Alt-Tab

The Alt+Tab ↹ keyboard combination has also been incorporated in other operating systems and desktop environments such as KDE, Xfce, and GNOME.

iOS and macOS have similar functionality by pressing ⌘ Command+Tab ↹ but that switches applications rather than windows.

The six most recently used items in the Flip order work as described, then remaining windows are ordered alphabetically by application path (and optionally grouped, depending on the 'group similar taskbar buttons' setting which is enabled by default).

The commonplace alternation between the 2 most recent tasks (using a fast Alt+Tab ↹ with all keys released immediately) is precisely a special case of the above behavior.

On close inspection, in the course of typing Alt+Tab ↹ and releasing both keys quickly, the task list window can be observed to flicker for a split second, so .

Failures such as this can result in a frenzied reordering of the Alt+Tab ↹ list by means of several Alt+Tab ↹-Tab ↹-Tab ↹... sequences to compensate for the program misbehavior.

If the user attempts to switch to an application using Alt+Tab ↹ but the application fails to update its place in the z-order (for example, if its window procedure is hung), then the next time Alt+Tab ↹ is invoked, the task selection cursor may initially point unexpectedly far into the list of icons, just past the application in question, which will not have been moved to the head of the list.

[2] The order of the Alt+Tab ↹ list corresponds directly to the z-order, once the windows have been sorted according to 'always-on-top' status.

A number of third-party tools, similar to Alt+Tab ↹ Replacement, are also available that add additional functionality to Alt+Tab ↹.

The behaviour is very similar to Alt+Tab ↹ and is accessed by holding down the ⊞ Win key instead of Alt while pressing Tab ↹.

If the user prefers the smaller XP icons over the larger Vista "thumbnail" icons, they can change the functionality by: The user may also stop the Dwm.exe process via Windows' Task Manager.

[12] download[permanent dead link‍] To show the XP icons in Windows 7 advanced users can add a new DWORD value AltTabSettings in the registry key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ and set its value to 1.

A user can move through the dialog in any direction using the arrow keys, or Tab ↹ through in a linear manner, wrapping at the end of the list back to the beginning.

It is very easy for the user to mistakenly use Alt+⇧ Shift instead, changing the system language through the use of a default keybind.

To solve this issue, go into Control Panel/Regional Settings/Languages/Details and there is a button that allows the user to configure the shortcuts to switch languages - he/she can disable it or change it to something harder to press by mistake.

Similar functionality exists on macOS using ⌘ Command instead of Alt, and switching between applications rather than windows.

To restore a window, one needs to press ⌘ Command+Tab ↹ as many times as necessary to choose the desired application, and hold the Option key just prior to releasing the Command button.

There was no default key binding for application switching in Classic Mac OS.

⌘ Command+⇧ Shift+Tab ↹ cycles backwards, as in OS X. Unix-like desktop systems such as fvwm, KDE, Xfce, and GNOME have added a compatible function.

On some systems including Sun's CDE and old versions of fvwm, the Alt+Tab ↹ key combination is mapped to less sophisticated functionality such as only alternating between two windows, cycling forward or backward in a list of all windows in a fixed order, or opening a task applet in which one has to use arrow keys or the mouse to select a task and then click or push Enter.

For example, Blackbox does not; users desiring this behavior can add it by running a helper application such as bbkeys.

An example of a program that violates the expectation that pressing Alt+Tab ↹ one time will switch to the previous application is Adobe Reader 7.0.x.

Like newer versions of Microsoft Word it attempts to give a separate icon in the Alt+Tab ↹ task menu to each MDI document.

While in Adobe Reader, pressing Alt+Tab ↹ one time selects the second item in the list, which is the icon for the PDF document.