How to switch between windows on a Mac: every built-in way

macOS has seven built-in ways to reach another window. Each covers a different slice: your apps, one app's windows, or the windows on the desktop in front of you. Below is what each one does from the keyboard, trackpad or mouse, and where it stops.

The short answer

These are the keys Apple lists in Mac keyboard shortcuts. They work in every app, with nothing to set up.

Looking for a way to make ⌘Tab show every window? The app switcher lists apps only, and Apple doesn't document a way to see an app's windows from inside it. Apple's answer is App Exposé for one app's windows and Mission Control for all of them. The keys for hiding, minimizing, closing and tiling windows are in Mac window shortcuts.

⌘Tab switches apps

Apple describes ⌘Tab as switching “to the next most recently used app among your open apps”. Its guide to app windows gives the steps:

1. Hold ⌘ and press Tab

   The app switcher appears with your open apps, and the app you were in before this one is already selected. A single quick press and release switches straight to it.

2. Pick the app

   Keep holding ⌘ and press Tab again, or the ← and → keys, until the app you want is selected. ⇧⌘Tab moves back to the previous app in the row.

3. Let go of ⌘

   That app comes to the front. Changed your mind? Press Esc or the Period key before you let go.

Every open app gets one icon, however many windows it has. Three Safari windows are one Safari icon, so ⌘Tab gets you into Safari and ⌘` gets you to the right window. A minimized window stays in the Dock when you switch to its app. If you use several desktops, macOS by default takes you to a desktop that has the app's windows; the setting is in System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Mission Control (Apple's guide to spaces).

⌘` switches the front app's windows

Press ⌘` to bring the front app's next window forward, and ⇧⌘` to go back to the previous one. It's the quickest way to flip between two documents in the same app. Apple notes that the second key “varies by keyboard” and is generally the one above Tab, to the left of 1.

⌘` only ever works on one app, the one whose name is in the menu bar, and it shows no list: you press it until the window you want is in front. You can give it a different key in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts. The details, including what to do when it does nothing, are in how to switch between windows of the same app.

App Exposé

App Exposé spreads out every open window of the front app so you can see them before you choose. Press ⌃↓ to open it, then click the window you want. To leave without picking one, press ⌃↓ again. On a trackpad, you can swipe down with three or four fingers once App Exposé is turned on in System Settings › Trackpad (Apple's Mission Control guide).

It's the visual answer to “which of these five Preview windows is the contract?”, but it still covers one app at a time. More on it in how to use App Exposé.

Mission Control

Mission Control shows all the windows open on your desktop, in a single layer, with your other desktops and any full-screen or Split View apps as thumbnails in the Spaces bar along the top. Click a window to go to it, or a thumbnail to go to that desktop.

• Keyboard: press ⌃↑ or the Mission Control key. Press it again to leave.
• Trackpad: swipe up with three or four fingers, depending on your Mac and your Trackpad settings, and swipe down to leave.
• Magic Mouse: double-tap with two fingers.
• Dragging: in macOS 15 Sequoia and later, drag a window to the top of the screen. The option is Drag windows to top of screen to enter Mission Control in Desktop & Dock settings. Apple's macOS 14 guide doesn't list it.

Two details from Apple's guide matter when you're hunting for a window. On a second display, Mission Control shows only that display's windows and spaces. And with Group windows by application turned on in Desktop & Dock settings, it gathers each app's windows together. A longer tour: how to use Mission Control.

The Dock

Click an app's icon in the Dock to bring the app forward. Control-click it (or right-click) and its menu lists the app's open windows: choose one to go straight to it, or choose Show All Windows for App Exposé, which works for any app, not just the front one (See all your open windows on Mac). Minimized windows wait at the end of the Dock, or inside their app's icon if Minimize windows into application icon is on in Desktop & Dock settings; click one to bring it back.

Two Dock clicks from Apple's Dock guide help keep the screen tidy as you switch: Option-click the current app's icon to switch to the previous app and hide this one, and Option-Command-click an app to switch to it and hide all the others.

The Window menu

Most apps list their open windows by name at the bottom of the Window menu in the menu bar; Apple's guidelines for the menu bar ask apps to. Choose one to bring it forward. It's the pointer route when you know a window's title but not where it is. While you're there, Window › Merge All Windows combines an app's windows into one tabbed window, if you'd rather switch with tabs; Apple's guide to app windows covers it.

Stage Manager

With Stage Manager on, the window you're working in sits in the center of the screen and your recently used apps line up along the left side. Click one to switch to it. Turn it on or off from Control Center in the menu bar, or in System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Desktop & Stage Manager (Apple's Stage Manager guide). Like ⌘Tab, the strip on the left shows apps. More in how to use Stage Manager.

With a trackpad or mouse only

You can do all of this without the keyboard. From Apple's Multi-Touch gestures list and Mission Control guide:

• Mission Control: swipe up with three or four fingers on a trackpad; double-tap with two fingers on a Magic Mouse.
• App Exposé: swipe down with three or four fingers, once it's on in Trackpad settings.
• Other desktops and full-screen apps: swipe left or right with three or four fingers on a trackpad, or with two fingers on a Magic Mouse.
• Show the desktop: spread your thumb and three fingers apart. Pinch them together to bring the windows back.
• Hot corners: in Desktop & Dock settings, click Hot Corners and set a corner to Mission Control or Application Windows (Apple's hot corners guide). Moving the pointer into that corner then opens it.
• The Dock and the Window menu work with any mouse.

Whether a gesture uses three or four fingers depends on your Mac and your settings, so check System Settings › Trackpad: each gesture has a short demo there.

What none of them do

Each tool answers part of the question:

• ⌘Tab and Stage Manager's strip list apps, not windows.
• ⌘`, App Exposé, the Dock's menu and the Window menu cover one app at a time.
• Mission Control shows every app, but only the windows on the desktop you're on. Other desktops and full-screen apps are thumbnails you visit one by one.

So there's no built-in list of every window, from every app, on every desktop, and none of these tools lets you type part of a window's name to jump to it. If you keep a few windows open, you won't miss that. If you keep many windows across several apps and desktops, the gap is what costs you time. For the full side-by-side, see Flick vs ⌘Tab.

With Flick

Flick fills that gap with one list. Hold ⌥ and tap Tab: every window of every app with a Dock icon gets its own row with its app name and title, on every desktop and display, minimized and full-screen windows included. Tap Tab to move down, let go of ⌥ to switch, and Flick takes you to the window's desktop or brings it back from the Dock. Start typing while you hold ⌥ to narrow the list by app name, window title or file name.

With its default ⌥Tab trigger, Flick leaves ⌘Tab, ⌘`, App Exposé and Mission Control as they are, so you can keep using them alongside it. It needs macOS 14 or later. The free version switches between your 5 most recent windows; a license unlocks every window.

See how Flick lists every window