Cmd+Tab Not Working for Minimized Windows on Mac? Fixes

Cmd+Tab switches apps, not windows. When all of an app’s windows are minimized, switching to it only changes the menu bar. Fix it by pressing Option before releasing Cmd, or ↓ twice while holding Cmd; a utility can make it automatic.

What’s actually happening

You minimize a Safari window to check something in Slack, then press Cmd + Tab to go back. Safari’s menu bar appears at the top, but the window stays in the Dock.

That’s how macOS is designed. Cmd + Tab activates an app:

• If the app has a visible window, that window comes forward.
• If the app was hidden with Cmd + H, all its windows come back.
• If every window is minimized, only the menu bar changes, so it looks like nothing happened.

macOS treats a minimized window as something you put aside on purpose, so switching apps doesn’t bring it back. Coming from Windows, where Alt+Tab restores minimized windows, this feels like a bug.

Fixes without installing anything

All of these work on a stock Mac. Step-by-step instructions for each are in How to Restore Minimized Windows on Mac.

The Option trick is the closest to “just Cmd+Tab”, but you have to remember it every time, and it’s easy to get the key order wrong.

If Cmd+Tab doesn’t work at all

If the app switcher doesn’t appear, or freezes, the problem isn’t minimized windows. Try these in order:

1. Restart the Dock. The app switcher is part of the Dock process. Open Terminal and run killall Dock. The Dock disappears for a second and comes back with your settings intact.
2. Check for apps that grab the shortcut. Screen-sharing and remote-desktop tools, keyboard remappers, and other app switchers can intercept Cmd + Tab. Quit them one at a time to find the culprit.
3. Check your modifier keys. On an external or Windows keyboard, the key labeled Alt is Option and the Windows key is Command. You can remap them in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Modifier Keys.
4. Jumping to another desktop? That’s the “When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application” setting in System Settings → Desktop & Dock.

For other reasons Command-Tab stops working, see Command-Tab not working on Mac.

Tools that make Cmd+Tab restore minimized windows

If you want the window back without extra keys, you need a utility, or a Command-Tab fix that needs no permissions. The three most common ones take different approaches (see also Command Reopen vs AltTab and vs DockDoor):

If you want window previews and can grant the permissions, AltTab is the most complete switcher, and DockDoor brings the same idea to the Dock.

I built Command Reopen for the cases where those don’t fit. It doesn’t need Accessibility or Screen Recording permission, because it only reacts to apps being activated and reopens their windows through standard macOS app APIs. That matters on work Macs, where IT policy often blocks Accessibility access, and for anyone who only installs sandboxed apps from the Mac App Store.