Workspace and window switchers

Layout has two switchers. ⌥Tab moves between workspaces and is always available while Layout is active. ⌘Tab moves between the windows of the current workspace, if you turn it on.

Both work like the macOS app switcher: hold the modifier, press Tab to move, and release the modifier to open your choice.

Switch workspaces with ⌥ Tab

Hold ⌥ and press Tab. A panel lists your workspaces: the ones you used most recently first, then the ones you haven’t visited yet. The first press selects the workspace you were in before the current one, so a quick ⌥Tab takes you back and forth between two workspaces.

While you hold ⌥:

• Tab or ↓ selects the next workspace; ⇧Tab or ↑ the previous one.
• → shows the windows of the selected workspace, so you can pick one. ← goes back to the list of workspaces.
• Esc cancels.

Release ⌥ to switch. If you picked a window, Layout switches to its workspace and focuses it; otherwise it focuses the workspace’s most recent window.

Each workspace in the list shows the icons of its apps, like the Layout bar: the apps its layout assigns first, then any other app that has a window in it. A grey icon is an app of the layout that has no window there yet. The current workspace is marked “Active”. Empty workspaces are listed too, so you can switch to one before it has any window. You can also click a workspace to see its windows, and click a window to open it.

⌥Tab works whenever Layout is active, even if you don’t use the ⌘Tab replacement. ⌥⇧Tab starts the switcher going backward.

Switch windows with ⌘ Tab

The ⌘Tab replacement is off by default. Turn it on with Use ⌘ Tab for windows in the current workspace in Settings › Shortcuts, or with Replace ⌘ Tab in the guided setup.

Once it’s on, ⌘Tab lists the windows of the current workspace, most recently used first, instead of your apps. The first press selects the window you used before the current one.

While you hold ⌘:

• Tab or ↓ selects the next window; ⇧Tab or ↑ the previous one.
• Esc cancels.

Release ⌘ to focus the selected window. Each row shows the window’s title, its app, and an icon when the window is floating.

This switcher always stays in the current workspace. It never switches workspace, relaunches the layout, or resizes windows. It’s also a quick way to bring another app of a stack to the front.

Your wildcard apps come last, in every workspace: their window wherever it is, or the app’s name with No window open. Picking one brings it to the current workspace. Settings › Apps turns this off, for all of them or one app at a time.

To get the macOS app switcher back, turn the option off, or pause Layout.

While Layout is busy

Some operations take a moment, such as a switch that moves many windows or a layout launch. You don’t have to wait: the switchers stay available, and you can keep choosing workspaces and windows. As soon as Layout is ready, it opens the last one you chose and skips the ones in between. The operation in progress still completes, and Layout can still recover its windows if something goes wrong.