How to see an app's windows from the Mac Dock

To see an app’s open windows, Control-click its Dock icon → Show All Windows. For the app you are already using, press Control–Down Arrow. Both are built into macOS and work without installing anything.

Find the window you need

Say you have several browser windows open and want the one with your notes. Control-click the browser icon in the Dock, choose Show All Windows, then select the window you recognise.

If that browser is already the active app, use Control–Down Arrow instead. This is especially useful when the titles are similar but the page contents look different.

For a view across apps, press Control–Up Arrow to open Mission Control. Use the app-specific view when you know which app contains your window; use Mission Control when you are less sure.

Pick a shortcut for the kind of switch

Command–Tab moves between apps. To cycle through windows of the current app, use Command–grave accent (`) on a keyboard layout that supports that shortcut.

For example, moving from a browser to your editor is an app switch. Moving between two documents in the same editor is a window switch. Keeping those two jobs separate makes the shortcuts easier to remember.

Once you have found the right pair of windows, you can put them side by side without full screen. If the resulting gap bothers you, turn off the tiling margins.

Prefer previews when you hover?

The built-in methods above open a window overview after a click or shortcut. A preview beside the Dock is useful for a different habit: keeping your hand on the mouse and checking which window to open before switching.

If that is how you work, Wins Dock Preview shows window previews when you hover over Dock icons. Try it with an app where you regularly keep several windows open. For occasional window hunting, the built-in Show All Windows command may be all you need.

Sources

• Apple: See all your open windows on Mac
• Apple: Mac keyboard shortcuts