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On Windows when I do alt+tab I can switch between windows. If I have 5 firefox windows open then using alt+tab will switch between them.

On my MacBook, cmd+tab switches between applications, not windows, so it will switch between firefox and xcode, but not between two different firefox windows.

I am sure there is SOME way to use keyboard shortcuts to switch between active windows. What am I missing?

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Just in case you never saw it: see also support.apple.com/kb/HT1343 and apple.com/support/switch101 – Arjan Sep 22 '09 at 22:07
thank you all. I've eventually decided to change the keybinding for this in the system settings and now i am using <kbd>Cmd</kbd>-<kbd>§</kbd>. Hope i didn't break anything else. – Nir Levy Sep 24 '09 at 11:28
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8 Answers

up vote 29 down vote accepted

Cmd-` toggles through the windows forward.

Cmd-Shift-` toggles through the windows in reverse.

Cmd - shift - arrowkey switches between tabs

Cmd+> (angle bracket) and Cmd+< will cycle through open windows in all apps.

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What's that angle bracket shortcut again? It does not work on my mac. And why is it the only one using '+' instead of '-' between keys? – Cawas Apr 13 '10 at 19:50
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cmd-shift is nice, didn't know that before. – TomA Aug 23 '10 at 15:01
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When did Cmd+> Cmd+< happen? I don't have them on 10.5. – taw Oct 7 '10 at 12:18
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up vote 8 down vote

There's a 3rd party app called Witch which will let you cycle through all windows of all apps.

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up vote 4 down vote

Along with the other suggested shortcuts, you could always use Exposé.

On a recent MacBook, or aluminium keyboard, the 'F3' key is dedicated to Exposé. If you don't have a keyboard with an Exposé key on it, you can use 'F9' and 'F10':

  • F3 or F9 to show all windows on the current space.

  • Ctrl-F3 or F10 to show all windows belonging to the current application on the current space.

For even easier access, I use the four-finger upward swipe to activate Exposé.

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It's actually not F3 key, it's a fn key located on top of the F3. – Cawas Apr 13 '10 at 19:50
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up vote 3 down vote

Your looking for Cmd+` or if your not sure the one with the ~.

This will cycle through all open windows for a single application.

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Surround the text you want with <kbd> and </kbd>. – John Rudy Sep 22 '09 at 21:28
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up vote 1 down vote

CMD-` will cycle through open windows.

CMD-Shift-` will cycle through them in reverse.

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up vote 1 down vote

For switching through tabs, I prefer these shortcuts:

Cmd-{ to move left.

Cmd-} to move right.

I find those keys more comfortable than the arrow keys.

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there's also ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab for even more uncomfortable ones. ;) – Cawas Apr 13 '10 at 19:51
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up vote 1 down vote

On my Swedish Mac keyboard the ´ and ` are on the same key. For the back-tick is a shifted forward-tick.

So, I can only use cmd-shift-` to cycle the windows in one direction, and it doesn't work in all apps, like the terminal. Very annoying.

As Doug Harris pointed out Witch is a really nice way of "solving" this problem for Windows to Mac switchers that have alt-tab the muscle memory.

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up vote 1 down vote

Optimal Layout is another commercial app that gives you a simple way to switch between application windows from the keyboard.

Disclaimer: I'm the developer of Optimal Layout.

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