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Håkon Hægland
Asked: 2019-04-20 05:42:40 +0800 CST

ALT+TAB no longer groups windows under applications in Ubuntu 19.04

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After installing Ubuntu 19.04, ALT+TAB no longer groups windows under the same application. Instead it cycles through all windows irrespective of which app it belongs to. In Ubuntu 18.10 it worked differently (and better in my opinion) such that ALT+TAB switched between apps, and ALT+| (key above TAB) switched between windows of the same app. How can I achieve this setup in 19.04?

NOTE: ALT+| still cycles through windows of the same app, but I cannot use ALT+TAB first to select the app from the shorter list of apps (compared to the list of windows), so then ALT+TAB loses much of its power if you have many windows open.

shortcut-keys gnome-shell application-switcher 19.04

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    According to the release notes for Ubuntu 19.04, Alt+Tab behaves differently than before:

    alt-tab handling now switches windows by default. Switching applications by default can be done with super-tab

    The image below illustrates what Alt+Tab does:

    Alt+Tab

    And Super+Tab switches between applications with each application's windows available below:

    Super+Tab

    The following image shows the default "switch" options in Settings > Devices > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Navigation:

    Default keyboard options for switching windows/applications

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  2. All keyboard shortcuts including Alt+Tab can be managed in the Settings / Keyboard Shortcuts menu.

    I liked the style in Ubuntu 18.04 GNOME, where Alt+Tab switch Applications. In Ubuntu Super+Tab switches applications by default, but you can change this to your liking.

    A shortlist, with the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS defaults. NB! Subject to change between versions.

    • Switch applications (Super+Tab) - Only navigate between applications. The last highlighted application window is selected by default - Great when you are Alt+Tab'ing between your browser and Terminal window.
    • Switch windows (Alt+Tab) - Switch between all your open windows, regardless of which application it is.
    • Switch windows directly (Alt+Escape) - Switch back/forth between your two latest windows on one press, or cycle pressing repeatedly, regardless of application. Reminds me of GNU Screen's ctrl+a ctrl+a.
    • Switch windows of an application (Super+key above Tab) - Switch between windows of the current application only. As I have multiple Terminal and browser windows at all times I love this one. That's Super+| (pipe) on my keyboard. YMMV.

    And just in case,

    Super is your Windows key / Mac key.

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  3. Alt-TAB is one, for the workspace apps, but Control-Alt-TAB switches between all app from all workspaces (dconf, marco settings)

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