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I'd like application switching to include applications from all workspaces. While the settings look correct, application switching does not include applications from all workspaces but applications from the current workspace only. Changing the settings below "Application Switching" seems to have no effect.

I think to remember it worked nicely a few days ago. Since then, I've made some virtual machine installation tests and it is possible I've made modifications that ended with this bug. Is there a way to solve this problem?

  • Linux distribution: Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS
  • Linux kernel version: 5.15.0-43-generic

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TVG
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  • Does this answer your question? Where can I send feature requests? – graham Aug 09 '22 at 07:51
  • Sorry, I'm not sure to understand what that has to do with my problem... – TVG Aug 09 '22 at 08:18
  • you haven't so much asked a question as made a feature request. Ask Ubuntu is a Q&A site. – graham Aug 09 '22 at 08:24
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    The feature I want (including applications from all workspaces when switching with ALT+TAB) already exists. It is just that it doesn't work properly on my PC. While the corresponding option is correctly activated in my settings, the resulting behavior is not the one expected. Then, my question is: How to solve this bug? Thanks. – TVG Aug 09 '22 at 08:29
  • It is also possible to file a bug now at the console if you type

    ubuntu-bug

     – graham Aug 09 '22 at 08:35

2 Answers2

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Super+Tab keyboard shortcut will give you the functionality you need.. under settings->keyboard->navigation->switch applications you can change the keyboard shortcut to Alt+Tab if that's your preference.

Daniel Cavalli
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    There are two different shortcuts: "Switch windows" (Alt+Tab) and "Switch applications" (Super+Tab). I expect both behave according to the Settings->Multitasking->Application Switching configuration. Super+Tab correctly behave depending on the "all/each workspace(s)" configuration but not on the "all/each monitor(s)" configuration. Alt+Tab does not. – TVG Aug 12 '22 at 13:17
  • I can't help but think this is a "feature". So you can have both isolated application switching and cross-workspace application switching without having to choose one or the other in the setup. One more hotkey is maybe a bit of a pain to memorise, but I think this actually solves it for me. I know about 600 or so hotkeys, so one more isn't going to break me. :) I do wish it would show thumbnails previews instead of oversized icons however. – C.Rogers Sep 30 '22 at 11:18
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Cause

As already mentioned above, GNOME has 2 ways for switching applications:

  • 'Application switching' (usually mapped to Super + Tab) switches on a per-application basis, and
  • 'Window switching' (usually mapped to Alt + Tab) switches on a per-window basis.

Separate settings control the behavior of Application switching and Window switching. The settings described in the question apply to Application switching only (N.B. caption is literally 'Application switching'). This setting will not change the way Window switching works.

Similar setting exists for Window switching as well, the factory default for which is "current workspace only" -- hence the experienced behavior. Unfortunately this second setting is not shown on the GUI, therefore cannot be changed directly.

Solution

In order to enable cross-workspace Window switching with Alt+Tab, the configuration value of org.gnome.shell.window-switcher.current-workspace-only must be set to false with some other tool than Settings.

  • Option 1: use the following command from a terminal:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.window-switcher current-workspace-only false
  • Option 2: use the Dconf Editor tool (install if necessary from software center or from terminal: sudo apt install dconf-editor), then use the treebrowser in Dconf Editor to navigate to org.gnome.shell.window-switcher.current-workspace-only, turn off the switch: dconf setting

Alt + Tab will then include windows from all workspaces.

Source

balage
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  • Thanks for your clear answer. I now understand that the settings for "Switch windows" (Alt+Tab) and "Switch applications" (Super+Tab) are separated. However, note that for "Switch applications" (Super+Tab), when settings have "Include applications from each monitor only" activated, the shortcut Super+Tab continues to show the applications from all monitors. This was the case with Ubuntu 22.04 and is still the case on Ubuntu 23.04. – TVG Sep 27 '23 at 08:42
  • @TVG I cannot test all monitors vs. current monitor only at the moment. Also this is probably a separate issue? The original question does not include it. – balage Sep 27 '23 at 09:39
  • OK, the title of the subject is about workspaces. Then, we can say that this specific problem is solved. – TVG Sep 27 '23 at 14:17