Lion cmd-tab doesn't bring the application windows to the foreground

Hmmm - never had this problem until I installed Mountain Lion so it does not seem that Mountain lion fixes....

All was fien until I had to runa disk repair using the Disk Utility and then ran onyx to clean up the detritus of several motnhs

Now CMD-Tab does nothing and I have nto foudn a solution

I'll add this from the Macrumors post did solve the problem

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=575405

killall dock did not do it exactly but as one poster pointed out

ps -ef | grep -i dock

Allowed you to detemine the actual command which should be

killall Dock

This restored the Cmd-Tab fucntion for now but no idea id I will have to do that after every reboot?

So, Ive working with this crappy bug since Lion came out. I read here that Mountain Lion fixes the problem, so I upgraded,and it worked BUT only if the app you've selected to switch to is on your current desktop.

The CMD+TAB command won't switch desktops (spaces).

I have Lightroom 4 running on an entire desktop and PSCS6 on another, when I try to switch to either one from my main desktop (where I'm running Chrome,itunes, finder etc), or from any desktop actually, to an app thats in a different desktop IT WON'T SWTICH!!

Its pretty annoying. But I guess Im stuck with CTRL-Arrowing 'till theres a fix.

Good day guys.🙂

Is anyone still having this problem? I'm experiencing this after upgrading from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion just last week. I can tab from regular apps TO fullscreen apps but I cannot tab FROM full screen apps to regular apps.

Let me clarify then that my Cmd-Tab function itself still works (the toolbar for whatever application I switch to appears at the top) but the window itself does not slide back into view (fullscreen apps).

I can tab from fullscreen apps to regular screen apps and the regular screen (and application) slides into view. But when I tab back into a fullscreen app, only the toolbar changes. The screen itself does NOT slide back into view.

Another noteworthy observation is that I CAN tab between two fullscreen applications. The toolbar and window both slide into view like normal.

So the problem ONLY presents itself when I try to switch from regular screen to fullscreen apps. I already restarted numerous times and also repaired disk permissions twice.

It doesn't help. You have completely misunderstood the issue that is being discussed. Did you even read the thread?

For anyone still stuck on this problem like I was, I finally found a solution. Doing a clean install of Mountain Lion and then using Migration Assistant DID NOT solve the problem. I had to do a clean install of Mountain Lion and then MANUALLY bring back my personal files and applications (not using Migration Assistant).

I have the same problem as original poster. However, I can't upgrade because I'm on a 2008 MacBook that won't run MLion. Any suggestions to fix it in Lion?

2008 Polycarb MacBook, Lion 10.7.5

I also have this problem, cmd+Tab is inconsistent, it doesn't work properly in about 10% of the times. The only thing I have to contibure is informing you guys that I'm in a brand new 2013 MacBook Pro running MLion from factory. There's no new updates to install.

Finally the answer is in system pref, mission control and tick the "when switching to an application, switich to a space with an open windows for the application" and it sort out the issue. It seems to have been added on one of the recent updates. Thanks to superuser.com

http://superuser.com/questions/404228/mac-os-x-command-tab-doesnt-switch-back-to -fullscreen-app

Wrong.

read the posts. the problem is it goes to the WRONG window. not that it isn't going to a window at all.

If you press cmd+w to close/hide Mail, You're actually closing the Message Viewer...

So when you switch to Mail, no windows open up.

If you press cmd + 0 after you've selected Mail via tabbing..., the viewer will come back.

Hope this helps.

PrintHook: that is true, but OSX is supposed to behave that way if you cmd+w.

The issue occurs when you simply cmd+tab away from e.g. Mail, without closing any windows. When you try to cmd+tab back to Mail, you end up seeing another program's window instead.

I will add that when this problem occurs, subsequently cmd+tabbing back and forth once using cmd+tab+arrow keys (i.e. cmd+tab+right,left) _will_ show the right window. But this is very unproductive.

"The issue occurs when you simply cmd+tab away from e.g. Mail, without closing any windows. When you try to cmd+tab back to Mail, you end up seeing another program's window instead."

Precisely. And to confirm, do you see this on Mountain Lion as well as Lion?

Specifically: The focus doesn't return to the application that is re-selected. Moving away and back does set the focus.