Window Switching in Mac OS X
One of the problems that irritated me as a new Apple user after using Windows for so long is Apple’s different window switching system.
Here’s what’s different. When you open multiple windows belonging to the same program in Windows, for example a few Firefox windows, each window will appear in your ALT-TAB windows switcher list. This means you can switch between Firefox windows easily.
But in Mac OS X, if you have 10 Firefox windows open, only one Firefox window appears in the windows switcher list when I press ⌘+TAB. To switch between child windows of a same program, I have to use ⌘+~, and Shift+⌘+~ for the opposite direction. Didn’t really like this much.
My solution was to change the way I switch windows altogether.
I set the top left area of the screen as a hot corner for Exposé. Much better than ALT-TAB or using keyboard shortcuts to activate Exposé. Each time I want to switch windows, I move my mouse to the top left most, then click the window I want from Exposé.
It doesn’t make sense to move your hand to the keyboard to press the Exposé shortcut, then move your hand back to the mouse to click the window you want. It’s a much faster and smoother process if Exposé is activated with your mouse going to the top left area of the screen, then you move your mouse to click the window you want, in a swift movement.
Do you have any other ways to make switching between windows as fast and as efficient as possible for a heavy multi-tasker? Is there any other way that’s faster or better? I’m a beginner, there might be a much better way that has been totally oblivious to me so far.
Share your tips! 
September 25th, 2005 at 2:33 am
almost every mac app will let you switch between open windows in one application (multiple firefox windows for example) by using the apple + ` keystroke (apple key plus back-tick key (also the ~ key when shift is used)).
September 25th, 2005 at 2:37 am
xero: thanks. now you know why i got this domain name.
September 25th, 2005 at 2:38 am
If you want to switch between windows (of the same application) rather than applications, you can also hit apple and the tilde key.
I assign all windows Exposé to scroll wheel click. I’ve assigned all of the Exposé keys to buttons on my mouse, so I can activate Exposé really quickly.
September 25th, 2005 at 6:58 am
Just hit F9 or F10 or program the hot corners with tiger.
September 25th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
The other annoying thing about both the ALT-TAB and Expose methods is that they (and, I guess, the ALT-~ method too) is that they have no easy way to access minimized windows. For that, I use a program called Witch , which lets you cyle through all your windows, whether ther are opened or minimized.
(OT: you might also want to check out textpander on the same site.)
October 7th, 2005 at 7:30 pm
personally, i’ve come to quite like the fact that cmd+tab (alt+tab in the Windows world) switches to the application in question… i like the whole concept that each application and every window that belongs to it kinda has its own space in a way kinda, compared to windows, where any applications Windows just get thrown in with the rest (sure, xp had taskbutton grouping, but its still not as nice as osx)…
as for switching between applications and windows on osx, first thing i do is change the Exposé hot keys from F9, F10….. to F1, F2, F3, and F4 for Dashboard… this helps a lot, cause i normally work with either both hands on the keyboard, or my left on the keyboard and my right on the mouse, so i always have easy access to Exposé and Dashboard… also, i have a standard PC USB mouse with a scrollwheel, so i have Exposé’s all windows action set to the scrollwheel, all i have do is click it and i see all windows, this is EXTREMELY useful… and then i have the other features of Exposé and Dashboard set to shift+mouse button 3, and so on (don’t use this much tho)…
since i have a powerbook, i use SideTrack (http://www.ragingmenace.com/software/sidetrack/), which is extremely useful when working with the trackpad, since it supports scrolling, and hot corners (tapping each corner of the trackpad can do any kind of function or key combo like F1 to activate show all windows and so on…)
and last, i use Desktop Manager (http://desktopmanager.berlios.de/), which is also VERY useful, specially when working in a lot of applications… myself i do a lot of web development and design, and i generally endup having my general web browsing and IM clients, itunes and whatever on one desktop, another for safari, firefox, opera and so on to test what i’m working, a 3rd for php scripting, a 4th for anything i might be using to write the html/css templates and so on, and a 5th for photoshop and other kind of graphic apps…
switching between desktops is done by cmd+alt+[the number of the desktop], so since i have itunes on desktop 1, and i’m on desktop 3 writing some php code and all of a sudden i feel like changing song, i hit cmd+alt+1… and then within each desktop i of course use the scrollwheel to activate Exposé…
i still use cmd+tab of course to switch between apps, specially when i got both hands on the keyboard cause i don’t have to move my hand to the mouse… and of course i use cmd+~ pretty often to switch between windows within an application…
personally, osx was a bit of a learning curve and some getting used to when it came to navigating your workspace, but once you’re used to how osx handles apps and windows, and all the extra features and so on that it has to make your life easier compared to windows, i almost feel a weird kind of claustrophobia and inability to work properly and easily access what i want whenever i use a windows machine… lol
March 21st, 2006 at 5:45 pm
These comments are so retarded its beyond belief.
First of all yes apple does lots of things better. However window switching isn’t one of them, there is no argument for this. I want to switch between windows in ONE click, not several, I also don’t like having to reach over to the keyboard for something that should be so relatively easy.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:25 am
It’s really simple. Just press Cmd +
November 18th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
hey ian…
to switch between different applications, click apple + tab.
to switch between different windows of an application, click apple + tilda.
so apple does switch between windows better (and with ONE CLICK).
tq.
December 9th, 2007 at 5:45 am
Thank you for the tip, exactly what I’ve been looking for!
Switching between open windows of the same program:
“⌘” + “~” cycles through open windows in a program
“Shit” + “⌘” + “~” cycles through the opposite direction
THANKS!
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:10 am
Or you can rebind the shortcut for switching windows in “System Preferences -> Keyboard & Mouse”. I have mine set to cmd+
August 21st, 2008 at 11:03 am
Thanks - I have been trying to find this shortcut FOREVER and I’m so glad you’ve got it posted here! Even though the apple key + ~ is tedious, I AM SO GLAD TO HAVE IT NOW.
Thank you, so much!
)