ALT+Tab no longer switches applications since upgrade to 18.04

Question

I have always used Alt+Tab key combo to switch between programs. Since upgrade to 18.04 only Super+Tab works.

How do I make both Alt buttons work with Tab to switch applications?

Solution 1

In the Settings > Devices > Keyboard menu, you will find a list of keyboard shortcuts. Under the Navigation section, you can find the relevant functions and their associated shortcuts, and change them as you see fit. You're looking for the one named Switch applications.

Solution 2

Run gnome-control-center aka the Settings application.

Remove the shortcut for Switch applications by clicking on it and deleting it with the backspace key, now press the Set button.

Now set Switch windows by clicking on it, then press Alt + Tab and click the Set button.

Solution 3

Turns out the configuration just needs to be updated in settings.

Open Settings > Devices > Keyboard and under Keyboard Shortcuts select Switch applications and update it with left Alt+Tab.

Both Alt+Tab combinations should now work.

Solution 4

If my understanding of the problem stated here is correct try the following solution. It is a three stage process

Stage-1:
(1) Open Settings > Devices > Keyboard and under Keyboard Shortcuts
(2) Remove the shortcut for Switch applications by clicking on it and deleting it with the Backspace Key, now press the Set button.
(3) Remove the shortcut for Switch windos directly by clicking on it and deleting it with the Backspace Key, now press the Set button.

Stage-2:
(1) Create a new shortcut for Switch applications by clicking on it and then press Alt + Esc and click the Set button.
(2) Create a new shortcut for Switch windos directly by clicking on it and then press Super + Tab and click the Set button.

What we have achieved so far is simply swapping the key combinations for the following actions
Switch applications and Switch windos directly
Now let us proceed to the next stage

Stage-3:
(1) Create a new shortcut for Switch windos by clicking on it and then press Alt + Tab and click the Set button.

Voila
You have restored the behavior of ALT + TAB Key to what is required in this post. If for any reason things are not working you can execute the steps in Stage-0 (mentioned below) and then redo steps in Stage-1 and Stage-2

Stage-0:
(1) **Open Settings > Devices > Keyboard**
(2) In the top of the screen you can see the Reset All... button and then click it
(3) It will ask for confirmation. Click Reset All
Caution: TL;DR
The steps in this stage will remove any key customization you might have done in the past before you following the steps in this thread

That's all folks
Have a great time playing with keyboard shortcuts

Solution 5

It is also possible to use Alt + Esc

Somehow maintainers think that this is better. However I always enable Alt + Tab

View more solutions

Comments

[Dimitar]

this happen to me after upgrading from 18.10 to 19.04

[pierrely]

worth noting here that , for me and 19.04 at least, I discovered that alt tab switches windows, and super tab switches applications. an application can have multiple windows, like Firefox and it's download window. I find that super tab preferable in that there are less icons to switch between, and I often have those multiple windows in another monitor anyway

[Kschau]

This does not work for me, neither alt tab nor the predefined super tab do anything

[Kschau]

after some googeling I found a solution people.gnome.org/~federico/blog/alt-tab.html

[Joshua Besneatte]

how is this different from the other answers?

[Kschau]

It's different because "Switch applications" is not the same as "Switch windows", setting "Switch applications" did not work with my setup.

[Eric Mill]

This is the simplest and best.

[unil]

@select thanks for pointing that part out, switch windows was definitely what I was expecting and not switch applications. Why that was changed in 18.04 I'll never understand because alt+tab to me (and probably most people) will mean "go back to the previous window". Just like you wouldn't change ctrl+z to act like ctrl+backspace - its not that same at all!

[Joshua Besneatte]

Welcome to ask Ubuntu! Thanks for your contribution, however, I am not too sure how your answer really differs from any of the others, other than being more in depth. If you want to expand on an answer, it is better to just edit an existing answer with the extra info :)

[Abhijith S]

check for Switch windows directly and double click it and Alt + Tab then clcik set. All done.