The simple keyboard combination of Alt-Tab to switch between applications doesn't work.

I have followed this answer but it doesn't answer the question as I want to switch to another application, not display applications and then have to select it via the mouse as it defeats the purpose of the quick switch to the other application.

There is also mention of updating the Keyboard shortcut settings. My keyboard combination is set to the Alt-Tab in the shortcut section and it doesn't switch applications. Seems the setting is ignored as I changed it to another keyboard combo and it just doesn't switch applications.


Seems Application Switching is turned of by default.

To activate it you need to run the following command

ccsm

That will bring up CompizConfig Settings Manager.

  • Go to the Window Management section.
  • Check off ✔ Application Switcher.

Then the Alt+Tab will work.

Require installation of the compiz-plugins-extra package.


The solution in Meer Borg's answer made my computer very slow.

I instead checked the:

✔ Static Application Switcher

That also solves this problem.


Using the Static Application Switcher made my Alt+Tab work, but Alt+Shift+Tab was somehow bound to a different application switcher, which meant that I could not go back and forth by keeping the Alt key down, and alternating between Tab and Shift+Tab.

I finally managed to get it working by removing Alt+Shift+Tab from switch-applications-backward:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-applications-backward "['<Shift><Super>Tab']"