How to see which apps are open on your Mac
Your Mac has three quick ways to show what is open.
Look for the dots in the Dock
The Dock shows a small dot below the icon of every open app. Open apps that are not kept in the Dock also appear there while they run.
If you see no dots, open System Settings, choose Desktop & Dock, and turn on Show indicators for open applications.
Go through your open apps with Command-Tab
Press and hold Command, then press Tab. Keep holding Command, and the list of your open apps stays open. Use the Left and Right arrow keys to move through it. Release Command to switch to the selected app.
To stop without switching, press Esc before you release Command.
See all open windows with Mission Control
Press Control-Up Arrow, press the Mission Control key, or swipe up with three fingers on the trackpad. Mission Control shows all your open windows. Press the keys again or swipe down to leave.
With more than one display, each display shows its own windows.
To keep the windows of each app together, turn on Group windows by application in System Settings, Desktop & Dock, in the Mission Control section.
See all windows of one app
Press Control-Down Arrow to show all windows of the app in front. To move between them without leaving the app, press Command-`. On most keyboards that is the key above Tab.
See which apps are open on each screen
With two or more screens, the Dock shows all open apps together and does not tell you which screen they are on. With several screens, Mission Control gets crowded, and windows do not stay in the same place, so finding one app takes time. Dockaroo gives every display and every desktop its own dock, and each dock shows only the apps that have windows on that screen. Dockaroo Lite is free for your main display and one more.
Summary
- Dots in the Dock show the open apps.
- Command-Tab goes through them.
- Control-Up Arrow shows all open windows, Control-Down Arrow the windows of one app.