Irritating focus behaviour when closing window (other window of same app pops up)

I've found this situation very frustrating as well -- just adding my voice to those who would love to see an option to return focus to the previous window that had focus (in whatever app happens to own it) than to close the new window and leave us in the app which the new window happened to be associated with.

It is all-the-more irritating when the window you close was the only active window in that app so focus goes 'nowhere' from a windowing point-of-view--just to the owning app running in the background which has no windows.

The only "work-around" I'm aware of is to use COMMAND-Q to quit from the new window--which quits the owning app too--and gets you back to where you came from. But if the new window was one of several active in the app whose window you are leaving, then this isn't what you want as it closes all the other windows in the related app.

I have the same problem for exactly the same reasons! I don't understand how Apple could not create a setting for to change this. SO ANNOYING! This is one of the biggest reasons I run Parallels on my Mac and opt for Windows Explorer for file searching (on one desktop) and Safari for browsing (on another desktop). Apple, please get this right!!!!

Barney, I think we'd have to define "right." My definition of "right" programming is human-centered, not app-centered. Therefore, I'd define what is set "right" based on its usefulness to human productivity. If you think human productivity increases with this setting, please tell me how. I've had nothing but the opposite experience.

Great analogy, Philippp! And yes, I don't think the apps needs to "talk" to each other; the problem has to lie in the OS. As evidence, I submit that when I overlap a Safari window with a Finder window and click on the Safari window to browse online, Safari doesn't move all of its windows in front of the Finder window. It only moves them in front of the Finder window if I CLOSE the Safari window.

Cdhw, thanks for your tips. I didn't know about tabs in Finder and that will help me.

I'm not asking the OS to guess where I want to be. I'm simply asking it to do nothing. If I close a window, just close the window and don't move a window from that same app in front of another window. I've arranged the windows I need in front purposefully. I don't need to OS to rearrange them automatically. Tell me, do you usually work with apps in full screen mode? I do not. I have multiple windows from multiple apps arranged so that I can work between them. For example, I will have a PDF file in Preview, a Finder window with a certain folder, and a Safari window. All three windows are related to the same work, and I have purposefully arranged them so they overlap but so that part of each shows through so I can easily move between them by clicking on them. I do not wish for the OS to rearrange my windows when I close Finder or Safari. The ones I have placed behind are those unrelated to my current work and I have put them back there for a reason. It's extremely irritating for Finder or Safari window I'm not using to automatically come to the front.

I Don't know how to make it work another way. Applications, not their document windows, are the primary actors. Just because you close an app's document window doesn't necessarily imply you wish to switch back to another app you were using before, so the OS would have to read your mind each time. The safest course of action would be to remain within the app.

The only thing I can suggest is use the facility that exists, cmd-tab. The most recently used app,will be next in sequence.

Apple, please get this right!!!!

It's been "right" for 30 years. It just isn't what you like.

Mac OS is application-centric. A window is a document in an App, not the app and document all rolled into one thing.

Apple rarely provides an option to choose one behavior over another, so don't hold your breath.

If I'm working in an App and I finish using a document, I generally wish to stay in that app to create another document. I don't necessarily want to return to some place the OS guesses I want to be. Since I know where I am, and where I want to go, I just cmd-tab back to the previous app if that's what I want. If I want to go back two applications, I cmd-tab twice. If it's been a while and I can't remember where I was, I slide three fingers up the trackpad and select a document from Mission Control. None of that requires the OS to guess at what I want to do.

Tell me, do you usually work with apps in full screen mode?

Never have. Does that have some bearing on the behavior?

I do arrange common windows into related Desktops, moving between desktops as appropriate.

Security constraints prevent one application from being able to know about, or control, the windows of other applications. This limits the extent to which one application can act as a seamless 'helper' for another. It's a pity that sandboxing has made this technique so difficult for developers, but it's the price one pays for security in a world where even a simple 'Notes' app needs an internet connection.

I'd recommend taking a step back from the problem and reviewing whether any of the relatively recent enhancements to OS X could be used to give you a more amenable experience. A few examples I have in mind are:

Try using 'tabbed' Finder windows as your default. This would cut down the number of Finder windows, possibly to 1, so that they didn't obscure your work.

Try using 'spaces'. Perhaps working with your application in one 'space' and keeping the Finder windows open in another would help. You can then swipe back and forth between two spaces.

Try using the 'cmd H' key-combination to hide Finder windows. If you get into the habit of closing a Finder window by holding down cmd and then typing W H in quick succession.

All these techniques feel slightly odd to start with, but use them for a day or so and your muscle-memory will soon learn them.

C.

Apple - Mac OS X - Feedback