Windows from Slack, VS Code or other Electron apps don't appear

The fix

1. Bring one of the app's windows onto your current Space

   Click the app in the Dock, or go to the Space or full-screen view its window is on. If its windows are minimized, restore one from the Dock. What matters is that one of its windows is on screen on the Space you're in.

2. Open Flick again

   Close the panel if it's open, then hold ⌥ and tap Tab. Flick noticed the window it couldn't get, asked the app for its windows and read them again, so they're listed as their own rows now.

3. Carry on as usual

   That's a one-time step for as long as the app and Flick are both running. After you quit and reopen the app, Flick asks again the next time it sees one of its windows on screen.

Why it happens

Flick learns about windows through macOS Accessibility, the same channel screen readers such as VoiceOver use. Electron, the framework these apps are built on, turns on its full accessibility support when it detects assistive technology, and its documentation describes a switch, AXManualAccessibility, that other assistive apps can set to turn it on. Until then, some Electron apps answer Flick's question “which windows do you have?” with none, even with a window in front of you.

Flick sets that switch only when all three of these are true:

• the app is built with Electron, which Flick tells by looking for Electron's framework inside the app;
• the app reports no windows;
• macOS shows one of the app's windows on your current Space.

The last condition is why the fix asks for a window on screen: it keeps Flick from changing anything in an app that really has no windows. The switch lasts only while the app runs: quit the app and it's off again.

Which apps this affects

Apps built with Electron, including Slack and Visual Studio Code, by their makers' own accounts. Many Electron apps report their windows without being asked, and Flick only steps in for one that doesn't, so this page may never apply to the Electron apps you use.

To check whether an app is built with Electron, Control-click it in your Applications folder, choose Show Package Contents, and open Contents, then Frameworks. An Electron app has a folder called Electron Framework.framework there. That's the same check Flick makes. In Terminal, this lists it for Slack:

ls "/Applications/Slack.app/Contents/Frameworks" | grep Electron

Still missing

• The app is still one row with “No windows”. Quit the app and open it again, bring one of its windows to the front, then open Flick. If nothing changes, the app may draw windows macOS doesn't report as standard windows: see an app shows one row instead of its windows.
• Some of its windows show and one doesn't. That's a filter or a window Flick leaves out on purpose, not this problem. Start with a window is missing from Flick's list.
• The app isn't listed at all. With Settings › General › Show apps without windows off, an app Flick gets no windows from has no row. Check Settings › Exceptions › Ignored Apps too.

Questions