Alt-Tab

Alt-Tab

Alt+Tab ↹ is the common name for a keyboard shortcut that has been in Microsoft Windows since Windows 3.0. This shortcut switches between top-level windows without using the mouse; hence it was named Task Switcher (Flip in Windows Vista).

Perhaps the most common use of Alt+Tab ↹ is to alternate between the two most recent tasks, but it can also be used to switch to any running program that has a top-level window. The window environment maintains a Z-order list of top-level windows (tasks) with the most recently used tasks at the front, so the most recently used tasks can be switched to the most quickly.

The Alt+Tab ↹ keyboard combination has also been incorporated in other operating systems and desktop environments such as Mac OS X (as ⌘ Cmd+Tab ↹), KDE, and GNOME.