App and window shortcuts
Saved shortcuts give apps and Finder folders permanent Hyper keys, independent of your Dock and recent-app order.
To assign an app, open Settings → Apps, search for it, open the shortcut recorder, and press the base key you want. HyperSwitcher supplies the configured Hyper modifiers and saves the change immediately.
If the app belongs to a Shortcut Group, its list row shows group controls. Open the app’s detail page to record or edit its own shortcut. An existing app shortcut remains active while the app belongs to groups.
Space, Return, Zero, Minus, and the physical Equals/Plus key are fixed layout controls, so they cannot be used for app, Finder destination, group, or cycle shortcuts. The recorder reports them as unsupported.
The custom Layout action key in Layout settings is different: HyperSwitcher lets you record a key that is already assigned and reports a shortcut conflict instead. The action key stays reserved while Layouts are enabled. Turning Layouts off releases it for app, Finder destination, group, and cycle shortcuts.
Use a second shortcut layer
Section titled “Use a second shortcut layer”Turn on Settings → General → Enable second shortcut layer when HyperSwitcher provides the built-in Hyper key and App shortcuts include Shift key is off. The setting belongs to the active profile.
Record a key without Shift for the base layer. Hold only the physical Left Shift key while recording to put the shortcut on the second layer; Settings marks it with L⇧. Physical Right Shift and both Shift keys are rejected with inline guidance because Right Shift stays available for Quick Layout.
The layer choice applies independently to app shortcuts, Finder destinations, Shortcut Groups, Back, Forward, and both cycle shortcuts. The same base key can be assigned once on each layer, while two assignments using the same key on the same layer remain a conflict. Temporary shortcuts created from Quick Layout stay on the base layer.
Turning the second layer off, changing Hyper key authority to External app, or turning on App shortcuts include Shift key keeps second-layer assignments saved but inactive. Settings shows their reason through the normal conflict styling; it never moves them onto the base layer.
One key handles every app state
Section titled “One key handles every app state”| App state | What the shortcut does |
|---|---|
| Not running | Launches the app. |
| Running without a selectable window | Asks the app to reopen or reveal a normal window, then focuses it if one appears. |
| Running with one eligible window | Activates the app and focuses that window. |
| Running with several windows | Chooses one using General → App switching. |
| One of its windows is already focused | Another press follows General → Window switching: keeps the current window with Disabled, or cycles windows with Follow pointer or Cycle all windows. |
If an app cannot create a normal window, HyperSwitcher still activates it.
App switching controls the first press from another app. Window switching controls repeat presses after you arrive. Choosing windows explains the pointer, last-used, minimized, display, and Space behavior together.
Copy an automation command
Section titled “Copy an automation command”Open an app in Settings → Apps to copy its focus URL or Terminal command. Both follow the same app and window selection behavior as its keyboard shortcut. For other commands, use the generator in Settings → Automation. See URLs and the command line.
Open a Finder folder with one key
Section titled “Open a Finder folder with one key”Open Finder in Settings → Apps, then use Destination shortcuts → Add Folder…. Choose the folder, optionally give it a custom name, and record its key. Finder destinations belong to the active profile and support the same base and optional second layers as app shortcuts.
Pressing the shortcut asks Finder to open that exact folder. If Accessibility is available and a Finder window identifies itself as showing that folder, HyperSwitcher focuses it instead. Repeated presses move between exact matches when Finder exposes more than one. Otherwise Finder decides whether to reuse a window or tab or open a new one.
The folder still opens without Accessibility, but exact existing-window focus is unavailable. HyperSwitcher does not request Automation permission or use Finder Apple Events.
A moved or renamed folder follows its saved macOS reference when the system can resolve it. If you use the automatic folder name, it refreshes the next time you invoke the destination successfully; HyperSwitcher does not track external renames live. A missing folder or disconnected volume stays visible as unavailable and shows a brief notice instead of opening another location.
Cycle windows without assigning the app
Section titled “Cycle windows without assigning the app”Record Cycle app windows in Settings → Shortcuts to create one reusable window-cycling shortcut for the focused app.
In General → Window switching → Follow pointer mode, the shortcut stays with reachable windows on the pointer display. With Cycle all windows or Disabled, it cycles without using the pointer as a display filter. Disabled stops ordinary app shortcuts from cycling; this explicit shortcut still cycles windows.
If the focused app has an individual shortcut, its minimized-window preference also applies here. Accessibility is required.
Cycle windows in a Workspace
Section titled “Cycle windows in a Workspace”Record Cycle workspace windows in Settings → Shortcuts to move through the current Workspace in visual slot order. When focus is outside a Workspace, the shortcut starts with the first available member on the pointer display and current Space.
The recorder is disabled with an explanation while Workspaces are off or a license is unavailable. See Workspaces for setup, replacement, and session behavior.
Return to recently focused windows
Section titled “Return to recently focused windows”Record independent Back and Forward keys in Settings → Shortcuts. Both start unset.
Choose Navigate history with Hyper taps in Settings → General, alongside the Hyper key setup:
- Off disables history navigation with Hyper taps.
- Double tap is the default. Tap Hyper twice quickly to go back immediately on the second release. One tap alone does nothing.
- Single tap goes back immediately when you release one brief Hyper press.
Hyper taps also work with Layouts disabled. Fresh settings, profiles created from defaults, resetting defaults, and profiles without a saved choice use Double tap. Existing saved on/off choices become Double tap or Off, respectively.
With HyperSwitcher’s built-in Hyper mapping, hold either physical Shift key before tapping Hyper to go forward instead. Use one tap in Single tap mode or two in Double tap mode. In Double tap mode, hold Shift before the first press; releasing Shift between taps preserves Forward. External Hyper mappings support Back with taps; use the configured Forward shortcut to go forward.
Keep each tap shorter than a quarter of a second (250 ms) and shorter than your Quick Layout hold delay. Longer presses never navigate history. Holding Hyper still opens Quick Layout at its configured delay when Layouts are enabled. Pressing another key, clicking a mouse button, scrolling, or using a Quick Layout action or hold cancels pending history taps.
Back and Forward browse recently focused windows, even across apps. HyperSwitcher follows windows focused by its shortcuts, a click, Command-Tab, app activation, or switching within the same app. Repeated Back presses continue farther back without rearranging the history.
Typing, clicking, or scrolling in a window you returned to makes it the most recent window. For example, focus A, then B, then C. Go Back to B and use it: the order becomes A → C → B, so the next Back returns to C. Focusing another window after going back also preserves the other recent windows.
Moving the pointer, pressing modifier keys alone, and using Hyper shortcuts do not make the visited window most recent. Scrolling a background window or letting a scroll coast to a stop does not count either.
The history lasts only until HyperSwitcher quits. Closed or unavailable windows are skipped. HyperSwitcher handles rapid presses one at a time, in order.
History navigation requires Accessibility permission. The Back and Forward shortcuts and Navigate history with Hyper taps setting belong to the active profile.
Switch and place a window in one hold
Section titled “Switch and place a window in one hold”App shortcuts act immediately. To arrange the selected window in the same gesture, release the app key but keep Hyper held, press an arrow, then release Hyper. Release Hyper after the app key when you only want to switch.
Change, remove, or repair a shortcut
Section titled “Change, remove, or repair a shortcut”Select an app’s shortcut to replace or clear it. The Apps list has two problem filters:
- Conflicts means more than one HyperSwitcher action uses the same key on the same layer, or a second-layer assignment is currently dormant.
- Unavailable means macOS refused the registration, usually because the system or another utility already owns it.
Finder destination recorders show the same conflict and registration warnings. See Troubleshooting for external Hyper-key conflicts.
Limited Mode allows four active app and Finder destination shortcuts in total. Later assignments remain saved.