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App switcher basics in OS X
Mar 13, 2025
Demonstrating basic use of the app switcher (Command+Tab) in OS X.
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now I'm going to quickly show you a
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handy keyboard shortcut for switching
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between different applications that
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you've already got
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open it's really simple it uses our old
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friend the command key and the tab key
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if you hold down the command key with
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your thumb and then hit the tab with
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your finger you'll see this little row
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of icons appears now this is all the
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applications that you've got open at the
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moment the one here on the Left End of
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the row of icons is the one you're
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looking at right now so if I let go of
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the
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buttons the row of icons
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disappears and um I'm left looking at
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the application that I started out with
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if I hit command tab again I can now
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switch to something else so over to the
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finder it's got no windows at the moment
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at the moment so let's open one now I
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can switch to text
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edit and I can switch to dictionary how
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am I doing that I'm holding down the
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command button and repeatedly tapping
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the Tab Key to get to the icon I
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want and that's how you can switch
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easily between
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applications there's another trick here
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though you can also quit applications
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without actually going to them and this
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is where you the real fun starts so
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again command and tab let's say we want
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to quate Mac tracker which is over there
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on the right so I'll keep tabbing until
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the Mac tracker icon is highlighted now
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here's the trick don't let go of the
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command key if you do you will switch to
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Mac tracker and that's what we're trying
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to avoid instead assuming you want to
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quit Mac tracker now tap the Q button so
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you're still holding down the command
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button and now you tap Q with your
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finger and Mac tracker quits in the
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background and you're still inside the
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Mac the application switcher let's do
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that again let's quit
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uh text edit so there you go let's go to
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text edit Apple Q There we get an alert
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saying you're sure you want to quit we
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won't save that there we go it's gone
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calculator let's quit that and it's gone
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dictionary let's quit that and it's gone
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back to
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Safari this is a really handy trick um
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once you get the hang of it you'll be
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using it all the time
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