How do you disable OS X (when you focus on a window) from auto-focusing on windows from the same (or similar) program on another screen

this is NOT how apps behave on a Windows PC. There, the different windows of any app focus independently.

Mmm, no, not really. All Windows apps run inside an application frame. Nothing for that app can exist outside the frame. Once you are in the frame of a given app, all of (example) Excel's open documents are also stuck inside the frame. Along with any palettes or other objects for that app. You can take it off full screen display like below, but each app, and everything associated with it is in its own frame.

I mention this to show that you can do the same thing on your Mac. Where you said:

I'm clicking/highlighting to the foreground (this also applies if I use alt+tab in Windows PC; you cycle through every single excel you have open,

The equivalent on the Mac is to press Command+` (same key as the tilde ~, which should be directly above the Tab key). So it's Command+Tab to switch between apps, and Command+` to rotate between open documents within an app.

So anyway, in the same manner you would arrange your Windows apps as shown above so you can see the contents of both apps, you simply arrange your Mac apps' documents the same way. Adjust the size of each open document as necessary so you can see the relevant information.

Just like if a person were going from Mac to Windows, it's "different". Folders, files and apps? All the same concept. Saving and deleting files? Pretty much the same. But if you're very used to one, the other seems odd until the need to think about "simple" steps that aren't performed quite the same way as the OS you're used to becomes habit, and it no longer seems odd anymore.

I understand this is an old post... but maybe someone out there is still having challenges with this issue (like me).

I've had this issue for quite some time, but only recently started to drive me a little crazy. I searched the internet for a solution and couldn't find anything that was of any help. Here's what I did to solve my problem (which worked for Excel, Word and Power Point):

My environment:

OS X (10.9.5)

Microsoft Office for Mac 2011

1. right click the icon on the dock

2. uncheck the 'Keep in Dock' option

3. repeat step #1 and ensure it has been unchecked

4. close the entire application by quitting the application (not just closing the window)

5. you will notice that the icon is no longer in the dock. Go to Mission Control and put the icon back on the dock

6. restart your Microsoft application

Taking the above steps fixed my issue. The example above is for Power Point, but it also worked for Word and Excel.

Hope this helps!

That's the normal behavior of any app under any OS. The foreground (active) app brings all of its palettes and open documents to the front. It's only logical you would want a Word document on top of an Excel document if Word is the foreground app.

The easiest thing to do is to leave all of your documents open and use Command+Tab to switch between apps. For example, have Excel in front. Highlight the data you want to use in Word and press Command+C. Press Command+Tab (hold Command and keep pressing the Tab key if necessary until the Word icon is highlighted) and let go of the Command key. Word will come to the font. Highlight where in the Word document you want the Excel data and press Command+V.

Whatever the last two apps chosen were will automatically be the ones to flip back and forth between when you press Command+Tab once. So do don't really even need to watch the icons to move between last two apps.

In my experience, normal behavior of applications in OS X is as follows.

If you click on the Dock icon of an application, it should try to bring the Application to the front - with all of its windows. If you click on an individual window it should come in front only, not with all of its partners from the same application. By judiciously clicking on various windows (maybe using Mission Control and/or App Expose to help see them) you can usually see the windows you want from different applications at the same time (if there are not too many windows you want to see, if there is room, etc.).

Are you saying this is not how the applications in question are behaving? If so, it is the fault of the application, not OS X.

it's not until they're on different screens; then this weird stuff happens.

Ah! I'm afraid I'll be little help for that. I've never used a multiple monitor setup, and don't use Mission Control.

Hopefully, someone else will jump in who does work with apps this way and can share some tips.

Hello there,

Were you ever able to resolve this issue? I am having the same problem.

I am usually running MS Word and/or Excel, a finder window and two browser windows on two screens. Lets say I have Excel and Word open but in the background behind my two browser windows. If I am actively browsing in one browser window and then click over to the other one, then the Word and Excel windows automatically pop to the foreground. Very frustrating, and clearly not what is supposed to happen.

I greatly appreciated you responding to this old post because this issue has recently been driving me nuts. I tried the steps you suggested and it didn't work out for me. Hopefully someone out there will see this and come to my rescue. It's not a big deal but I used to be able to switch between windows easily and not have to worry about the collection of windows for any particular program coming to the foreground. Having to minimize and reorganize the windows every time I want to alternate between Word and other programs is a real nuisance for me, but I can learn to adjust. If anyone can help, it'd be greatly appreciated. Cheers.

You might want to consider starting a new discussion. Since this one is a couple of years old, less people are likely to look at it. A new post would be much more visible. You can link to this one.

If you are using an external monitor, have you gone to System Preferences/Mission control and checked Displays have separate Spaces?