I used to be able to use: "command + tab" to cycle through open windows/application and return to the Finder. After upgrading to MacOS Sonoma last night it appears to no longer function. Is anyone else encountering this? I'd love to know, it was my most used keyboard feature.
iMac Pro, macOS 14.0
Correct, no fix. And I have to add that I do not think that it was a "bad install issue". We had 6 other computers in the office have the exact same issue, same configuration everything. Some were Intel chips, some were Apple Silicon. I did discuss this online with Apple and was told that there are "significant changes in the structure of Sonoma compared to the pervious MacOS so it is likely that these kinds of things will happen based on situational configurations of specific systems"... FWIW...thats the "official" response that led me to a complete clean install, we lost one day of work per machine in our design firm. Had we known that there may be potential issues we would have planned differently. We typically do an over night update expecting the Mac to reasonably work the following day with a few issues. We also did notice a few other issues on Apple Silicon machines coming from the previous OS, mostly weird glitchy stuff with Apple's Studio Monitors. The clean install fixed that too, but again at a high cost of wiping each system clean and starting over.
Correct, no fix. And I have to add that I do not think that it was a "bad install issue". We had 6 other computers in the office have the exact same issue, same configuration everything. Some were Intel chips, some were Apple Silicon. I did discuss this online with Apple and was told that there are "significant changes in the structure of Sonoma compared to the pervious MacOS so it is likely that these kinds of things will happen based on situational configurations of specific systems"... FWIW...thats the "official" response that led me to a complete clean install, we lost one day of work per machine in our design firm. Had we known that there may be potential issues we would have planned differently. We typically do an over night update expecting the Mac to reasonably work the following day with a few issues. We also did notice a few other issues on Apple Silicon machines coming from the previous OS, mostly weird glitchy stuff with Apple's Studio Monitors. The clean install fixed that too, but again at a high cost of wiping each system clean and starting over.
Can I also ask if you are plugged into an external monitor when you were experiencing the failure of Cmd-Tab fast switching?
I found that unplugging and replugging in the monitor (USB-C connected) must have forced a restart of the display drivers that then brought the carousel back on the screen when I hit Cmd-Tab.
I've flagged this with Apple Support, so I'd be interested if my experience and resolution is similar to yours so I can feed back.
TracerB wrote:
I'm finding this tends to happen when the screen has been put to sleep and I then wake it.
Try as I might I can't reproduce the problem.
See if it happens while you are in Safe Mode or while logged into a different user account.
A reboot fixed it!
Update to my issues, after quite a while of dealing with it I gave up and did a clean install of Sonoma 14.0, Issue resolved. Yes, this sounds extreme but I use that command so often that it was seriously cramping my workflow. Still not sure what was wrong, but now it’s resolved. ✌🏼
spodonahue wrote:
Thanks for the update and thoughts on this. After testing out those scenarios, because yes, I did have multiple external displays, I unplugged everything and went back to the basic set up. This included restarting and starting in safe mode. Unfortunately, the problem remains after the update to Sonoma.
Does it also happen in Safe Mode?
Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.
Thanks for the idea but this has not helped ; restarting the Dock or Finder doesn't help either - so far the only thing that works is a reboot
I've tried to reboot, reset SMC and a clean reinstall but to no avail. The left command key won't work.
Thank your for reporting back.
FWIW, the fact that things work correctly on a clean install, as they do for most of us, confirm the notion that something brought over from before the upgrade was causing a problem.
A standard wired keyboard should work with Sonoma 14.1. Bluetooth is another story as it depends on the keyboard supporting the Bluetooth profiles that Apple expects to discover and that result in successful pairing. If any of these are missing in the third-party keyboard, then it may not pair with macOS.
I exclusively use an extended Apple Magic Keyboard with my 2023 M2 Mac Mini Pro because I don't want the keyboard aggravations that those with non-Apple keyboards frequently post about here. Yes, the Apple keyboards cost more, but not as much as the aggravation and opportunity cost for problematic third-party keyboards.
I can confirm this is sort of happening to me as well.
It's not that the Command-Tab isn't switching, this still happens and cycles through windows, what isn't been shown is the carousel display that shows you what you are switching through.
I'm finding this tends to happen when the screen has been put to sleep and I then wake it.
Interesting, I was told that 14.1 was going to be released but not in time for our issue to be resolved so we did the full "re-do"... I was told by Apple that 14.1 might solve the issue. One question I have for everyone... are any of you using 3rd party keyboards? (My workstation was affected by this -- hence my posting, and I have a MX Keys for Mac Logi Tech keyboard instead of the out-of-the-box Apple one.) Just a random thought that perhaps the Sonoma update does not include driver support for 3rd party devices and the full clean install does. Just thinking out loud here.
The bluetooth MX Keys for Mac Logi Tech keyboard (and 3d mouse) picked up just fine after the full wipe and clean install. Others in the studio noted the same issues with the MX and the Apple extended keyboard. Using multiple Apple Studio Displays was the biggest issue reported from the teams, the command+tab issue was just the icing on the cake. The mystery continues...
Unfortunately, I was not able to get this to work. Multiple restarts didn't seem to change anything still looking for a reason how to resolve this, or why it's happening in the first place. The search continues.
Thanks for the update and thoughts on this. After testing out those scenarios, because yes, I did have multiple external displays, I unplugged everything and went back to the basic set up. This included restarting and starting in safe mode. Unfortunately, the problem remains after the update to Sonoma.
Command + Tab in MacOS Sonoma no longer works
