How do I see where the selected window is?

Turn it on

1. Open Settings

   Click the Flick icon in the menu bar and choose Settings, or click the gear in the corner of Flick's panel.

2. Find the Window locator group

   Click Appearance. The Window locator group reads “Outlines the selected window on screen while the switcher is open. Flick only reads where windows are, never what they show.”

3. Choose a style

   Set Show where the selected window is to Outline, or to Outline and dim to also dim everything else. Off turns it off again.

Then hold ⌥, tap Tab and keep holding ⌥: the window you've selected gets an outline. It works the same in the free version and with a license. The locator and every other option are listed in Flick's settings, page by page.

When the outline appears

• Only while the panel is open. A quick tap of ⌥Tab switches before the panel appears, so nothing is outlined. The outline goes the moment the panel closes.
• Once the selection rests. When you stop on a row for about a tenth of a second, the outline fades in. Move the selection and it disappears at once, then appears around the next window when you stop again, so racing down the list doesn't flash outlines everywhere.
• On whichever display the window is on. A window that spans two displays is outlined on both. That makes it a quick way to tell which display, or which of several similar windows, you're about to switch to. See Flick with more than one display.

The outline uses your Mac's accent color, the color you choose for buttons and controls in System Settings › Appearance, with a dark edge so it shows against light and dark windows alike. It sits just outside the window's edge and never takes clicks. Flick's panel always stays on top of it.

Two windows, one title

The outline helps most when two rows look the same. Excel for Mac, for example, can show one workbook in two windows, such as a summary sheet beside its data: on the View tab, select New Window, then Arrange All with Windows of active workbook selected to tile just that workbook (Microsoft's steps). Flick lists each window as its own row, and both titles carry the workbook's name, so a search for it shows both. Rest on a row and the outline shows which of the two you're about to switch to.

To go back and forth between such a pair, turn on the front app's windows: a quick tap of ⌥` (⌘` with the ⌘Tab trigger) flips to the app's previous window.

Windows it can't outline

The locator outlines only windows that are on screen. For most of the others, the row's icon tells you why nothing appears:

• Minimized windows (Minimized icon). They're in the Dock, not on screen.
• Windows of hidden apps (App Hidden icon).
• Windows on another Space, including a full-screen app you aren't in (Another Desktop or Full Screen icon).
• Rows that aren't windows: apps without windows, browser tabs in search, and apps in the Apps section.
• A window dragged off every display. Its row has no icon, since the window isn't minimized, hidden or on another Space.

A window that fills its display, such as a full-screen app you're in or a zoomed window, is outlined just inside the display's edges, with square corners where it meets them, so the whole outline stays visible. More on the row icons in Spaces, full screen and hidden windows.

Outline and dim

Outline and dim darkens everything except the selected window, on every display, while the outline is up. Flick's panel stays bright on top. It helps on a large or busy screen, or when you use several displays and want to see at a glance which one holds the window. When a window can't be outlined, nothing is dimmed either.

Reduce Motion and Increase Contrast

The locator follows two of your Mac's accessibility settings:

• Reduce Motion: the outline appears at once instead of fading in.
• Increase Contrast (System Settings › Accessibility › Display): the outline is thicker with a darker edge, and Outline and dim darkens the rest of the screen more.

VoiceOver doesn't read the outline, since the selected row already reads the app, the title and any state, such as minimized or on another Desktop. More in Flick's accessibility features.

Why it needs no Screen Recording

To draw an outline, Flick only needs to know where the window is: its position and size. It reads those, never what the window shows, and draws the outline in its own overlay on top. macOS's Screen Recording permission, listed as Screen & System Audio Recording in System Settings › Privacy & Security, is for apps that capture or record what's on your screen, and Flick never asks for it, with or without the locator. Flick needs Accessibility, and Automation only for browsers you turn on for tabs. More on that permission in Screen Recording permission on a Mac.

Questions