Macintosh Tip #5a
Switching Between Applications
Part One
Switching with the Dock
There are many ways to switch between programs in Mac OS X. The most common way is to click on the program’s icon in the dock. A simple click on the icon of the application you want to use and that program becomes active. There are of course some ways to modify the behavior of other applications when you switch to a new one. If you hold the option key while clicking the Dock icon, the current application hides as the selected application becomes active. If you hold command plus option, all applications hide excerpt the selected application.
You can go to a specific window in an application by using click and hold. In OS X 10.5 and earlier, when you click and hold on a Dock icon, a menu will open showing many options, including a list of all the windows available for the selected application. Select the window you desire and it will come to the front. In OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) a click and hold will show a miniature version of each window for the selected application. Here you can get a view each window's contents, instead of just a name. This is actually a new way to use Exposé, which we will cover in depth in part 2.
While you are in this “shrunken-window” view, you can also press command-1and the windows will arrange themselves alphabetically. This can come in handy if you have a large number of open windows.
Switch using the keyboard
“Why would I want to switch applications using the keyboard?” you ask. Suppose you are busy typing a document, but need to keep an eye out for an important email, it is much easier to switch between your word processor and email application if you can keep your hands on the keyboard. Likewise it can prove a huge time saver. Suppose you wish to copy some text from a web page, then switch to your email application, and paste the text there. This will also prove faster, if you don’t have to reach for your mouse. If you do this once a day, it might not appear to save much time, but if a scenario like this happens multiple times per day, you will be much more productive.
The first shortcut is command-tab. If you hold the command key and press tab, you will see an application switcher appear overlaying the center of the screen.
You can then continue to tap the tab key until the desired application is selected. Then release both keys and you have just switched applications. The easiest way I have found to use this shortcut is to press the command key with your left thumb, and use the index finger of the same hand to press the tab key. Of course, there are some extras hidden in this shortcut as well. The easiest one to use is to press and release the keys rapidly. This will switch to the previously used application without taking the time for the overlay to even draw on the screen. This is great for switching between two applications for copy/paste or perhaps a web page for research and a paper you are writing. The second item is that you can go backwards through the selections by typing the ~ (tilde) key. This is conveniently located directly above the tab key. So if you go to far, just shift your finger up from the tab key and press the ~ key. The final trick, is to actually hide or quit a running application right from this command-tab overlay. To use this shortcut, command-tab as usual, but when the application you wish to hide or quit is selected, shift your finger from the tab key to the H key to hide the application, or to the Q key to quit the application. If you try to quit an application that has unsaved documents, it will not complete the process until you are given a chance to save them. One more command that is related to this is that command and ~ will switch between open windows in the current application.
