See all your open windows on Mac
When you have multiple windows and apps open, you can use a variety of macOS features and keyboard shortcuts to quickly find the window or app you’re looking for.
View all open windows
Mission Control displays all the open windows and spaces on your Mac. You can use any of the following methods to enter Mission Control.
Use a keyboard: Press the Mission Control (F3) key
, or press Control-Up Arrow. Press it again to exit Mission Control.Use a trackpad: Swipe up using three fingers to enter Mission Control. Swipe down using three fingers to exit Mission Control.
Use a Magic Mouse: To enter or leave Mission Control, double-tap using two fingers.
Drag a window: Drag a window all the way up to the top of the screen.
Use a hot corner: Move the pointer to a hot corner set to Mission Control.
The open windows appear in a grid on the desktop, and the spaces appear at the top of the screen. After you enter Mission Control, click a window or space to bring it to the foreground. To leave Mission Control, click an empty spot on the desktop.
View open windows for one app
If you’re looking for a window in a particular app, you can use one of these methods:
Show all open windows in the current app: Press Control-Down Arrow. Or, move the pointer to a hot corner set to Application Windows.
Show all open windows in a different app: Control-click the app’s icon in the Dock, then choose Show All Windows.
Quickly view the desktop
If you need to see the items on your desktop, you can use any of these methods to reveal the desktop without closing any windows:
Use a keyboard: Press Command-Mission Control (F3)
. Press it again to view your windows again.Use a trackpad: Spread your thumb and three fingers outward. To view your windows again, spread your thumb and three fingers inward.
Use a hot corner: Move the pointer to a hot corner set to Desktop. To view your windows again, move the pointer back to the hot corner.
Cycle through open windows and apps
To cycle through windows and apps to find the one you want, use any of the following methods:
Cycle through all open apps: Press Command-Tab to bring up the application switcher, then keep holding the Command key while pressing Tab repeatedly to cycle through the apps. Press Shift-Command-Tab to move to the previous app. Release the keys when you get to the app you want to switch to.
Cycle through all windows in the current app: Press Command-Grave accent (`) repeatedly, until you get to the window you want to switch to. (The grave accent key is located above the Tab key and to the left of the number 1 key.)
Hide or minimize windows
If you want to reduce desktop clutter, you can hide all the windows for other apps, or minimize specific windows.
Minimize a window: Click the yellow button in the upper-left corner of the window to send it to the Dock without closing it.
Hide the current app: Press Command-H.
Hide other apps: Press Option-Command-H.
To unhide an app or reopen a minimized window, click its icon in the Dock.