: I was expecting it to take over the default alt + tab behavior (and thought it wasn't working when that didn't happen) but discovered you need to change the app's Controls preferences slightly to get that effect. – peteorpeter Dec 07 '21 at 17:32
4

This is so perfect, its snappy, fast, and very customizable. Great solution to such a flawed UX, the default behaviour is under the option + tab – Marecky Feb 09 '22 at 13:50
Awesome app! But I have concerns regarding the permission to record the screen. Did anyone check the source code for malicious intents? – Kirill Karmazin Feb 21 '22 at 22:57
@KirillKarmazin yes same, I held off installing this while it needs that permission – Joel Gallagher Feb 23 '22 at 00:44
1

Wow, this works amazingly well. Just open preferences and reassign alt-tab to cmd-tab to seamlessly override MacOS default switching. Thanks!! – iisystems Mar 25 '22 at 13:14
It's not the exact replica. It does not take virtual desktops into account. – DarkTrick May 19 '22 at 00:52
4

I've been forced to use a Mac after decades of linux. This app has been extremely helpful in alleviating a bit the absolutely disgusting abject horror. Thank you. Thank you so much. – simon Jul 06 '22 at 10:02
OMG thank you! This is perfect. – LiaVa Aug 19 '23 at 13:24
1

This one should be the standard behavior and the correct answer to this post. Awesome tip and app! Thanks for pointing out. – JwJosefy Aug 23 '23 at 14:22
1

Thank god this software exists. It's the only thing that makes alt-tab in macOS usable. – Ryan Mortier Nov 29 '23 at 17:06

score 58 · Answer 3 · edited Oct 31 '14 at 07:38

58

Use ⌘ Cmd-Tab to cycle to the desired application and then, while still holding down ⌘ Cmd, press the ↑ or ↓ arrow. This will show the application's windows in Expose. Select the desired window with the arrow keys and press Return to activate it.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1152366/commandtabminimizedwindows.html

edited Oct 31 '14 at 07:38

Jawa

2,484

answered Oct 31 '14 at 06:30

michael rodriguez

589

Found this more recent article useful and on point for this question. http://www.macworld.com/article/2048857/10-tips-for-managing-minimized-windows.html – Ted Nov 11 '16 at 13:57
3

this is true however I fail to see the benefit of apple's approach to not auto show a minimized app's window when the app is selected using command+tab ... linux window managers just do what's most natural ... time to short apple stock – Scott Stensland Jun 11 '17 at 23:26
2

Doesn't seem to work for me for either hidden or minimised windows. I always get "No Available Windows". I'm on Sierra if it makes any difference. – piit79 Jan 29 '19 at 11:16
Pretty nice in combo with left/right arrows after you hit Ctrl+Tab too. Arrows all the way to the window you're seeking. – Josh Sutterfield Feb 10 '20 at 15:29
1

This worked for me for ~8 years but suddenly stopped working today. Now I need to use this awkward approach: https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/112358/70049 – Jesse Buchanan May 08 '20 at 00:23

score 23 · Answer 4 · answered Jan 17 '20 at 19:23

23

Press ⌘ Cmd + H to hide a window instead of minimising it.

answered Jan 17 '20 at 19:23

Vitaliy

267

1

This is great, yet (on Catalina anyways) as a caveat, it looks like once you hide the windows, they can't be found with the up-arrow after cmd-tab mentioned in another answer. So odd that cmd-M and cmd-H both make the window hide in a completely different way, and are restored in completely different ways! – Josh Sutterfield Feb 10 '20 at 15:39
I like this solution best. I just have to get in the habit of using command h to hide any windows I don't want up on the screen instead of minimizing them. Too bad there is not a mouse way of doing the Hide... the yellow button only does minimize. – Wes Oct 28 '20 at 17:20
Note that %-H is a toggle: press once to Hide a window, press again to un-Hide it. Also note that it doesn't work on Maximized windows. – johntellsall Feb 03 '22 at 19:16
3

Holy shit, hiding and minimizing, the same visual thing happens, but different behavior. Suck it. – Mai Hai Jun 08 '22 at 07:16
Just a footnote - This has implications on the way system resources are utilized. Cmd-H is costlier if you have scores of applications opened but not all of them are actively used. – Sandeep Deb Sep 02 '23 at 07:42

score 11 · Answer 5 · edited Sep 27 '15 at 07:18

11

Try this:

On your Mac,

Navigate to System Preferences
Go to Mission Control
Uncheck "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application"

Try using the cmd+tab now.

edited Sep 27 '15 at 07:18

Alex

1,432

answered Sep 27 '15 at 03:14

wsgb

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2

this works only for not minized windows – M.C. Feb 02 '16 at 17:59
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This does nothing for me. – MrG Oct 13 '17 at 06:49
4

I was SO hoping this was the answer, but no. – ggedde Sep 29 '21 at 14:46
FINALLY!!! After years, this is the fix! Big big thanks! – Tomas Baran Mar 14 '23 at 01:13

score 2 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 01 '18 at 17:03

2

HyperSwitch Does the trick : https://bahoom.com/hyperswitch

I tested it. It needs to be updated. It's free. When I Cmd+Tab on minimized app it's open!

answered Apr 01 '18 at 17:03

Tonyo Madem

21

I just looked at the hyperswitch website and one of their "Known issues" is "No option to show minimized windows yet." ... ? I haven't actually tried it though! – Wes Oct 28 '20 at 17:24
On that linked page it says in big letters, known issues, "No option to show minimized windows yet." Aka it doesn't do the one thing people are asking for here. Luckily the other answer AltTab does. – TechRemarker Oct 25 '21 at 14:12

score 2 · Answer 7 · edited Jun 14 '22 at 17:05

So a summary of answers in other comments here;

Change the way you "Command-Tab"

Cmd+Tab to an app, and before releasing Cmd, also hold down Opt. This will open minimized apps like expected, but is annoying to remember to do.

Install a replacement for `Cmd`+`Tab`

brew install --cask alt-tab and use that instead. Should behave more like Windows 10/11, but you have to break the habit of hitting Cmd or use a key remapper to swap them.

Change the way you close apps

Use Cmd+H to hide apps rather than Cmd+W or Cmd+Q. Now opening them with Cmd+Tab should work as expected for those apps. This is what you probably should be doing, if your workflow is to hide things out of sight, then open them again later, e.g. MS Teams, Outlook, Calendar, etc., things that you still want to get notifications from, but don't need in front of you.

Personally, I love my Cmd+Q, so it's a hard habit to break to remember to only hide my Calendar/Slack, etc rather than just killing them.

score 2 · Answer 8 · edited Jun 22 '23 at 14:07

2

A 2023 answer I'm using a different solution.

If you turn on Stage Manager then apps both hide and minimise into Stage Manager. Then when you Cmd+Tab windows will come back for you whether they were hidden, minimised, or just moved away from.

This is on Ventura.

It's important to note that this only works on things you minimise or hide after you enable Stage Manager. And you can turn off Stage Manager's app drawer thing as well if you want.

I can't install AltTab unfortunately, so glad to have found this option.

edited Jun 22 '23 at 14:07

agarza

2,274

answered Jun 22 '23 at 14:02

Iain M Norman

121

That is so random of Apple to have one feature magically change when the other is activated. But I shouldn't be surprised with the amount of bugs and bad UX I've encountered in just a couple days of using macOS.. – gargoylebident Feb 22 '24 at 21:42

Alticoo · Answer 9 · 2023-03-07T22:41:49.157

1

I prefer the MC view. Anyway Keyboard Maestro provides with a simple keyboard customizable shortcut, a very good app launcher, very similar to cmd-tab/alt-tab universal function, but more customizable and with more options inside. You can browse through the apps in sliding with trackpad or mouse. Left click on icons open a menu. You can open from that menu or hit enter key. In that sliding view there are many apps; hidden, minimized, opened, and recent.

edited Mar 07 '23 at 22:41

answered Mar 07 '23 at 21:44

Alticoo

5

As it’s currently written, your answer is unclear. Please [edit] to add additional details that will help others understand how this addresses the question asked. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Allan Mar 07 '23 at 22:32
Why unclear, it is another way to activate an effective app switcher with cmd+tab, including hidden and minimized windows and more, as from title of topic. – Alticoo Mar 08 '23 at 07:56

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Nov 30 '18 at 16:21

My symptoms.. CommandTab would toggle the heading bar for each application but only some windows for the application would show up.

The suggestion above: On your Mac,

Navigate to System Preferences Go to Mission Control Uncheck "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application" Try using the CommandTab now.

Was already in place on my Mac. I did the opposite and now CommandTab works perfectly.

score 0 · Answer 11 · edited Feb 10 '21 at 14:53

0

Like Pirate X mentioned. Alt+Tab works flawlessly. You can even set the key to be Command instead of Option (Alt) and have it work normally but being able to raise minimized windows without having to press alt on the selected window.

It's super easy to install if you have "homebrew" installed:

brew install --cask alt-tab

Or just go to their website: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app and download it for manual installation.

edited Feb 10 '21 at 14:53

nohillside

100,768

answered Sep 04 '20 at 17:01

Efrain Martinez

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I don't suggest alt-tab bcs it is breaking something on every update. Developer doesn't test it correctly and he doesn't care bug reports. – kodmanyagha Mar 17 '22 at 16:09

score 0 · Answer 12 · answered Oct 31 '22 at 14:40

0

Maybe a more convenient alternative to the ⌥ Option solution:
after switched to the desired app and released the ⌘ Cmd+Tab press ⌘ Cmd+↑

answered Oct 31 '22 at 14:40

erkage

1

score 0 · Answer 13 · answered Mar 24 '24 at 17:16

0

goto settings->Desktop & Dock

make sure that below options are enabled.

answered Mar 24 '24 at 17:16

PRATHYUSH P

1

score -1 · Answer 14 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:45

AppleScript

tell application "Slack" to reopen (activate)

Or try my app Command-Tab Plus, in addition to proper work with hidden or minimized apps has many convenient features that are not efficiently implemented in the built-in MacOs App's switcher

For example, there were discussed the problems of Mac Os X apps switcher

Restricting Command+tab options to only apps that are in the current space

Show only apps that are in the current space

Cmd+Tab does not work on hidden or minimized windows

14 Answers14

Change the way you "Command-Tab"

Install a replacement for `Cmd`+`Tab`

Change the way you close apps

Linked

Related

Cmd+Tab does not work on hidden or minimized windows

14 Answers14

Change the way you "Command-Tab"

Install a replacement for Cmd+Tab

Change the way you close apps

Linked

Related

Install a replacement for `Cmd`+`Tab`