Per-shortcut "select previous window" shortcut

[alt-tab-macos-bot]

This issue was opened by a bot after a user submitted feedback through the in-app form.

From: lily@ballards.net

Message:

Changing "Select previous window" to ⇧⇥ changes that for both shortcuts at once. This is rather annoying as ⇧⇥ makes perfect sense for the ⌥⇥ shortcut, but it doesn't make sense for the ⌥shortcut (that one should be ⇧). This isn't a problem with the defaults as the default for "Select previous window" is just ⇧, but it's a problem once that's changed.

[lwouis]

I'm sorry i read your message 2 times but can't understand the issue you're facing. Could you try to explain again? Maybe screenshots would help illustrate how you set your preferences as well.

[lilyball]

The preference for "Select previous window" is global rather than per-shortcut. This is okay for the default Shift hotkey, but this does not work well when I set it to Shift+Tab (to match the behavior of Cmd+Tab; just tapping Shift to go backwards is confusing). This does not work well because it means the shortcut to go backwards is still Shift+Tab even when using Shortcut 2, which does not otherwise involve the Tab key. For Shortcut 2 I want that to be Shift+` instead (to match Alt+`), but I can't change that without it changing for Shortcut 1 as well.

Screenshots

Shortcut 1

Shortcut 2

[lwouis]

I understand better now.

I can't see a clear nice solution to accommodate your desired use-case though. Most people want the "while open" shortcuts to be global. If we make them per-shortcut, people will have to remember to set them in both sections every-time. We will have more than 2 shortcuts in the future as well so it seems like it would be a poor UX.

I'm afraid i can only suggest to use a global one like shift or shift+tab

[gautamjain]

Hi @lwouis. So happy to have finally discovered alt-tab! It's perfect.

I'd like to have the "select previous window" key be separate for Shortcut 1 and Shortcut 2 too. Basically, I'd like to be able to do this:

Next window Cmd + Tab Cmd + `

Previous window Cmd + Shift + Tab Cmd + Shift + `

I agree that if all of the "while open shortcuts" are made shortcut-specific, the UX would become very complicated. But changing only the "previous window" shortcut from global to shortcut-specific seems like it wouldn't be too confusing IMO.

[lwouis]

@gautamjain if we bring the Select previous window in the section above, per-shortcut, then it would mean it can be used to summon AltTab when AltTab is not visible. There are issues with this. Please see https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/510

[lilyball]

@lwouis It could be listed as a "While open" shortcut in the section above. That said, given existing platform behavior with ⇧⌘⇥ and ⇧⌘`, it certainly makes sense for ⇧⌥⇥ to also be a trigger. But that's orthogonal to making it a per-shortcut customization and should not be considered a blocker.

Also, in the very last comment of #510, you yourself suggested setting "Select previous window" to ⇧⇥, which causes the issue described in this ticket.

Can we please get this ticket reopened? Regardless of how it's resolved, this is definitely an issue.

[lwouis]

@lilyball I re-opened this ticket. I also renamed it as it is seems the discussion is only about the "Select previous window" shortcut, not other secondary shortcuts

[sonofjon]

As AltTab is advertised as "AltTab brings the power of Windows alt-tab to macOS" it would make sense if the "select previous window" functionality works as on Windows, which is what this issue is asking for.

[mrnoname1000]

I use ⌥⇥ to switch between all windows and ⌘` to switch between app windows, but I'm unable to add a shift to these shortcuts to mirror the native ⌘⇥ behavior. I'd like to use ⌥⇧⇥ to select the previous global window and ⌘⇧` for the previous active app window.