For those with a Magic Trackpad or a MacBook, a two-finger drag left or right does the same thing. The Shift key works here if you want to quickly get to the first app (leftmost) in the App Switcher - hold down Command – Shift – Tab until the selection box stops at the first app.įinally, if you press Command – Tab to invoke the App Switcher and then release the Tab key, you can use either the left and right arrow keys on the keyboard or your mouse to navigate to the app you wish to use. To get to the last app listed on the App Switcher, just hold down the Command and Tab keys to make App Switcher cycle quickly through the active apps and stop at the last (rightmost) one. As before, release the Command key to use the selected app. Want to reverse the order of how App Switcher cycles through the active apps? Hold down the Command and Shift keys while tapping Tab, and the App Switcher goes through the apps from right to left. Once the app you wish to switch to is highlighted, let up on the Command key and the app becomes active on your screen.

To move through the active apps, just tap the Tab key with the Command key still held down and it cycles through them from left to right. Hold the Command key and press Tab, and the App Switcher appears on the Mac screen (see screenshot below): (The macOS App Switcher.)Īs long as you are pressing on the Command key, the App Switcher remains on your screen.

Using Application Switcher In Its Basic Form In this article, I’ll show you how to take advantage of both the common use of the App Switcher as well as teach you a few new tricks. In its most simple form, the App Switcher uses the Command – Tab keyboard shortcut to show a list of all of the apps currently running on the Mac. One feature of macOS that many new Mac users might not be familiar with is the Application Switcher or “App Switcher”.

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