Keyboard shortcut for restoring applications from the Mac OSX Dock?

Question

Is there a keyboard shortcut to restore a minimised application window from the Dock?

Almost all Apple Mac OSX applications respond to the Apple+M command which minimises the current application window to the Dock, which is fine.

I can then use Alt+Tab to cycle through my running applications - including the minimised application, but selecting the application with the minimised window neither restores the minimised window, nor sets focus to the minimised application window in the Dock so I can restore it without having to reach for the Mouse..

Update: Thanks for the answers, however the consensus seems to be to use the 'Hide' feature (Apple+H) instead of minimising, as it's easier to get the window back using Alt+Tab

Answer 1

I don't know of a direct way to restore a minimized window, however, you can get keyboard focus in the dock by pressing Ctrl-F3. Then select the item you want and press space to restore it.

Answer 2

Depending on how your keyboard is set in system preferences, the shortcut to focus the dock may be Ctrl+Fn+F3.

Answer 3

I asked for assistance at the Apple Genius bar in Aventura, and while they didn't have an answer, they did suggest using the Hide feature instead (Apple+H) which works well because when I Alt+Tab back to the application the hidden window is shown.

Answer 4

You can launch the application again to display the last minimised windows. For example, if you minimise Safari, clicking the Safari icon in the dock or launching it via Spotlight will un-minimise the last minimised window.

I've only checked this with the 5 apps I have open but it works in each of them.

I guess you could write an applescript to perform this function and assign it to an keyboard shortcut.

Answer 5

I would strongly suggest using Witch. This lets you bring back minimized apps, as well as 'orphaned' apps, after you have closed the main window. You can also directly access the different windows within an app. Well worth the registration fee; about 10 euros.

Answer 6

Many mac users that are keyboard-shortcut fanatics have come to know and love "Quicksilver," which allows you to customize quite a number of shortcuts and easily link them to a broad variety of actions.

Quicksilver is a free, open-source program.

Quicksilver is the work of a Google programmer, Nicholas Jitkoff, and the open source code for this project is also available in Google Code.

You can download the program from http://www.blacktree.com/

Here is one decent introduction to its usage:

http://lifehacker.com/software/quicksilver/hack-attack-a-beginners-guide-to-quicksilver-247129.php

Answer 7

I had to find this one, as I use Linux as well as Mac OS X, and in Thunderbird Ctrl-M is the key to compose a new message... under Linux. On Mac OS X, it keeps "minimizing" the app. This is a little tricky, but...

Cmd-Tab to the app you want to restore. Release Tab, but keep Cmd held down. Now press Option (a.k.a. Alt), and while it is held down release Cmd.

I have been "training" myself to make use of Cmd-H (Hide) on Mac OS instead of minimizing. If you hide an app, then once it is selected via Cmd-Tab it pops back up on-screen.

Answer 8

Command-Tab until you get the app's icon, then press option and release.

Answer 9

A couple of caveats about the alt/option option:

1) You must switch to another app and let it take focus first. In other words, you can't just (shift-/)command-tab to another app and before actually selecting that app (by releasing command-tab), switch right back to your minimized app which you might do if you minimized by accident or just simply changed your mind shortly after minimizing.

2) Both the command and left alt/option keys must be pressed on the same side of the keyboard.