jumping from one app to another

L

LogicMan

Registered
hello,
in windows i can press alt+tab and switch between apps...and while i am doing this the apps cycle in the foreground...this functionality seems to be missing in macs.

only the application's icon magnifies in the dock but the app remains in the background. Is there a trick to this cause i am losing time dragging apps from the bavkground and it is really annoying.

thanks.
 
you have to hold apple-tab, while holding the apple key press tab to move right. apple-tab-shift, while holding apple-shift press tab to move left.
 
go to System Preferences, click on Keyboard, click on Full Keyboard Access tab, and turn on full keyboard access (or just press ctrl-F1) now you can press ctrl-F4 to cycle through the frontmost window for each open app. Keep in mind that bringing an app to the front does not normally bring all windows for that app to the front.
 
Usually you can push Cmd-` (the tilde key at the top-left of your keyboard) to switch windows. This was introduced in IE 5, and it has become a standard feature of OS X.
 
apple-tab works perfectly normally for me, release them and the selected app should move to the foreground...
 
arden, How does that Cmd-tilde work in anything other than IE (except a custom key setup), and how does that make it a standard feature (didn't realize that MicroS was controlling new standards for OSX?)
Also the Apple-tab only swaps windows, and does not rotate through open apps. Ctrl-F4 actually rotates through open apps.
One option here is to assign a button on a multi-button mouse (example would be a scroll button click) to perform a ctrl-F4, but you're still stuck if a specific app overrides key shortcuts.
 
Windows on Mac OS X are grouped by application.

To cycle the windows within an application, you usually press Apple-` (the tilde key)

To cycle to other applications, press Apple-Tab. While you do this, the application will highlight in the dock.

A cool trick is that you can hold the Apple key and press Tab to jump between apps, H to hide apps and Q to quit apps. So if you have five apps open and decide to hide two and quit one, then you might hold apple and press H Q H H Tab or something like that. As you press each one, it will hide/quit it and move the highlight to the next. Once you release the apple key, the currently highlighted app will jump to the foreground.
This is a trick for power-users that takes a bit of figuring out but which can really be quite effective.
 
Apple + Q is the best feature on the mac osx... i love how easily mac osx can quit a program that has gone wrong.

mark
 
Cmd-Q is such an obvious feature, IMO, that I'm surprised Microsoft never implemented it in anything. All you have is close boxes, Ctrl-W, and Alt-F4, which kind of works like Cmd-Q.

DeltaMac: Command-tilde wasn't standard in OS 9 because only IE used it naturally (yes, I set it to do the same in Word, but that's not the same thing). It is now standard in OS X because Apple implemented that particular shortcut in standard Carbon/Cocoa applications (well, at least the Finder and other applications use it).
 
Whoah, there's some misinformation here. Symphonix probably explained it best.

Apple (a.k.a. "command") TAB __does__ cycle among applications.

Apple ` cycles among windows of the active app.

Doug
 
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