Switch between apps without seeing the app switcher

Sep 18, '09 07:30:01AM

Contributed by: HairyPotter

Command-Tab is a known shortcut that allows switching between applications. Press and hold Command, then press and release Tab (while holding Command), and OS X will show a strip of large app icons across the screen, letting you easily switch applications by pressing Tab (forward), tilde/backquote (backward), the mouse, or many other methods.

But say you are switching between one of your Safari windows and a specific Pages document, or whatever, and you don't need to see the app switcher every time. You can switch back and forth between them without seeing the app switcher. To do so, press and release Command and then Tab quickly, making sure you press Command first.

When done right, you won't even see the app switcher icons; you'll simply flip between the last two programs you've used. This is useful when you have lots of windows open, and every time you select one application, its windows cover other apps' windows.

[robg adds: This works in 10.5 and 10.6, and perhaps even 10.4. I thought we had covered it in a prior hint, but I couldn't find it when searching. If you find it's a duplicate, please let me know.]

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