Before you start
- A license. Without one, Settings › Browser Tabs says “Browser tabs come with a license.” with a Go to License button, and Flick contacts no browser. See pricing
- A supported browser: Safari, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Beta, Brave Browser or Microsoft Edge. Settings lists the ones installed on your Mac. Which browsers work
- One permission per browser. Flick reads tabs through Automation, which macOS asks about once for each browser you turn on. The installation guide covers it too.
Turn on a browser
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Open Settings › Browser Tabs
Click the Flick icon in the menu bar, choose Settings, then click Browser Tabs.
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Turn on the browser's switch
Every browser starts off. The note under each one says what turning it on means: “macOS asks once whether Flick may control Google Chrome. Flick only reads the titles and addresses of its tabs, and switches tabs when you pick one. Nothing leaves your Mac.”
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Allow it when macOS asks
macOS shows Flick's reason: “Flick reads the titles and addresses of your open tabs so you can search them and switch straight to one. Nothing leaves your Mac.” Click Allow. If the browser isn't open, macOS asks when you next open it while Flick is running. Flick never opens a browser for you.
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For Safari, turn on Include private windows
Until you do, Safari's note reads “Turn on Include private windows below to list the tabs of Safari.” macOS asks about Safari once it's on. Why Safari needs it
No prompt, or clicked Don't Allow?If the note says “Flick needs your permission to control Google Chrome.”, click Allow… next to it and macOS asks. If it says Flick isn't allowed, you said no earlier: allow it in System Settings.
Find a tab
Open Flick and type part of a tab's title or its address. Each matching tab gets its own row with the browser's icon, the tab's title and its site. Pick it and Flick switches to that tab and brings its window to the front, even on another Desktop. How browser tabs work
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌥Tab, then type | Searches your windows and the tabs of the browsers you turned on. Let go of ⌥ to switch to the selected result. |
| ⇧⌘Space | Opens Flick straight into search. Return switches. |
| → | On a browser window's row in the list: shows that window's tabs, in order, with the current one selected. |
| ← | Goes back from a window's tabs to the list. |
- Every word has to match the tab's title, its address or the browser's name. A browser's name on its own finds that browser's windows, not every tab in them.
- The list keeps one row per window. A browser window with more than one tab shows its tab count; click it, or press →, to see the tabs. When a window itself matches a search, the tab it's showing gets no row of its own: the window's row stands for it.
- Up to 200 tabs per search. Type another word to narrow them down.
- Inside one app too. In the front app's windows, typing searches that browser's tabs as well.
Private and incognito windows
Include private windows, at the bottom of Settings › Browser Tabs, is off at first. While it's off, Flick leaves out incognito windows in Chrome, Chrome Beta, Brave and Edge, and doesn't even ask for their tabs' titles and addresses.
Safari is the exception: Flick reads its tabs only while Include private windows is on (why Safari needs it). That's one setting for every browser, so turning it on for Safari also lists the private windows of the other browsers you turned on.
Turn it off
- One browser: turn off its switch in Settings › Browser Tabs. Its tabs disappear at once, and Flick doesn't contact it again.
- The permission: turn Flick's switch for that browser off in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Automation. More about Automation
- Everything: Reset All Settings… in Settings › About turns every browser off, along with your other settings, but leaves permissions and your license alone.
Questions
What does Flick read from my browser, and when?
Only the titles and addresses of its tabs, kept in memory and never sent. It reads them when you open Flick and shortly after a browser window comes forward or the window you're in changes its title, never by polling in the background. The details are in what Flick reads, and when and the privacy policy.
A tab I know is open doesn't show up. Why?
Usually a private window, a browser that's still waiting for permission, or a list setting that hides its window. Fix browser tabs not showing
Still stuck?Email [email protected] with your macOS version, your Mac and what you've tried, or visit the Support page.
Sources
Checked on .
- Allow apps to automate and control other apps, Mac User Guide, Apple Support
