Should Flick use ⌥Tab or ⌘Tab?

Change the trigger

1. Open Settings › Shortcuts

   Click the Flick icon in the menu bar, choose Settings, then click Shortcuts in the sidebar.

2. Pick a trigger

   Under Default Mode, choose Option ⌥ + Tab or Command ⌘ + Tab. The change takes effect right away.

3. Try it

   Hold the key you chose and tap Tab. Flick opens with your previous window selected.

You also make this choice on the welcome window's Choose your primary hotkey screen when you first set up Flick. If your search shortcut is ⌘Tab, you can't pick Command ⌘ + Tab, and Settings says “Already used by Search Mode.” Record a different search shortcut in the Search Mode group first.

Option mode

Flick opens with ⌥Tab, and macOS keeps ⌘Tab, ⇧⌘Tab and ⌘` exactly as they are: ⌘Tab switches between apps, and ⌘` between the windows of the app you're using. Flick sits next to them and lists every window of every app (how Flick and ⌘Tab compare). Nothing you already know changes, which is why it's the default.

• Every letter types while you hold ⌥, so you can search without letting go. The window actions take ⇧ as well: ⌥⇧W, ⌥⇧M, ⌥⇧H and ⌥⇧Q, and ⌥⇧K opens the actions menu.
• The front app's windows shortcut, ⌥`, is off until you turn it on, because on many keyboard layouts ⌥` types accents (⌥` then e makes è). Settings warns you when that's true for your layout: while the shortcut is on, ⌥` switches windows in every app instead. Switch the front app's windows
• If another app already uses ⌥Tab, the two get in each other's way: either Flick can't have the shortcut, or another switcher that watches the keyboard opens along with Flick. A warning at the top of Settings › Shortcuts says so and usually offers Use ⌘Tab Instead. Fix shortcut conflicts

Command mode

Settings puts it plainly: “Replaces the macOS app switcher while Flick is running.”

• ⌘Tab and ⇧⌘Tab open Flick, and the macOS app switcher is off until Flick quits.
• ⌘` switches between the front app's windows, on every Space, and ⇧⌘` goes back. It's on by default. Turn off Switch between the front app's windows in Settings › Shortcuts › Front App's Windows and ⌘` does nothing while Flick runs, because macOS's own ⌘` stays off too.
• ⌘W, ⌘M, ⌘H and ⌘Q act on the selected row while you hold ⌘, and ⇧⌘K opens the actions menu. Every other letter types into search.
• It waits for Accessibility. Until Flick has the permission, ⌘Tab stays with macOS, so you're never left without a working switcher. If ⌘Tab still shows the macOS switcher, see ⌘Tab not taken over.
• Recording a shortcut pauses it. While you record a shortcut in Settings, Flick's shortcuts pause and macOS has ⌘Tab back until you finish.

Keys that differ by mode

Once the list stays open after you let go, the keys are the same in both modes: ⌘1 to ⌘9, ⌘W, ⌘M, ⌘H, ⌘Q and ⌘K. So is the search shortcut, ⇧⌘Space unless you change it. Every Flick keyboard shortcut

Turn the switcher shortcut off

Turn off Enable switcher shortcut in Settings › Shortcuts and neither ⌥Tab nor ⌘Tab opens Flick. In Command mode, macOS gets ⌘Tab, ⇧⌘Tab and ⌘` back, and the front app's windows shortcut goes off with the switcher.

The search shortcut keeps working, so Flick becomes a search-only switcher: press ⇧⌘Space, type part of a window's name and press Return, or use ⌘1 to ⌘9. Show number shortcuts moves to the Search Mode group while the switcher is off.

Questions