CmdTab
macOS window switching
Classic Grid
Classic Grid presents eligible windows as separate tiles in the same global exact-window sequence used by every CmdTab mode. It is designed for people who identify work visually before they identify it by title.
Last reviewed:
Open in the full showcase →Definition
Classic Grid is CmdTab’s thumbnail-oriented presentation mode. It does not group every window from one application into one tile: each eligible window remains its own target and can appear anywhere in the global recent-use order.
Classic Grid
Classic Grid exact-window preview
A deterministic product poster shows separate exact-window cards, real-preview styling, and the selected-state treatment used by Classic Grid.
Deterministic product poster
The poster depicts six controlled fixture windows as separate thumbnail cards. A blue outline identifies the selected exact-window target without grouping the cards by application.
Classic Grid shows each eligible window as a separate target; a missing capture changes the tile presentation, not membership. Source: Deterministic product poster. Controlled fixture windows protect private desktop content; the Evidence page records the separate signed-app acceptance boundary.
Current behavior
These statements describe the current implementation and are intentionally narrower than an unmeasured performance claim.
| Behavior | Current CmdTab contract |
|---|---|
| Unit of selection | One eligible top-level window per target |
| Ordering | One exact-window recent-use sequence across applications |
| Same-app windows | Remain separate and may be interleaved with other applications |
| Current exact window | Remains visible at the end of the cycling sequence |
| Preview failure | Uses an icon or placeholder without removing the eligible window |
| Selection movement | Follows adjacent targets in the displayed sequence |
Decision guide
A useful feature page should state the tradeoff instead of treating every workflow as proof of superiority.
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