Mac window and app shortcuts for Windows users

This covers moving between, arranging, closing and quitting windows and apps, the shortcuts you use all day. Win means the Windows logo key.

The Mac keys come from Apple's Mac keyboard shortcuts and the Mac User Guide; the Windows ones from Microsoft's Keyboard shortcuts in Windows.

The modifier keys

Mac menus show shortcuts as symbols. These are the ones you'll see, and the Windows key each one mostly stands in for:

Apple maps the keys in Windows keys on a Mac keyboard. When a shortcut has several modifiers, Mac menus show them in the order ⌃⌥⇧⌘. The rest of the symbols, such as ⎋ for Esc, are in Mac keyboard symbols.

Using a Windows keyboard on a Mac

A keyboard made for Windows works on a Mac. Apple's advice is to “press the Alt key instead of Option, and the Ctrl key or Windows logo key instead of Command.” So if you've been wondering where the Option key is on your Windows keyboard: it's Alt.

The catch is position. On a Windows keyboard, the key next to the space bar is Alt; on a Mac keyboard, it's Command. If your thumb expects Command there, swap the keys:

1. Open Modifier Keys

   Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Keyboard, click Keyboard Shortcuts, then click Modifier Keys in the sidebar. On macOS 14 Sonoma, Keyboard Shortcuts is a button on the right and Modifier Keys is in the list on the left.

2. Choose what each key does

   If more than one keyboard is connected, choose the Windows keyboard from the menu at the top first, so your Mac's own keyboard stays as it is. Then set the Option key's pop-up menu to Command and the Command key's to Option. Restore Defaults puts them back.

The steps are from Apple's guide to changing the modifier keys. Mac shortcuts that use the Fn or Globe key, such as the tiling keys and Fn-H, may do nothing from a Windows keyboard; the sections below give another way for each.

Switching apps and windows

⌘Tab is the Mac's Alt+Tab, with one big difference: it lists apps, not windows. Three browser windows are one icon. To reach a particular window, switch to the app, then press ⌘` to move between that app's windows (⇧⌘` goes back). Apple notes that the second key varies by keyboard; it's generally the one above Tab. Alt-Tab on a Mac goes through the other differences, such as what happens to minimized windows.

Closing and quitting

On Windows, Alt+F4 closes the active window, and closing an app's last window usually ends the app. On a Mac, those are two separate steps, per Apple's guide to app windows:

• ⌘W closes the front window, and ⌥⌘W closes all of the app's windows. The app usually keeps running, shown by a small dot under its Dock icon.
• ⌘Q quits the app. If it had windows open, they're shown again the next time you open it, unless you turn on Close windows when quitting an application in Desktop & Dock settings.

Show the desktop

Win+D's counterpart is “Show the desktop”. Apple's current shortcut list gives three keys for it: ⌘ with the Mission Control key, Fn-F11 and Fn-H. On a trackpad, spread your thumb and three fingers apart; pinch them together to bring the windows back. If one of those keys does nothing on your Mac, check the key set for the desktop under Shortcuts in System Settings › Desktop & Dock.

Clicking the wallpaper can do it too. In Desktop & Dock settings, the option is Show Desktop on macOS 26 and later (Always on Wallpaper Click or Only in Stage Manager on Click), and Click wallpaper to reveal desktop on macOS 14 and 15. More ways, including a hot corner: how to show the desktop on a Mac.

Task view and Mission Control

Win+Tab opens Task View; the Mac's version is Mission Control. Press ⌃↑ or the Mission Control key, or swipe up with three or four fingers. It shows every window open on the current desktop, with your other desktops and full-screen apps as thumbnails along the top. Click a window to go to it (Apple's Mission Control guide).

Virtual desktops are called spaces. To add one, open Mission Control and click the Add button in the Spaces bar; you can have up to 16. Press ⌃← or ⌃→ to move between them, as Win+Ctrl+← and → do (Apple's guide to spaces). One extra: ⌃↓ opens App Exposé, which shows just the front app's windows.

Snapping windows

Window tiling arrived in macOS 15 Sequoia; Apple's tiling guide covers macOS 15 and later. Drag a window to the left or right edge, a corner, or the menu bar, and it snaps into place; hold ⌥ while dragging to snap sooner. From the keyboard, Apple's window tiling shortcuts are:

These use the Fn or Globe key on a Mac keyboard. If they do nothing on another keyboard, tile from the green button or Window › Move & Resize instead (Apple's tiling guide covers both).

macOS 14 Sonoma doesn't have these shortcuts. Instead, hold ⌥, point at the green button in the window's corner, and choose Move Window to Left Side of Screen or Move Window to Right Side of Screen. Option-click the green button to maximize. Tiling isn't full screen, which gives an app a desktop of its own; clicking the green button does that. More layouts and the tiling settings: window tiling on a Mac.

Task Manager

For an app that's stopped responding, press ⌥⌘Esc, the Mac's Ctrl+Shift+Esc. The Force Quit window opens: select the app and click Force Quit (Apple: force an app to quit). You may lose unsaved changes, so try ⌘Q first. The Finder is always open, so for it the button reads Relaunch. When an app stops responding, you can also Control-click its Dock icon and choose Force Quit (Apple's Dock guide).

For the rest of what Task Manager shows, use Activity Monitor, in the Utilities folder inside Applications. Apps that aren't responding are marked “(Not Responding)” in red, and you can quit or force quit a process from there (Activity Monitor User Guide). The full routine for a frozen app: how to force quit on a Mac.

The taskbar and the Dock

The Dock does the taskbar's job, with a few differences (Apple's Dock guide):

• Open apps have a dot under their icon, if Show indicators for open applications is on in Desktop & Dock settings. Apps you keep in the Dock stay there when closed, and it can also show up to three recently used apps.
• Pinning: Control-click an open app's icon and choose Options › Keep in Dock, or drag an app into the Dock. Drag an icon out until Remove appears to unpin it.
• Window lists: instead of taskbar thumbnails, Control-click an app's icon to see its open windows by name and choose one, or choose Show All Windows to see them spread out (See all your open windows on Mac).
• Minimized windows go to their own spot near the end of the Dock, or into the app's icon if Minimize windows into application icon is on.
• Hiding it: ⌥⌘D shows or hides the Dock.
• The Start menu is closest to Spotlight (⌘Space). On macOS 26 and later, Fn-⇧A also shows your apps; earlier versions open Launchpad with it.

With Flick

If you miss a list of windows on Alt+Tab, Flick puts one there: its default shortcut is ⌥Tab, which on a Windows keyboard is Alt+Tab. Every window gets its own row, minimized ones and those on other desktops included, and letting go switches to the one you picked. You can tidy up from the list too, the way you might from the taskbar: while you hold ⌥, ⌥⇧W closes the selected window, ⌥⇧M minimizes it, ⌥⇧H hides its app and ⌥⇧Q quits it, without switching first. The free version switches between your 5 most recent windows.

See window actions in Flick