Does Skype have a keyboard shortcut for switching among conversations?

Question

Does Skype have a keyboard shortcut for switching among conversations?

I've searched the web and through Skype forums, and can't find anything. There's something under the Tools → Accessibility menu that is called "Extended Keyboard Navigation" – but what that does seems to be a mystery as well.

Answer 1

I'd like to add just one thing to the others.

With ALT+1 and ALT+2 you can select the list of contacts/conversations, then use up/down to select a contact, and either space to see the conversation, or enter to get into the conversation (meaning that the focus will go into the edit box).

However, this is still not as simple as using Ctrl+TAB for example... :(

Answer 2

For Mac OS X users:

Command + Alt + ← or → switches between tabs in the main window.

Answer 3

Using the tips by totesz I made a script for Autohotkey.

If you are in windows, I recommend that you get Autohotkey. Then you can use this simple script:

#SingleInstance force
#IfWinActive ahk_class tSkMainForm
;
;   This Skype shortcuts will make pressing Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down work
;   to switch between conversation windows.
;   
;   To do that normally we need to focus the Recent panel with Alt+2
;   (Alt+1 will focus the contacts panel)
;   Next we press up or down to switch between conversations
;   Then press enter to move the focus to the input box on the selected
;   conversation
;
;
;   *Note: this only works with the conversations in the "Recent" panel

ConversationUp()
{
    Send, {AltDown}2{AltUp}
    Sleep, 100
    Send, {Up}{Enter}
    return
}

ConversationDown()
{
    Send, {AltDown}2{AltUp}
    Sleep, 100
    Send, {Down}{Enter}
    return
}


;Ctrl+Down move one conversation down
^Down::ConversationDown()

;Ctrl+Up move one conversation up
^Up::ConversationUp()

;Ctrl+Tab move one conversation down
^Tab::ConversationDown()

;Ctrl+Shift+Tab move one conversation up
^+Tab::ConversationUp()

Save the script as skype.ahk, if you have Autohotkey installed, double click the file to run the script. Then you will be able to use the following shortcuts in the Skype window:

Ctrl+Tab or Ctrl+↓ to move to the next conversation.

Ctrl+Shift+Tab or Ctrl+↑ to move to the previous conversation.

Answer 4

No.

And indeed there's a feature request for it on Skype's site.

Answer 5

Method 1:
Alt-Tab and rotate through all the windows (including other apps) until you reach the conversation window you want.

Method 2:
If the focused window is not Skype, use a shortcut key (refer to screenshot below) to bring the main Skype window into focus.
Press Alt-2 to get the conversations tab up, then use up-down arrow keys to navigate to the conversation you want.

Answer 6

Change view to Compact mode (View -> Compact view) so you can use ALT+TAB to switch between open conversations.

Answer 7

On Windows, Ctrl + Tab works for me.

Of course your focus has to be on the Skype tabbed conversation window, and it should work. (I'm using skype for business by the way, don't know if this works on Vanilla Skype)

Answer 8

I do not use Skype very much but if the conversations are in separate tabs like some IM clients (e.g. Pidgin) then you can perhaps try to use CTRL + TAB (+ SHIFT for reverse) to switch between them.

This also works in most browsers with tabs.

Answer 9

In Tools/Options/IM disable the "Enable Tabbed Conversations" checkbox and then you can Alt Tab between them.