After switching workspaces, a single alt-tab does not switch between windows

[Eric Casteleijn]

1. start firefox, snap it to the left
2. start terminal, snap it to the right
3. press ctrl+alt+right to move the the right workspace
4. start terminal again from the dash and snap to the left
5. press ctrl+alt+right to move to the left workspace
6. quickly press alt-tab to switch to other app

What happens:
the focus stays on terminal

What should happen:
firefox should have the focus.

=====Original Report=====
If you have a workspace with two windows (say firefox and a terminal) and you switch away from it and then back, very often, alt-tab will just stay in one window instead of switching between the two. Holding alt-tab *will* show all the windows, and allow switching to the other one with another key-stroke, but I feel the intended behavior of the single alt-tab is broken.

[Bilal Akhtar (bilalakhtar)]

I didn't get it. You mean to say, when you are on a single workspace, switching using Alt+Tab actually switches you to windows out of the current workspace?

If that's the case, then in CCSM you might want to "bias" Alt+Tab to windows in the current workspace.

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

No, what happens is, after I switch from one workspace to another with CTRL-ALT-ARROW, (a single) alt-tab subsequently gives focus to the window that already has focus (in that new workspace) even though there are multiple windows there, which is less than useful.

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

describing it in single steps maybe clearer:

what I do:
- switch to a desktop that has 2 or more open windows
what happens:
- one of the windows on that desktop gains focus (a good thing)
what I do:
- hit alt-tab
what happens:
- the same window keeps focus (a bad thing, I would expect any of the other windows on the same workspace to get focus)
workaround:
press and hold alt-tab until the window switcher comes up, which does show all open windows and allow me to switch to another one. (this is *much* slower though)

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

As an additional point of possible interest:

<super>-tab also does not work in this case: it will actually briefly select and bring into focus the selected application, but then focus immediately returns to the window that had it.

I don't know if it matters, but I notice that it's usually terminal windows that show this behavior, and always when I have terminals open on more than one workspace...

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

which version of Ubuntu is that? with very little testing that I performed seems I can't reproduce the issue here.

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

This is on Precise.

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

Steps to reproduce it here:

<SUPER>fir<ENTER> (open firefox)
[drag window to the left edge so it takes half the screen]
<SUPER>ter<ENTER> (open terminal)
[drag window to the right edge so it takes the other half of the screen]
<CTRL><ALT><ARROW RIGHT> (Switch workspaces)
<SUPER>ter<ENTER> (open terminal)
[drag window to the left edge so it takes half the screen]
<CTRL><ALT><ARROW LEFT> (Switch workspaces)
<ALT><TAB> (Just tap it, don't press and hold) Focus stays on the same window.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for unity because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

This has not been resolved.

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

In the above steps, replace <CTRL><ALT><ARROW RIGHT> and <CTRL><ALT><ARROW LEFT> with <CTRL><SUPER><ARROW RIGHT> and <CTRL><SUPER><ARROW RIGHT>

[Eric Casteleijn (thisfred)]

ehh, that last one should be <CTRL><ALT><ARROW LEFT>

[Justyn Butler (justyn)]

I see this bug, but not for all applications.

In fact currently if I directly follow the steps to reproduce and switch to a workspace with the terminal in focus and Firefox doesn't, a single alt-tab works as expected and changes the focus to Firefox, so no bug.

If however I try to switch to a workspace where Firefox already has focus and alt-tab to another window (ie terminal or nautilus) it is impossible to switch away from Firefox with a single alt-tab, and I have to wait for the switcher window to appear and select the other window there.