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I often use the Cmd+Tab shortcut to switch between different applications (for example: Xcode and Google Chrome), but is there a shortcut to switch between different windows of the same application (for example, from one window in Google Chrome, to another)?
wip
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 5 155
419
The default shortcut is Cmd` (that's a backtick).
You can always change that shortcut if the given one does not work out for you. Go to System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts.
Here, assign a custom combination to
Keyboard » Move focus to next window (under OS X 10.9 and above)
Keyboard » Move focus to the next window in application (until OS X 10.8)
This will allow you to toggle between the open windows of any application.
Cmd` works only if all windows are on the same workspace (comment @thias)
slhck
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 182 472
1I don't think your answer works for the latest versions of Mac OS X. I'm using 10.9.3 myself with norwegian keyboard layout. I'm not able to add new shortcuts under Keyboard. I can under App shortcuts, however that does not work with the given text «Move focus to the next window in application». – Andreas Åkre Solberg – 2014-06-30T12:07:06.167
@AndreasÅkreSolberg It's there. You can't add any, but it's named a little differently. See my updated screenshot from 10.9. – slhck – 2014-06-30T18:35:39.770
This shortcut does not appear to be working in the MS Office 2016, is there a way to fix it? – Konrad – 2016-01-17T14:42:06.450
@Konrad Works for me in Office 2016. Is there any other shortcut that Office is overriding this with? – slhck – 2016-01-17T18:52:44.190
@slhck Doesn't appear to be. – Konrad – 2016-01-17T19:01:11.603
1Is there a way to treat all windows as independent application, so Cmd+Tab switches among all windows, without having to think whether to press Cmd+Tab or Cmd+`? – Dan Dascalescu – 2016-04-29T00:32:13.400
2@DanDascalescu exactly! Apparently you have to cmd' + tab let off the keys and then cmd' + ``` to cycle through each instance of your choice. This is crazy. – Ben Racicot – 2016-12-24T16:16:21.093
If you're using a keyboard layout where ` is a problem, I can highly recommend mapping your Caps Lock key to Ctrl (⌃) and then binding Cmd+Ctrl+Tab (⌘⌃⇥) for this purpose :) – damd – 2017-01-21T18:51:29.003
Doesn't work when the windows are in fullscreen mode (different workspaces?) wish there was a trick for this – Vadorequest – 2018-01-22T11:15:20.183
1@Vadorequest In that case you can only navigate between different workspaces using Ctrl plus arrow keys. – slhck – 2018-01-22T12:42:56.317
@thias See the answer below to toggle between same app in different workspaces: https://superuser.com/a/764763/483389 CTRL+Down and then tab to toggle. As I mention in the comment there, I wish it was just one key combo, but better than resorting to using the mouse.
– lustig – 2019-09-05T16:00:29.843Great answer! The German Mac os apparantly also doesn't have the backtick mapped by default so I had to remap it as well. – Flov – 2020-01-07T09:32:39.113
In a german keyboard on macOs Mojave cmd + > (left of "y") works – daco – 2020-01-23T09:07:00.383
13Not only you can change the keyboard shortcut, but the dialog will give the most correct answer for the OP and hishers keyboard locale. For example ⌘ + < is the system default in Finnish locale that I'm using and "command backtick" answers wouldn't work. – Jari Keinänen – 2011-06-20T12:16:28.207
@koiyu Nice to know that! Yeah, with the different layouts around, it's always best to look what'd the default setting. – slhck – 2011-06-20T13:50:05.290
Thank you ! That solved my problem. The default shortcut was Command+F1 on my computer. – wip – 2011-06-26T17:47:27.843
"You can always change that shortcut if the given one does not work out for you." Oddly enough, this doesn't seem to work for the shortcut the OP used as an example (switching between apps with Cmd+Tab). That one appears to be unchangeable. – BHSPitMonkey – 2013-03-02T20:22:39.597
@BHSPitMonkey Yes, that one cannot be changed through System Preferences, as it's a system-wide default. Might be possible to change it with tools such as KeyRemap4MacBook? – slhck – 2013-03-02T20:48:09.210
1I wish I understand what Apple was thinking there. The same justification used for making all the other shortcuts configurable could be used to toward making that one configurable as well. – BHSPitMonkey – 2013-03-12T06:41:18.910
21is there anything that works between different workspaces (cmd+backtick works only if all windows are on the same workspace) – thias – 2013-05-05T13:36:43.560
Thanks this helped me find it again... for some reason mine was disabled. – Marius – 2013-06-14T13:12:39.923
52
command backtick
⌘ + `
Abizern
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 859
2Yes, on a US keyboard. On my non-US-keyboard it is not so obvious, since backtick is located on a combined 'accent' key. So to get a backtick I need to press Shift-accent. So switching to the next window is Cmd-Shift-Accent. Now, how do I switch to the previous window? Cmd-Shift-Shift-Accent? – Vidar Ramdal – 2016-03-03T09:30:49.810
@VidarRamdal Even if you had an US keyboard, it wouldn't be possible to move to the previous window, because (as you can see in the settings by yourself) there is no shortcut for "move to previous window". – winklerrr – 2016-09-07T20:10:41.607
Help me please: the second key What is (Right Side of P letter, Right Side of 0 "Zero")? – chepe lucho – 2016-09-12T22:15:20.073
23
This is what I found on my default US english keyboard setting.
Toggle between Different Apps -> Command + Tab
Toggle between Same App in Same Workspace -> Command + `
Toggle between Same App across different Workspace:
leoismyname
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 339
1Yes. This should be on top. This concept of windows vs apps vs workspaces is confusing. – Peter – 2016-02-10T14:42:33.330
1For #3, after cntrl + down you can hit tab to toggle applications, then use arrow keys to select the window you want. – OIS – 2017-07-20T15:21:25.727
@OIS that is really cool. Thank you for sharing. I upvoted this answer instead of the selected answer because it covers shifting between same app in different workspaces. Although it does take 1 + N key combos, it's still better than not being able to switch. I wonder if we could get this to just one key combo to go to previous instance of same app... – lustig – 2019-09-05T15:59:34.500
3
I'm on Mavericks and I was looking for a keyboard shortcut to quickly switch between tabs in Chrome. Cmd +` didn't work for me, although I made sure it was correctly setup in System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts. What I found is that Ctrl + Tab works! So for me it's Cmd + Tab to switch between applications, and Ctrl + Tab to switch between the same application's windows, try this if other suggested solutions don't work.
miss-attitude
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 131
I'm on Yosemite and Ctrl + tab was only one working for me, thank you for that. But it doesn't seem to work for terminal instances.... Still trying to find out what to do there. – eis – 2015-10-02T08:12:04.650
Can update 4 years later; I think newer MacOS' use control + tab now. Seems more intuitive. – Aryaman – 2018-12-11T16:50:51.893
2
So I have found that sometimes certain applications do not want to cycle through the different open windows using Cmd+Tab or Cmd+' - VMware is one example, especially when one of the windows has been minimized to the dock. So what I have found is using expose to view all windows helps - there is a mouse gesture for this which is a four finger clinch I think - or F3.
Then you can select which window you want to view.
Hope this helps!
super
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 788
1
Press ^ + ↑ to show all open applications
Press ^ + ↓ to show all open instances of the current applciation
(it's not perfect but I found this better than the cmd + ` way, also if you have apps open full screen use ^ + left or right)
atreeon
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 163
1
I believe command + option + ` change the tab between one app windows
Moe Far
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 151
The answer “command + backtick” has been given many times already. Does it work better when you add the “option” key? – Scott – 2019-06-26T02:05:05.553
This is exactly what works for me on macOs mojave. “command + backtick” only switches between two windows. with option, it goes throw all windows of the same application – MasterMind – 2020-01-28T21:33:38.607
1
On my Macbook Air, with OSX Lion, to switch application windows:
press
CMD+FN+F6
Funnily enough, the option 'Move focus to next window in application' has gone from System Prefs → Keyboard → Keyboard and text input. I just played around with various keys until I found the right one!
Nick Read
Posted 2011-06-19T14:35:42.137
Reputation: 11
3"Move focus to next window in application" was just renamed to "Move focus to next window" in Lion. ⌘F6? What locale or keyboard layout do you use? – Lri – 2011-10-28T05:39:11.063
Hooooooorayyyy thank you! I couldn't do this in Mountain Lion. It turns out I thought it didn't work, because I had the same key bound to the two window switch shortcuts, and even though the first one was disabled (un-checked), it prevented the other one from working. – None – 2012-09-16T15:50:29.930
1
There is a duplicate of this QA on Ask Different, which also includes other keyboard language layouts - for info https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/193937/shortcut-for-toggling-between-different-windows-of-same-app
– Tetsujin – 2018-01-01T15:18:32.690Thank you for the answers so far (and for moving the question to the correct forum). I found the "backtick key", but the "command + backtick" command didn't work.
I forgot to mention my computer is a Macbook with a "japanese keys layout" : the backtick is located on the top of the "@" key, to the immediate right of the "P" key. To type a backtick I have to press "shift+@" so I tried "Command+Shift+@" but it didn't work. I think there might be a way to enable some shortcuts on a japanese Mac but I cannot find how. – wip – 2011-06-19T15:23:01.533
You don't have "instances of the same application". You have windows. – Daniel Beck – 2011-06-20T06:34:42.157