How do you switch between windows in the same program in Mac OSX?

Answer 1

As Mac OS X is a true windowing system where the window allows you to interact with the running application you can select a window which will bring the appropriate application to the fore - note the change in the menu bar at the top. If you have closed a window because you no longer need to interact with the application, for example while listening to music with iTunes, you can click on the applications icon in the Dock to open a window for that application.

Pressing the Command (cmd) key and Tab key will open an application switcher pane across the screen from which you can select, with the mouse or the arrow keys, a running application to work with.

if you have several applications/windows open then Exposé (usually found by pressing the F9 key) will create small images of each window which allows you to select which one you want to work with. Exposé settings can be configured in the 'Exposé & Spaces' section of System Preferences.

Answer 2

Command + Tab will switch between windows in different programs. For example, you can switch from Word to PowerPoint to iTunes.

Command + ` (backquote - on the same key as Tilda ~ located under the Escape key) will switch between windows within the same program. For example, if you have three Excel sheets open, you can switch between each of the three sheets.

Once you have initiated switching between programs with Command + Tab, pressing Command + ` will switch between applications in the reverse order, so if you go one too far with Command + Tab, Command + ` will get you back to where you wanted to be.

Command + Shift + Tab will switch between applications in the reverse order.

Command + Shift + ` will switch between windows in a single program in the reverse order.