Unable to toggle between documents with cmd + tilda on MacOS

[forest-for-trees]

When I started using Affinity designer 3 years ago, I was able to toggle between documents with cmd + ~, as is common in applications on MacOS. However, recently (perhaps after installing a MacOS update?), cmd + ~ no longer does anything. I don't see a menu option to toggle documents, so I don't know how to configure the hotkey to work again. I am using MacOS Ventura 13.3.1 (a) on a 2021 14" MacBook Pro. Any ideas are appreciated!

[thomaso]

15 minutes ago, forest-for-trees said:

cmd + ~, as is common in applications on MacOS

To me Ctrl + Tab-key works to toggle between document tabs in e.g. macOS Preview, Text Edit and also in Affinity apps.

I never heard about Cmd + ~ which may be related to my German keyboard where the ~ requires Opt + N keys. When I press Cmd + Opt + N in macOS Text Edit it opens a new document in a separate window (while Cmd + N opens a new document as new tab in the existing window).

Also, for macOS seem to be several shortcut keys around for various apps, for instance
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252474621
https://superuser.com/questions/299241/in-mac-os-what-is-the-keyboard-shortcut-to-switch-between-windows-of-the-same-a
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/325238/switching-between-tabs-within-the-same-window-in-an-app

And it appears macOS has no specific shortcut defined for document's tab toggling:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Finally you have the choice to define keyboard shortcuts in Affinity > Preferences > Keyboard.
https://affinity.help/designer2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Workspace/customizingShortcuts.html?title=Customising keyboard shortcuts
https://affinity.help/designer2/English.lproj/index.html?page=pages/Workspace/shortcuts.html?title=Keyboard shortcuts

… and also in macOS > System Preferences https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mchlp2271/mac

[R C-R]

FWIW, CMD+tilde cycles throufg open Affinity docs for me, but I am running an older version of macOS, not Ventura. (Using US Apple keyboard.)

[walt.farrell]

5 minutes ago, R C-R said:

FWIW, CMD+tilde cycles throufg open Affinity docs for me, but I am running an older version of macOS, not Ventura. (Using US Apple keyboard.)

Out of curiosity: are your application Settings configured to use Serif or Mac keyboard shortcuts?

[forest-for-trees]

23 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

Out of curiosity: are your application Settings configured to use Serif or Mac keyboard shortcuts?

@thomaso Thanks for sharing. Command + tab is different from command + tilde, at least it used to be. So strange that MacOS doesn't have anything set for that shortcut, I've been using it for years in various apps. Now it seems not to work anywhere. Maybe not a problem with Affinity, but I don't believe Affinity has any way to configure "Toggle document" keyboard shortcut. It would have to appear in the menus, but I don't think it does?

@walt.farrell I'm also curious! Where can we find that setting?

[thomaso]

6 minutes ago, forest-for-trees said:

Command + tab is different from command + tilde, at least it used to be.

Note, to toggle between document tabs I use Control + tab, (not command ).

To toggle in the other direction (from right to left tabs) it's Ctrl + Shift + tab.

[MikeTO]

Cmd+` (the tilde key) still works for me with 2.1 and Ventura to toggle between open Affinity tabs.

What keyboard did you select in macOS?

Try resetting your Affinity shortcuts to Serif Defaults (but save them first so you can revert back). Does that solve it?

Cheers

 

[forest-for-trees]

2 hours ago, thomaso said:

Note, to toggle between document tabs I use Control + tab, (not command ).

@thomaso That works for me! So glad to have that function back. They must have changed this in a recent version of MacOS. Thanks again!

@MikeTO The standard US keyboard, I haven't customized anything about the keyboard for my new computer. I also hadn't customized the shortcuts, but trying to reset didn't solve the problem. It seems that Apple may have just changed something in recent versions of MacOS and now it's Control + tab. I can live with that.

Edited May 19, 2023 by forest-for-trees
Typo

[R C-R]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

Out of curiosity: are your application Settings configured to use Serif or Mac keyboard shortcuts?

If you mean the buttons to reset shortcuts to Affinity defaults or Apple defaults, I use neither, since I have quite a few custom shortcuts I want to keep.

More about those buttons at https://affinity.help/designer2/en-US.lproj/pages/Workspace/customizingShortcuts.html

Regardless, I can't find a customizable shortcut setting for cycling among open docs within the apps, but CMD+tilde works for me, as does CMD+Ahift+tilde to do that in the opposite direction. CTRL+tilde does not cycle but I have set that to show/hide the left studio, & that works for that function.

[MikeTO]

9 hours ago, forest-for-trees said:

@MikeTO The standard US keyboard, I haven't customized anything about the keyboard for my new computer. I also hadn't customized the shortcuts, but trying to reset didn't solve the problem. It seems that Apple may have just changed something in recent versions of MacOS and now it's Control + tab. I can live with that.

Apple didn't change anything in Ventura - it's still Cmd+Tab to change applications and Cmd+` (tilde key) to change tabs. If Cmd+Tab is changing tabs for you then something is wrong with your macOS system shortcuts. There are some bugs in macOS - for example, Safari can lose track of some of its shortcuts and you have to restart it to reset the shortcuts. So the first thing I'd suggest is to restart macOS and perhaps that will fix it.

[forest-for-trees]

@MikeTO Cmd+Tab still works to change applications. That's so strange that Cmd+` is still working for you in Ventura, I'm on system settings here. I've restarted my system plenty of times, and no change. This is across applications, same thing in Safari, so in hindsight I don't think Affinity configuration is going to affect this. What's weirder is that Control+` is now working to switch between tabs within applications. I use Cmd+] primarily to switch tabs in Safari so I never noticed it there. Are you also running Ventura 13.3.1 (a)? Thanks.

[MikeTO]

5 hours ago, forest-for-trees said:

@MikeTO Cmd+Tab still works to change applications. That's so strange that Cmd+` is still working for you in Ventura, I'm on system settings here. I've restarted my system plenty of times, and no change. This is across applications, same thing in Safari, so in hindsight I don't think Affinity configuration is going to affect this. What's weirder is that Control+` is now working to switch between tabs within applications. I use Cmd+] primarily to switch tabs in Safari so I never noticed it there. Are you also running Ventura 13.3.1 (a)? Thanks.

Yes, I'm running 13.3.1 (a).

What are you seeing in System Settings? Scroll down and choose Keyboard on the left. Then click the Keyboard Shortcuts button which opens this popup. Is the second last checkbox for Cmd+` selected? Perhaps try unchecking it, then click Restore Defaults and then click Done.

[nwhit]

CMD-Tilde works fine for me in all 3 apps (v2.1) with Ventura. Use it all day, every day. 

[forest-for-trees]

@MikeTO Thanks for the visual. I did exactly as you suggested, unchecking the Command+` checkbox, then restoring defaults, and then restarted my computer. Still no dice. I also checked to see that my modifiers are also set to defaults, see attached screenshots of both (dark theme flipped on right as I was taking the second). It's driving me mad, because I much prefer the Command+` shortcut to Control+`. Such a small thing, but you really notice it when it's not working as expected. Thanks for all your help, I'll definitely try any other suggestion you might have.

@nwhit Thanks for confirming, such a mystery!

[MikeTO]

If it's happening to you with other apps then it's at the system level. Try swapping the modifiers in settings, switch them all if you like and then restore defaults. If that doesn't fix it, call Apple Support because there's something really wrong.

[Bryce]

On 5/19/2023 at 4:52 PM, nwhit said:

CMD-Tilde works fine for me in all 3 apps (v2.1) with Ventura. Use it all day, every day. 

mystery indeed as this does not work for me either anymore except in Affinity 1.

[R C-R]

6 hours ago, Bryce said:

mystery indeed as this does not work for me either anymore except in Affinity 1.

Which OS version are you using & what language keyboard? For me, I can cycle among Affinity V2 documents using CMD+ "backtick" key (the diacritical paired with the tilde on US keyboards) & cycle in the opposite direction by adding Shift.

This is set in keyboard preferences > Miscellaneous for the "Switch to Next View" & Switch to Previous View" items, like here for AP2:

If you are using a different language keyboard the backtick may not be on it or at a different place than for me but on my Apple extended keyboard it is the key just below the Escape key at the top left of the keyboard.

[Bryce]

I'm using Affinity 2.1 on MacOS 13.4.1

Here is what mine shows:

I think it looks the same. When I press the keys it leaves the program to another window, but not like command+tab. 

[R C-R]

29 minutes ago, Bryce said:

When I press the keys it leaves the program to another window, but not like command+tab. 

What exactly do you mean by "leaves the program to another window"? For me, these shortcuts switch among the open tabs in Affinity, but never leaves the Affinity app I am in.

On macOS, CMD+Tab is the OS level app switcher, as described in the Quickly switch between app windows section of https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/work-with-app-windows-mchlp2469/mac#:~:text=Quickly switch between app windows,to the app you want..

[Bryce]

It's a little hard to describe. If i were using command+tab it would switch to another app - the last one used. If I use command+` it switches to other apps like the "Get info" window, finder, Handbrake, and none of the rest of the apps open.

Perhaps it has something to do with Stage Manager that I started using...

[R C-R]

43 minutes ago, Bryce said:

Perhaps it has something to do with Stage Manager that I started using...

I don't have or use Stage Manager (not available in Catalina) but it seems plausible that it is the cause if it influences how keyboard shortcuts are used. Can you turn it off as a test?

[Barry Newman]

Maybe related Bryce?

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74416207/command-backtick-not-working-when-stage-manager-is-on

[v_kyr]

On 5/19/2023 at 1:32 AM, thomaso said:

And it appears macOS has no specific shortcut defined for document's tab toggling:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201236

Wrong, as your referenced link page already tells ...

Quote

• Command–Grave accent (`): Switch between the windows of the app you're using. (The character on the second key varies by keyboard. It's generally the key above the Tab key and to the left of the number 1.)

Which won't work on german keyboards and older MacOS versions, as we have to use Ctrl-TAB for those on DE keyboards.

[Bryce]

Yes. I'm pretty sure this is it. I can turn off stage manager and it will work. I can turn on STage manager again and it will work. Not for sure how long though.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Bryce said:

Yes. I'm pretty sure this is it. I can turn off stage manager and it will work. I can turn on STage manager again and it will work. Not for sure how long though.

Are you saying that (so far) the fix is just to turn it off & then back on again?