Many Tricks
Our apologies for the lyrical headline, but after fighting OS X’s Spaces feature for a few months, we couldn’t resist a bit of humor…
Excellent news, multi-display Witch users: we believe we have worked around the most-annoying Witch issue in OS X 10.9.5 and Yosemite (OS X 10.10): The inability to activate a window on another display when switching via Witch. The window would pop to the front, but not activate.
Apple changed something in OS X 10.9.5, and left it changed in OS X 10.10…and whatever it was they changed, it broke Witch’s ability to properly switch windows across displays. You’d only see this problem if you had “Displays have separate Spaces” enabled in System Preferences > Mission Control. But as this is the default setting, most users were experiencing the problem.
If you’d like to help us confirm the fix, read on for the instructions.
We can’t make a beta of the App Store version of Witch, so the testing must be done with the direct sales version. The direct version is a System Preferences panel; App Store users should be able to download and use it as licensed users, assuming they’ve run the App Store version at least once (per this tip).
So if you’d like to test, here’s what to do:
- Disable Witch. App Store users, launch the Witch application an uncheck the “Enable Witch” box, then quit the app. Direct users, open System Preferences > Witch, uncheck Enable Witch, then quit System Preferences.
Download Witch 3.9.5 beta and mount the disk image.- Double-click on the Witch.prefpane icon, as seen at right, on the disk image. This will open System Preferences and either install Witch (if you were running the App Store version) or pop up a cancel/replace dialog (if you were already running the direct version of Witch). If you get the dialog, choose Replace to install the new beta.
- It should be already done, but make sure “Enable Witch” is checked, and you should be good to go.
Now go ahead and try switching between windows on multiple displays, and things should pretty much just work. You’ll notice one visual oddity if you switch to a window of an app that has windows open on more than one display: we have to first bring up the window on the current display before switching to the proper window on the other display. This was the only way we could make this work at all; we felt the trade-off was worth it, given the alternative of no functionality.
So please, put this beta version of Witch to the test, and let us know if it resolves your switching issues. Once we’ve had people testing it for a bit, we’ll roll the changes into a minor update for both App Store and direct buyers.
I had been eagerly awaiting this fix for a little over a month now, but unfortunately, this seems to have changed nothing for me. I installed the 3.9.5 beta version as per the instructions above, but switching between applications on multiple spaces still does not work. Interestingly, when I logged out and logged back in with each display set to have its own space, the switching worked a few times (for a few seconds), but then stopped working and never worked again.
Ed:
Can you confirm that 3.9.5 is actually running? Do this by calling up the Witch switcher panel, then press the comma key to open Witch’s settings. Go to the About tab, and the top row should indicate the version and build. Is it 3.9.5?
regards,
-rob.
Okay. Thanks for this suggestion. I can see that actually Version 3.9.4 is still running. However, I have tried 3 times to follow the instructions above and read the Read_Me.html to no avail. Steps 1 – 3 above happen exactly as specified. I choose “Replace” and then I launch Witch. Then I select “Enable”. However, if I go to “About Witch” I see “Version 3.9.4 (3197)”. Is there a way to do a clean uninstall / reinstall or something?
I’m guessing the App Store version is still in your Applications folder, and perhaps it’s set to run at login. Remove it from the login items list, zip the app (for now), then logout/login (to clear everything out).
Then check the System Preferences > Witch panel, make sure it’s enabled, and see what happens.
regards;
-rob.
I removed Witch from my login items list, and attempted to zip the app (I think it is zipped but it still appears the same (same icon same name) in the applications folder, and ls in command line still shows it as /Applications/WItch.app/). Then I repeated the instructions once again, without success. Then I realized that I was opening Witch by using finder instead of going through System Preferences. The problem seems to be there — evidently Finder opens version 3.9.4, but going through System Preferences > Witch opens version 3.9.5.
Now with the new version running, I can confirm it bug appears fixed. Thank you for that.
I have experience with Linux/Ubuntu and Windows, and I have to say that upgrading an app, even to a beta version, should not be this hard. (I have never had a problem with sudo apt-get install.) Frankly it is absurd enough that a third party app like Witch is even necessary for such functionality. I appreciate the work you at Many Tricks are up to trying to make OS X usable, but I have to say that if I weren’t required to use an apple computer at my work I would abandon their ridiculous bulls**t in a heartbeat.
Best,
Ed Coakley
It’s not generally this hard to install a beta version of an app. However, the App Store will not let developers distribute System Preference panels, so we had to wrap Witch in an app wrapper.
And yes, if you launch from Finder, you’re launching the application—System Preferences panels aren’t launched, they’re typically always running (probably one reason Apple doesn’t like them in the store).
The mere act of installing the Witch pref pane puts it into an active mode; when you launched the Finder Witch, you were overriding that.
So the only time this is complex is this example: the App Store version is an app, and the direct version is a System Preferences panel. (It’s also the only app of ours that’s like this.)
regards;
-rob.
Fixed for me! Thanks!
I’m running Witch 3.9.4 (3197/3251) (no beta, no MAS). For me this error doesn’t seem to show up, so there’s no need for a fix at least for my Mac.
Then again… I might understood the bug incorrectly. Would you mind confirming that there “should be” a bug in this screencast demo I made: http://cl.ly/YZXt/witch.mp4
I switched between two Google Chrome windows and the where activated without a problem. Naturally it would be a step backwards for me if suddenly Witch first brings up the window on the current display before switching to the proper window on the other display.
What you demonstrated in the video should work fine in 3.9.4 (and 3.9.5). What won’t work in 3.9.4 is this:
* Keep those two Chrome windows open.
* Go to some other app on one of the two displays.
* Invoke Witch, and try to open the Chrome window on the other display.
-rob.
Strange. Tried it and it still works.
Works for me! Thanks, this was really annoying.
Late to the party here, but this worked for me as well. It switches to a same-display window for a moment, then to the desired window. As a web developer, I totally understand about the need for workarounds in broken host systems…
Awesome. Works perfectly. Way to iron out the details – it feels so much smoother now. Thanks!
Ah guys, you’re awesome. Just migrated about a month ago to Mavericks and it bugged me a lot that one of my favourite tools didn’t work anymore as it did before. Now everything is shiny again… :)
Thanks a lot!
it works, thanks for the fix.