Big Sur - Command + Tab focus wrong window when application have multiple windows

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Big Sur - Command + Tab focus wrong window when application have multiple windows

Sometimes the system is not remembering the correct window to focus when going back to an appication with multiple windows using CMD + TAB. This issue does not happen everytime, but after it happens once for an application, it will happen until the next login. It is very anoying. This happened with multiple applications.

Steps to reproduce:

Open an app that allow multiple windows (ie. Chrome)
Open another window of thes same app
Switch to another application with CMD + TAB
Go back to the previous application using CMD + TAB
The focused window should be the one opened in step 2, but instead the focused window is the first window (opened in step 1).

I think this is the same issue as this one:

Big Sur - Command + Tab is automatically … - Apple Community. In the previous question a user said he was not able to reproduce the issue with OSX 11.2. But this is still happening to me. I'm using OSX Big Sur 11.5.2 on a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016). It seems that it doesn't mather if I'm using external monitors or not.

MacBook Pro 15″, OS X 10.11

Posted on Aug 27, 2021 8:36 PM

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Answer 1

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adriano248 Author

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13 points

Aug 30, 2021 7:02 AM in response to Yer_Man

I'm using an external display but with my notebook lid closed. The funny thing is that if I open and close the lid (switch to multiple displays and then switch back to single external display), the CMD + TAB works as expected again. This is my current workaround to fix the issue.

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Answer 2

Oct 12, 2021 12:58 PM in response to adriano248

I too have this issue, and I too am using an external display with my MBP closed. The workaround of opening and closing the lid worked, thank you!

For the record, I was seeing this behavior mostly in Firefox and Outlook. And I only use one Space currently.

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Answer 3

Aug 28, 2021 2:06 AM in response to adriano248

In addition to what Yer_Man said: if just one display, are these windows in the same Space?

And is the other application in the same Space as one of the windows?

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Answer 4

Yer_Man

Level 10

165,978 points

Aug 27, 2021 11:19 PM in response to adriano248

Are you using multiple displays? The only way I can reproduce the issue is if I move the second window to another display.

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Answer 5

adriano248 Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 30, 2021 7:03 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

All windows and applications in the same Space.

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Answer 6

Aug 31, 2021 2:57 AM in response to adriano248

What makes this harder to troubleshoot, if I understand correctly, is that it happens "sometimes".

I was about to suggest you test with the internal display only, to determine if the problem is or not only when using in clamshell mode; but if it only happens occasionally it is hard to know for sure.

Also: you mentioned Chrome as an example; have you had the same problem with other applications?

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Big Sur - Command + Tab focus wrong window when application have multiple windows

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