Watch the Video
To get a good sense of Witch's capabilities, watch the following video introduction.
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Click one of the listed sizes, and the video will open and play in your browser at the specified size.
Authorize Witch
Witch works via Apple's Accessibility API, which allows Witch to ask applications for information about their open windows. In order for Witch to interact with other apps, however, it needs your permission. The first time you try to invoke Witch, you'll see this dialog:
Click Open System Settings, and you'll be taken to the Privacy & Security panel in System Settings. On the right side of the screen, click on Accessibility, then find the witchdaemon entry. Click the box next to witchdaemon to enable it—you may have to provide your login password if prompted:
That's it; Witch is now enabled.
Activate Witch
Make sure Witch is enabled by opening System Settings, selecting the Witch panel (near the bottom), and verifying there's a checkmark in the "Enable Witch" box at top left:
If there's no checkmark, click the box then close System Settings.
Now press and hold the Option key, then press Tab—you've now activated the Witch window switcher.
Option-Tab is the default activation keystroke for Witch, and when pressed, Witch displays the default switcher, which looks somewhat similar to the Command-Tab switcher:
But there's a lot of power hiding in that panel. Notice the notch at the top of the Safari icon highlight? With Safari selected in the switcher, press the Down Arrow key, and you'll see both of Safari's open tabs:
Witch lets you easily get to any tab in any window (assuming the app has mac-standard tabs that Witch can see) without any complicated multi-switching. And if you want even more direct access to your windows, try using a vertical switcher.
Witch ships with one of these configured; it's just lacking a keyboard shortcut. It's the second action on the Actions tab; here it's been assigned to the Control-Tab shortcut:
In vertical mode, your tabs can be displayed as windows, providing even quicker access:
This second switcher is hiding an even potentially more interesting power…
Check your menu bar, too
Witch allows you to have multiple switchers—onscreen, in the menu bar, or both. Notice the window-like icon in the menu bar and click it for another version of the switcher:
As with the onscreen switcher, you can drill down into windows with tabs. You can also directly access Witch's settings from this menu. If you do that now, you can…
Interact with Witch
With the Witch panel onscreen, you can use many of the keyboard's keys to do useful things—like closing or minimizing a window, jumping from one application to the next, or opening Witch's settings panel. Here's a complete list of Witch's keyboard shortcuts.
| Key(s) | Functionality |
|---|---|
|
↑ · ↓ (vertical) or ← · → (horizontal) or K · J |
Move to previous or next entry in the Witch switching panel. |
|
T · B or Home · End |
Jump to the top or bottom (vertical) or left or right (horizontal) of the switcher panel. |
|
A · Shift-A or Page Up · Page Down |
Skip to next application in switcher window display—press A repeatedly to cycle to the next app in the list, skipping any open windows. (In this mode, Witch acts somewhat like the OS X Command-Tab application switcher.) |
| Enter or Return or E | Activate the selected item in the switcher panel. These keys are most useful to those who leave the switcher panel onscreen by unchecking the "Releasing all modifier keys dismisses list and activates selected item" entry on the Advanced tab of Witch's settings screen. |
| 0 to 9 | Directly open window #0 to window #9 (you can see badges on the windows to help remember which is which using an option on the Appearance tab). |
| F | Show selection in Finder. (If an app with no open windows is selected, that app will be shown in Finder.) |
| G | Grab a full-screen screenshot that includes the Witch panel. Saved to your Desktop, in a file named Witch Screenshot 123456789, where the long number is a unique timestamp. (Requires granting Screen Recording permission when prompted.) |
| H | Hide (unhide) the selected application (thereby hiding all of its windows). |
| M | Minimize (unminimize) the selected window. |
| Q | Quit the app associated with the selected window. | R | Send a Reopen event—brings all windows forward (or opens a new window if none exist). |
| S | Activates the Search field to find windows by typing. |
| W | Close the selected window. |
| Z | Zoom (unzoom) the selected window. |
| P or Space Bar | Show preview window on demand—so you can leave the preview feature off and still see them when you want them. |
| , (comma) | Open Witch's System Settings panel. |
| X or . (period) | Close the switcher panel, regardless of what it's displaying. |
| Esc | Switch to Search box; press twice to exit Witch switcher. One extra press will be required if viewing a window preview. |
Customize Witch
This is where you make Witch work the way you want it to work:
From here, you can add and remove switchers (using the +/- buttons), set the activation keys for each switcher, change how each operates, change how each looks, and much more.
For the full story on customizing Witch, please see the relevant sections of Help (as shown in the sidebar), each of which covers one of the tabs in the Witch System Settings panel:
Actions • Appearance • Advanced • About
You can also review some common questions and answers.
Tips on Using Help
Our help system is designed to be easy to use. The top area of the window contains page navigation buttons on the left, and a magnifying glass icon (that will open a search box) on the right. If you find the font size too small, you can increase it by pressing ⌘=; ⌘- will reduce the size.
We use some standard conventions for certain bits of text throughout our help system:
These sections of text contain additional explanatory material that's related to the topic being discussed, but may go into more detail or not quite fit in the regular flow, so we set it apart with a visual call-out.
These sections of text contain tips, shortcuts, hidden features, or other similar "goodies" to help you get the most out of the app.
This is text we really want you to read—generally, something that's very important relative to your use of the app. If you're just skimming the help files, don't skim these notes—please read them.
When we reference items in the menu, we highlight each menu item's name, and separate them with an arrow, like this:
→ →When we reference a setting in Settings, it'll be called out like this: A user-settable setting
Keys you type are called out: ⌘⌃4
Get More Help
If this help isn't enough, and you need additional assistance with Witch, you can reach out to us via our other channels. Use our support page to open a trouble ticket or email us directly, and you can often find us on our Discord channel.
You might also find answers to your Witch questions on the Witch FAQ pages.