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lwouis / alt-tab-macos

Windows alt-tab on macOS
https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app
GNU General Public License v3.0
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After opening AltTab, it seems like the Next Window shortcut is held or pressed a few times without the user doing anything #3117

Open SamadiPour opened 8 months ago

SamadiPour commented 8 months ago

Describe the bug

Since a few weeks ago, I have been experiencing drifting when the mouse is hovered over an item. It only happens when the mouse is over an item, and not when it's inside or outside of the frame. When I hold down the Command key and press Tab once (push and release instantly), the selector drifts through the items, sometimes until it reaches the mouse and sometimes until it reaches the end. The Mouse hover option under Also select windows using is disabled.

Screenshots / video

https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/assets/24422125/44cec264-affb-4058-b880-d87e60a9a14a

Steps to reproduce the bug

Your environment

NayamAmarshe commented 5 months ago

I've downgraded to 6.62 and it's working great now. Will report if I encounter the issue again.

saitonakamura commented 5 months ago

the build from https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3117#issuecomment-1952171420 fixed it for me. I have repeat keys configured for vim modes

ugurkellecioglu commented 5 months ago

I downgraded to 6.63 and it was working all good for a long time, close to one month, today it started to happen again. I will restart my mac and see if that will help.

ugurkellecioglu commented 5 months ago

I downgraded to 6.63 and it was working all good for a long time, close to one month, today it started to happen again. I will restart my mac and see if that will help.

lwouis commented 5 months ago

Given the inconsistencies in experiencing the issue on various versions of AltTab, i'm now suspecting that it's either:

It's impossible for me to make a fix as long as the root cause is not understood. To understand the root cause, the best would be that i can reproduce locally, which is not the case today. Second best would be that someone here who can reproduce it often work with me to debug it, in a screen-sharing type of session.

Thank you

warrenseine commented 5 months ago

Not adding much, but I just want to re-iterate that we appreciate your work! I also totally get that it’s impossible to debug without reproducing locally (most of us are probably developers too). Cumulating all the feedback, at some point, we’ll find a pattern and a root cause.

I know it’s not ideal, but since the workaround of disabling key repeats seems to be good enough for most, maybe it can be turned into an option?

lwouis commented 5 months ago

Hi @warrenseine,

since the workaround of disabling key repeats seems to be good enough for most, maybe it can be turned into an option?

It doesn't work for some people, which seem to prove that it's unrelated. People have shared that the issue was fixed by the build I shared, but other people have shared that it was a downgrade that did it, or a restart, etc. There is no clear pattern, which seems to indicate that the root cause is elsewhere.

josephwynn-sc commented 5 months ago

Edit: Nope, 3 weeks after upgrading, it has started happening again. Weird!

I upgraded from Sonoma 14.2 to 14.4 about 6 hours ago, and so far I have not had the issue. It used to happen for me almost every time I opened AltTab.

I will edit this comment if the issue happens again for me on 14.4.

Edit: 2 weeks later and still looking good. I would recommend that anyone experiencing this issue updates to Sonoma 14.4 or higher.

AlexeyKupershtokh commented 5 months ago

I'm on Sonoma 14.4.1 right now with alt-tab 6.63.0 installed (downgraded from 6.68.0). I have Karabiner installed for CapsLock remapping.

The bug is reproduced for me sometimes. I notices that when it does, alt-tab lags for approx 300-500ms on opening (after pressing cmd+tab). In other cases alt-tab window is opened nearly immediate and the problem doesn't reside. Probably there's some race condition or performance issue that causes such effect.

I also think that I face the issue a bit less often than on 6.68.0.

Also I don't think mouse position is relevant.

AlabasterAxe commented 5 months ago

FWIW This was happening very consistently for me. I'm not sure which version I was on but I don't believe that the app indicated that there were any updates available. Once I downgraded to 6.63.0, I stopped experiencing the issue. I also tried with the special build from earlier in this thread and the issue stopped happening. Finally, I just downloaded the latest public version 6.67.0 and I'm no longer experiencing the issue.

When I was experiencing this problem it was definitely related to the mouse. It happened almost every time when the mouse was hovering over the alt-tab pane, but would never happen if the mouse was not over the alt-tab pane.

TL;DR: if you're experiencing this issue, try a clean uninstall and re-install with the latest build.

NayamAmarshe commented 5 months ago

FWIW This was happening very consistently for me. I'm not sure which version I was on but I don't believe that the app indicated that there were any updates available. Once I downgraded to 6.63.0, I stopped experiencing the issue. I also tried with the special build from earlier in this thread and the issue stopped happening. Finally, I just downloaded the latest public version 6.67.0 and I'm no longer experiencing the issue.

When I was experiencing this problem it was definitely related to the mouse. It happened almost every time when the mouse was hovering over the alt-tab pane, but would never happen if the mouse was not over the alt-tab pane.

TL;DR: if you're experiencing this issue, try a clean uninstall and re-install with the latest build.

The reinstall only works for a while, the issue appeared again for me.

fatherofinvention commented 5 months ago

Still happening on Version 6.68.0.

jsh9 commented 4 months ago

Now whenever this issue occurs, I just uninstalled and reinstalled the app (of the same version). The issue would go away for a few days (sometimes up to a week or so), and then reoccur.

ikfid commented 4 months ago

oh, I see I am not alone.... 6.68.0, Sonoma 14.4.1, M2 Pro. When the mouse cursor is in the middle of the screen, pressing command+tab just once results in advancing the window switcher through several icons after a delay of 1 second or so, such that you cannot navigate to the right window until this unwanted advancing is done. when the mouse cursor is in the screen corner, this behavior is not observed.

cupcakearmy commented 4 months ago

It seems I'm having the same issue.

Findings

Basically the same as @ikfid

https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/assets/14948823/a7d333f2-d3b1-4b1e-8121-813fcab8e724

Is there any way to simply disable mouse in the settings?

Versions Alt-Tab: Version 6.68.0 macOS: 14.4.1 (23E224)

vsisl commented 4 months ago

Hi there,

I have the exact same experience as @cupcakearmy :

When the mouse is not in the "switcher" area, everything is perfect and snappy When the mouse is in the "switcher" area:

  • The menu is slower to open
  • Sometimes the selection jumps to the last window (without me pressing any additional key)

Versions Alt-Tab: Version 6.67.0 macOS: 14.4.1 (intel)

The bug has been occurring for a while already. (I remember I updated both the OS and AltTab in the meantime.)

Second best would be that someone here who can reproduce it often work with me to debug it, in a screen-sharing type of session.

@lwouis I can help with that.

shresth45 commented 4 months ago

It seems I'm having the same issue.

Findings

  • When the mouse is not in the "switcher" area, everything is perfect and snappy

  • When the mouse is in the "switcher" area

    • The menu is slower to open
    • Sometimes the selection jumps to the last window (without me pressing any additional key)

Basically the same as @ikfid

Demo.mp4 Is there any way to simply disable mouse in the settings?

Versions Alt-Tab: Version 6.68.0 macOS: 14.4.1 (23E224)

I was going crazy worried that there was something wrong with my mac hardware. But kudos to the efforts in this thread, these steps mentioned are very reproducible

jim-alexander commented 4 months ago

I've stopped using alttab because of this. Tried previous versions mentioned here and still the issue persists.

I think when the mouse is over the window it happens more often if that helps 🤷

samuelhwilliams commented 4 months ago

I get this constantly. It's infuriating and I'm close to giving up on alt+tab as well because it makes it so unusable.

Having seen the comments in this thread and actively moving my mouse to the edge of the screen before alt+tab, it does seem to not happen when the mouse is off the alt+tab popup. Which is maybe a workaround for now..

Edit: this isn't a reliable workaround - I still get the issue. I do have a multi monitor setup like the person below.

Alt-Tab Version 6.68.0 MacOS 14.4.1 (23E224), ARM

broegaard commented 3 months ago

For a long time I did not have the issue, but now with sonoma 14.5 (23F79), the issue have re-emerged.

I think it is related two my multi monitor setup: If I open four windows of firefox and place two on each screen. The problem occur each time I switch to a window on the other screen (each time alttab moves to the other screen).

But if I go to Alttab->Preferences->Appearance->Show on and change the value from "Active screen" to "Screen including the menu bar" the problem seems to be solved.

Edit: The problem did re-occur now, so my fix did not solve the problem

EskelCz commented 3 months ago

Same thing, the issue returned. I feel like it bugs out when alt-tabbing quickly again when the previous alt-tab is closing.

nyanpasu64 commented 3 months ago

I think the right approach to this bug is to instrument the source code to log all input events/handlers, then compare the logs with the mouse cursor over the alt-tab switcher or not. In fact I even tried to do this, but when I tried to build the project from source in Xcode I got an error Command CopyPNGFile failed with a nonzero exit code and don't know how to fix it.

kcho17 commented 3 months ago

I've noticed the same issue as well. I think the issue has started since I updated macOS and Alt-tab, but I am not sure about it.

problame commented 3 months ago

I've been running this build for multiple months on Sonoma and the problems pointed out in the top post of this issue have been fully mitigated by it.

Can we move forward and apply the fix from that build to the main tree?

lwouis commented 3 months ago

@problame https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3117#issuecomment-2042620554

jebeaudet commented 3 months ago

For me, it seems like the issue is around repeating keys as I don't see any changes whether my mouse is in the alttab window or not.

I have these repeating key settings :

image

For me, sometimes when I press cmd + tab and release really quickly tab while holding cmd, it sometimes act as if I was holding tab and the switcher goes automatically to the last option in the alttab window. I'm guessing it's related to the repeating key kicking in macos.

I just installed the custom build and one difference I see is that if I'm deliberately holding tab after pressing cmd+tab, it does not do anything, the selected window stays on the second in the list.

letalumil commented 2 months ago

I have been experiencing this problem for a few weeks now. What I've noticed is that the problem only happens when the mouse cursor is in the AltTab modal. When the cursor is outside the AltTab modal, everything works fine.

Please have a look at the attached video. In the video I press and release Cmd+Tab repeatedly. In the first part of the video, when the cursor is outside the AltTab modal, everything works fine. But when the cursor is over it, the modal doesn't disappear or the window selection starts to drift as if I had pressed Tab a few more times.

AltTab Version 6.70.1 macOS Version 14.5 (23F79), Apple M2 Max

https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/assets/4415850/e6f85d22-bee9-4168-bc31-3222cf741cc3

lwouis commented 2 months ago

@letalumil Could you please try https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3117#issuecomment-1952171420, and see if it has this issue or not?

letalumil commented 2 months ago

@letalumil Could you please try #3117 (comment), and see if it has this issue or not?

Thank you for your quick reply. I've tried the build you provided and the issue doesn't reproduce there, but the fun fact is that when I switched back to 6.70.1 after testing the build, the issue doesn't reproduce there either. Looks like restarting AltTab fixes the behaviour for me. I'll keep testing both builds and try to find the cause of the behaviour and update you as soon as I find something.

DavidAllewell commented 2 months ago

@lwouis I've been using the build from https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3117#issuecomment-1952171420 for a few weeks now, and while the issue with repeated keys does seem to be fixed, I've noted strange behaviour regarding mouse positioning that @letalumil highlighted.

The issue only occurs when the cursor is in a location that would result in it hovering over a window (so in the event you have an incomplete row of windows, the empty space under the previous row is a safe space for the cursor).

It presents itself as quite a large lag between hitting Ctrl+Tab, and the window appearing. I'm even able to have the AltTab window remain open after releasing Ctrl+Tab, if my timing is correct.

I think it might boil down to some strange behaviour with mouse hovering on the windows? Sorry if this isn't overly useful.

efaulhaber commented 2 months ago

I downgraded to v6.63.0 after first experiencing this problem and finding this issue. I still noticed the problem appearing like once or twice a day (as opposed to the new versions where it happened all the time). Now I've been using the build from https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3117#issuecomment-1952171420 for a few days and I haven't experienced the problem at all.

markkkkas commented 2 months ago

Hey if someone still observes this one, can you try disable all checkboxes from this setting https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3466#issuecomment-2215183479? In my case personally it helped.

samuelhwilliams commented 2 months ago

That worked for me for a while (yesterday) but today I've got the same issue (as well as the AltTab popup being generally laggy/unresponsive).

NayamAmarshe commented 2 months ago

Hey if someone still observes this one, can you try disable all checkboxes from this setting #3466 (comment)? In my case personally it helped.

That worked for me for 2 days

evanhammer commented 1 month ago

I was seeing this issue but upgrading to 6.72.0 (from 6.70.0) fixed it for me.

slkmikhail commented 1 month ago

I'm seeing this issue even I upgraded to 6.72.0 and disable all checkboxes in that place https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3466#issuecomment-2215183479. Only this build https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3117#issuecomment-1952171420 solves the problem even some checkboxes enabled here https://github.com/lwouis/alt-tab-macos/issues/3466#issuecomment-2215183479.

sergeevii123 commented 1 month ago

Still seeing this issue in 6.72.0. It happens rarely but still does

evanhammer commented 1 month ago

Yeah, I'm still seeing it too. But if I restart alt-tab it goes away for some period of time.

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Still seeing this issue in 6.72.0. It happens rarely but still does

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shalgi commented 1 month ago

I'm having the same problem

matis-dk commented 1 month ago

Definitely seems like one of the latest release reintroduced this issue. 6.72.0 is bugging out if the cursor is overlaying the window tiles when alt-tabbing.

Downgrading to 6.70.1 seems to fix the issue in my end.

unodgs commented 4 weeks ago

It happens to me all the time, this custom build from this thread solves the problem for me

thestarsarehigh commented 2 weeks ago

Experiencing this issue. If I figure out how to reproduce it I will update. No external input devices connected, M1 MacBook Air. Am running Raycast for Cmd+Space Spotlight search replacement as well as Cmd+[L/R] Arrow window management but nothing else.

xdanik commented 1 week ago

I am also experiencing this issue. Version 6.72.0. Downgrading to 6.70.1 resolved the issue for me.

nyanpasu64 commented 1 week ago

I managed to fix the CopyPNGFile error. checking the XCode log via https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30060898/xcode-how-to-see-build-command-and-log revealed that /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/usr/bin/copypng was unable to see dirname/cp, and launchctl getenv PATH revealed that launchd had a PATH only including MacPorts because I had attempted to alter PATH in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/environment.plist (launchd's PATH should start empty).

Every time you run an AltTab with a different signing key, you need to remove the old version from the accessibility and screen recording lists (using the - button at the bottom), then restart the program and grant the new version permissions. This is somewhat fiddly, you have both the permission denied popups and the AltTab button to open System Settings.

Oddly I have not been able to reproduce this bug using either the official build or my local build after installing a local build with new permissions. Maybe it was because of a custom build without .png files, maybe because permissions were granted incorrectly (upon app/OS update?). I will debug further if the bug reappears.

nimec01 commented 1 week ago
  • [ ] Does "Reset preferences and restart..." fix the problem for others? Ideally you should back up preferences first (~/Library/Preferences/com.lwouis.alt-tab-macos.plist) so you can compare to find what changed...

I just tested it and it (currently) works for me. Comparing the old and new .plist file reveals that:

Hope this helps.

dottedmag commented 5 days ago

I have found a way to make this bug go away, and it probably explains why "trying $random version" also helps a lot of people — changing versions should always fix it:

going to System Settings -> Privacy & Accessibility, removing AltTab, and then re-adding it back fixes the skipping for me.

nyanpasu64 commented 5 days ago

I just tested it and it (currently) works for me. Comparing the old and new .plist file reveals that:

* `MSAppCenterInstallId` has changed

* `MSAppCenterPastDevices` has changed

* `MSAppCenterSessionIdHistory` has changed

* `MSAppCenterUserIdHistory` has changed

* `NSWindow Frame NSNavPanelAutosaveName` has changed

* `NSWindow Frame NSFontPane` got removed

* `NSWindow Frame SUUpdateAlert` got removed

Hope this helps.

I'd suggest you quit AltTab, delete the new .plist and copy the backup to the original name, then observe what happens. But somehow when I do it on my computer, AltTab throws away the changes I made to the file (eg. binding to Cmd instead of Option/Alt). I don't currently plan to look into why (whether it's caused by the app, the plist library, or macOS opening the file even when AltTab is closed).

nimec01 commented 5 days ago

I'd suggest you quit AltTab, delete the new .plist and copy the backup to the original name, then observe what happens. But somehow when I do it on my computer, AltTab throws away the changes I made to the file (eg. binding to Cmd instead of Option/Alt). I don't currently plan to look into why (whether it's caused by the app, the plist library, or macOS opening the file even when AltTab is closed).

This changed nothing for me. The bug is still gone. It also did not revert my binding.

MSAppCenterPastDevices, MSAppCenterSessionIdHistory and MSAppCenterUserIdHistory were changed again. But I guess this is not related with the bug.

jordantrizz commented 4 days ago

Anyone here reproducing the issue on the internal macbook keyboard, with the alt+tab shortcut, and no BTT/Karabineer/remaper turned on?

I have Logi Options+, but removing it doesn't seem to have fixed the issue. Would it be possible to log whats occurring during this event to see if it's key repeating?

nyanpasu64 commented 4 days ago

It's possible to make a logging build, but unless the original author signs the program, you'll have to delete and re-add the program to the macOS security permissions, which seems to make the bug disappear (I don't know what causes it to recur, and haven't seen it happen yet). So I have not tried creating one so far (I'm not the original author), and don't know how to.