Tabbed Browsing ... apple key+TAB

[JDN]

If you press and hold the apple key and then press TAB button, you can scroll through the open programmes. However, when you select the programme you want it will only be brought to the front if it is already open on the desktop. Does anyone know if you can make this function open applications that are only open in the dock? i.e. ones that have the little arrow under them.

Cheers

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

What...?!?

 

[adrianblaine]

I'm not quite sure what you are trying to say either. If the program is open on the desktop it is also open on the dock as well. Are you talking about programs that are minimized in the dock? If that's so, there is a thread discussing this found here....

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/252978/

There is no easy way to bring minimized programs up with the keyboard. AppleKey+TAB does not bring them up from the dock.

You can however AppleKey+H to hide a program and when you AppleKey+TAB to that program it will un-hide it.

 

[panoz7]

What...?!?

I second that.

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying... it sort of sounds as if you want the command-tab function to extend to apps that are open but hidden. If that's the case, then it already does work like that and you can command tab to applications that are hidden.

Perhaps a little more explanation is in order.

EDIT: I think adrianblaine figured it out. I never minimize apps (never understood the point) so I didn't even think of that.

 

[pianoman]

i just tested this by opening up everything in my dock and "hiding" it (closing the window but not quitting the program) and i could tab through all the programs that were open (even if their windows were not open).

perhaps there's something wrong with your cmd+tab feature; if so, try restarting your computer to fix.

 

[mkrishnan]

Do you mean...

1) Programs that are running but hidden (e.g. you hid the window using Apple-H)

2) Programs that are running but have no open window (e.g. you are running Safari and you close all the windows)

3) Programs that are running but minimized (you clicked the minimize button in the upper left, and it went into a little iconified version in the lower right of the dock)

4) Programs that are not running at all (e.g. they have no windows, no black triangle under them, etc)

I guess the answer depends...

For (1) it should unhide them when you apple-tab.

For (2) once you apple-tab to the program, you can use apple-n typically to get a window.

For (3) this behavior is somewhat dependent on the application. A lot of them do unminimize, but I think there are some that do not.

For (4) no, there is no effective way to do this. If you want alternative ways to launch programs, look at things like Quicksilver, using Spotlight, etc.

 

[JDN]

Thanks, you have provided me with the answer i needed. Sorry my question wasnt very clear, still getting used to mac!