Turn it on
Settings › General › Windows › Tab grouping: choose Group by app. It applies straight away. In Flick 1.1, the other two choices, No grouping and Group by window (the default), both show one row per window.
One row per app, every window a tap away
Set Tab grouping to Group by app and each app's windows fold into a single row with a count. Let go on the row to land in the app's most recent window, or press → to see all of its windows and pick one.
See it
Into an app and back.
Safari's windows share one row. → opens them, ← goes back, and letting go on a window brings it to the front.
How it works.
Useful when you keep many windows of a few apps open, and think “Safari, then the right window” rather than scrolling past every window.
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One row per app
Hold ⌥ and tap Tab. Each app with windows has one row, standing for its most recent window, with a count from two windows up. With Recency order, the app sits where its most recent window would.
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Open an app's windows
Press → or click the count. The app's windows slide in, most recent first, under its icon and name. Move with ↑ ↓ or Tab; ←, Esc or Back returns to the list.
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Let go to switch
Let go of ⌥ on an app's row to land in its most recent window, or on a window in its list to switch to that one. Clicking a window works too.
The details.
Grouping changes how the list looks, never what you can reach.
Never grouped
Search results: type, and every matching window gets its own row, so you can go straight to the one you mean. Apps without windows keep their “No windows” row, and the front app's windows list is never grouped either.
Browser windows and their tabs
With a license, a browser with several windows is one row with a window count, and → lists its windows. A browser with a single window shows its tab count instead (from two tabs up), and → lists its tabs. To reach a tab in a browser with several windows, search for it.
Searching from an app's windows
Press Return or start typing while an app's windows are showing, and Flick leaves them and searches all your windows.
The keys.
With the default ⌥Tab trigger. Using ⌘Tab instead? The full shortcut list covers both.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌥Tab | Opens Flick and moves down the list of apps. |
| ⌥⇧Tab | Moves back up. |
| → | Shows the selected app's windows (or a single browser window's tabs). |
| ← or Esc | Goes back to the list of apps. |
| ⌥1…⌥9 | Switches to that row of whatever is showing: an app's row in the list, or a window in an app's windows. More about number keys |
In the free versionGroup by app works the same way on your 5 most recent windows: the groups and their counts cover only those windows. A license groups every window.
Questions.
Which window do I get when I pick an app's row?
The app's most recent window, the one the row's title shows. To pick another, press → first.
Why does search show every window when Group by app is on?
Search is for going straight to one window, so results are never grouped. Clear the search with Esc and the grouped list comes back.
Is this like App Exposé?
Both get you to one app's windows. App Exposé spreads them out on screen so you can see them; Flick lists them by title, in the order you used them, and shows no previews. See how App Exposé works.
Related.
Change what's in the list
Order, grouping, minimized windows, apps without windows and the active Space.
Read the guideEvery window in one list
What Flick lists, what it leaves out, and why each window gets its own row.
See the featureApp Exposé on a Mac
See all the windows of one app at once with macOS's built-in tool.
Read the post
A shorter list, nothing out of reach.
Group by app is in the free version. Try it on your own windows.
The free version never expires and switches between your 5 most recent windows. A one-time license, from $9.49, unlocks every window and browser tabs.