Issues with command+backtick when Stage Manager is enabled

[claudewowo]

Describe the bug

open Shortcuts - Select previous window, set to ` key which is the key up tab, does not worked on MacOS 13. It works fine on MacOS 12.6. The version is 6.48.0.

Screenshots / video

[lwouis]

Could you please share a screenshot of the second tab on that window (Shortcut 2)? Thank you

[keman5]

gif:

[keman5]

And I can't change cmd to option on the second tab, it will be a error tip about: Shortcut key conflict

[keman5]

I changed cmd to the third tab, and still does't works.

[keman5]

But I can use option + ` to select previous window. I prefer to use cmd, not others.

[lwouis]

I have set my preferences exactly like you:

Shortcut 1	Shortcut 2

However, everything works great for me. I can use command+tab to open AltTab, then I can press command+` to go backwards.

I suspect it's some issue from an external factor like:

• External keyboard
• Software you use to remap keys (e.g. BTT, Karabineer, etc)
• Language mapping (e.g. using Chinese)
• Other things you may have forgotten you set on your machine in the past

Could you try resetting AltTab preferences (in the first tab of the preferences, at the bottom), and then changing tab to `? Maybe share that process in video so we can see what's happening exactly. For me, everything went smoothly.

[keman5]

I'm on macos13

record.m4v.zip

please download and unzip.

I pressed cmd + ` at 00:40 - 00:44, but nothing to work.

[lwouis]

Thank you for the video. I see in the video that you use Alfred. Alfred could be interfering with keyboard shortcuts, as it is a global shortcut listener like AltTab.

I can't reproduce the issue by doing the steps you do on the video, so I think it's something unique to your setup. I listed above some of the elements I've seen users have issues with. You may want to look into it. I would recommend you try to close as many apps as you can, use an internal keyboard, etc. To try and remove as many factors as you can. I'll close this ticket as it is unactionable for now. If you have new data, feel free to share it here, and we can re-open the ticket if there is something that can be done.

[keman5]

I found the problem. When I use Preferences - Desktop & Dock - 'Stage Manager', cmd + ` will be invalid. It's only can find when enable the new Feature.

[lwouis]

Thank you for sharing this! I was able to reproduce the issue with Stage Manager on.

It's very interesting. I tested with Stage Manager on and off. You can see in the menubar, under Window, that Cycle through Windows is always present (with Stage Manager on or off):

But the behavior is different, depending on if it's activated or not:

• With SM on: pressing command+` cycles through all the visible windows of all apps
• With SM off: pressing command+` cycles through all the visible windows of the active app

Another difference is the interaction with AltTab, if AltTab is also set to use command+`:

• With SM on: pressing command+` first activates the native cycling, then activates AltTab (potentially on another app, if the native cycling focused the window of another app)
• With SM off: pressing command+` activates only AltTab

So there is both a new, undocumented behavior for this shortcut, when Stage Manager is on, as well as a new shortcut priority when it's on, that messes with AltTab.

We already use a private API to disable the native command+tab for people who want to use command instead of alt for AltTab, to avoid the native switcher to appear in addition to AltTab. I'll check if it's maybe possible to also disable command+` in the same fashion (only on macOS 13 since it wasn't necessary before Stage Manager).

All of what I wrote above is when you activate AltTab with command+`, but your original issue is to set ` to cycle backwards. I was able to reproduce the issue as well. It's probably due to the OS absorbing the shortcut, and AltTab not receiving it.

Again, I'll look into disabling this native shortcut, if AltTab is open, just like we do for command+tab and command+shift+tab already (only when AltTab is open, and if the user has set AltTab to these native shortcut keys).

[lwouis]

I implemented the workaround for this, as I described above. I'll release a new version of AltTab with this soon 👍

[keman5]

👏 Awesome! ohhhhhh!!!!! 👏 Thanks a lot!

[AfzalivE]

I'm still seeing this bug on 6.49.0 with these settings.

Shortcut 1	Shortcut 2

[lwouis]

@AfzalivE could you please share a video, steps to reproduce, version of macOS, etc?

[AfzalivE]

https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/436057/200972993-da87ed03-b446-45b9-a502-4dd6794f5176.mp4

MacOS 13.0

Steps:

1. Set shortcut 2 (show active app windows) to cmd + `, just like the macOS shortcut to switch between active app's windows.
2. Open two windows of an app, make sure stage manager is enabled
3. Switch to one of the windows of the app, then try to switch to another using cmd + `

Expected: The other window of the active app becomes active.

Actual: The other window shows up while the switcher is showing but as soon as the button is released, it switches back to the original window.

This doesn't happen if the shortcut is anything else btw.

[lwouis]

Thank you for sharing this report @AfzalivE. I'm so confused as to what happened here. I was convinced the issue got fixed (see exchanges above). Somehow there is still an issue. I mean the issue is pretty clear, AltTab is failing to disable the native OS behavior, so it happens at the same time as AltTab is trying to do its job.

I'll look into it

[ravipinto]

@lwouis - is there any update on this issue? I am facing the same issue on Ventura (13.4)