How Flick handles Spaces, full screen, minimized and hidden windows

The row icons

A window that isn't simply on your screen gets a small icon at the end of its row. By default Flick orders the list by when you last used each window, not by where it is, so the icons tell you what will happen when you pick one.

A row can carry more than one, such as Minimized and App Hidden. A minimized or full-screen window never also shows Another Desktop. If Flick can't tell which Space a window is on, it leaves out Another Desktop rather than guess. VoiceOver reads the same states as part of each row: “minimized”, “full screen”, “app hidden” and “on another Desktop”.

Pick a window on another Space or in full screen

1. Open Flick

   Hold ⌥ and tap Tab, from any Space or full-screen app. Windows from every Space and every display are in the one list.

2. Choose the window

   Keep tapping Tab, or type part of its app's name or its title. To switch to one of the first nine rows at once, press its number key instead, such as ⌥3.

3. Let go

   Flick switches to that window's Space and brings the window forward. If its app was hidden, Flick shows the app first; if the window was minimized, Flick restores it from the Dock, then brings it forward.

macOS puts an app you use in full screen on a Space of its own, so picking a full-screen window takes you straight to that Space. Flick only takes you to a window's Space: it never moves windows between Spaces or displays. To move one yourself, see how to move a window to another Desktop.

Minimized windows

Minimized windows stay in the list, so you can bring one back without reaching for the Dock. The setting is Show minimized windows in Settings › General (“Include windows minimized to the Dock.”), and it's on by default. Turn it off and minimized windows leave the list and search, and so do the tabs of a minimized browser window.

You can also minimize the selected window from the panel, and hide its app:

Both are also in the actions menu; right-click a row to open it. See how to close, minimize, hide or quit from Flick.

Hidden apps

When you hide an app, its windows stay in Flick's list with the App Hidden icon; there's no separate setting for them. Pick one and Flick shows the app again first, then brings that window forward. To keep an app's windows out of Flick's list and search, add it to Settings › Exceptions › Ignored Apps.

An app that's running with no windows at all is a different case: it gets a single row with “No windows” under its name, controlled by Show apps without windows.

Show only the active Space

Prefer a list of just what's in front of you? Turn on Show only the active Space in Settings › General (“Hide windows on other Spaces. A fullscreen app is its own Space.”). It's off by default.

• Windows on other Spaces leave the list and search, along with the tabs of browser windows on them. That includes full-screen apps you aren't in.
• With more than one display, the Space showing on each display counts, so windows on any display you can see stay listed. See Flick with more than one display.
• Windows whose Space Flick can't tell are kept, and so are apps without windows.

The free version lists your 5 most recent windows after these filters, so turning this on changes which windows make the 5; it doesn't add more. All the list settings are in Change what Flick's list shows.

The front app's windows

⌘` (with the ⌘Tab trigger), or ⌥` if you turned it on, lists only the front app's windows: on every Space, in full screen and minimized, most recent first.

• With a license, it lists them whatever Show minimized windows and Show only the active Space say.
• In the free version, it keeps your filters and shows the app's windows that are among your 5 most recent, with a line saying how many more are beyond them.

Ignored apps stay out either way. More in how to switch between one app's windows.

Questions