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<!DOCTYPE html><html lang='en'><head prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns/article#"><meta charset='utf-8'><title>Manage Mac Application Windows with Contexts | Sayz Lim</title><meta name="description" content="Contexts manages your cluttered Mac application windows with the powerful search feature. 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Followed by our trio — Safari, Firefox, and Chrome. Marked and nVALT are the best combination for writing. Need to edit some images? Pixelmator is the guy. Don’t forget to keep the Terminal active for committing changes. Let’s activate Mission Control. Now, where is <em>that</em> window?</p><!--more--><p>It’s difficult to keep your application windows organized — not when you have a small screen like MacBook Air. There is a limitation of how much can be shown at once.</p><p>You can switch between active applications easily with OS X built in <strong>Application Switcher</strong>. However, what if you want to find a specific application window? What if you have ten similar windows opened? Even App Exposé can’t help you, unless you <a href="https://sayzlim.net/effective-menu-bar-search-workflow" title="sayzlim.net: Effective Menu Bar Search Workflow">search through your menu bar</a>.</p><p>You can use <a href="https://contexts.co/" title="Contexts for Mac">Contexts</a>.</p><p>Robert Agcaoili, the author of gridwriter, accurately described Contexts’ main feature in one sentence, “<strong>Contexts for Mac is like a task switcher on steroids.</strong>” Now, Contexts has joined the rest of my precious applications. It carries the same value as Bartender. It does one thing well: to help me search active windows.</p><h3 id="not-yet-as-application-switcher-replacement">Not Yet As Application Switcher Replacement</h3><p>You use Application Switcher to manage applications. In other words, you can activate, hide, and even quit applications with Application Switcher. None of the features I mentioned are available in Contexts. Instead acting as a replacement, Contexts actually complements Application Switcher as Window Switcher.</p><p>What exactly is the difference?</p><p>Application Switcher only shows the number of active applications. If they’re available in Dock, you can view all of them by pressing <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">Command-Tab</code>. As for Window Switcher, you can only see the active windows. If you have four active Finder windows, they’re all visible in Contexts.</p><p>Both of them can be used together to tame all your active applications and windows.</p><h3 id="using-contexts-to-manage-windows">Using Contexts to Manage Windows</h3><p><a href="https://images.sayzlim.net/2013/09/contexts_sidebar.jpg" title="Contexts’s sidebar shows active application wndows"> <img src="https://images.sayzlim.net/2013/09/contexts_sidebar.jpg" alt="Contexts’ sidebar at bottom right" title="Contexts’s sidebar shows active application wndows" /> </a></p><p>I keep the sidebar visible all the time at the bottom right of the screen. The active windows in sidebar serves as a signal to remind me that I’m doing too much tasks. Sometimes I find many Finder windows stay active when they’re actually pointing to the same path.</p><p><a href="https://images.sayzlim.net/2013/09/contexts_search.jpg" title="Use Contexts Search to filter result"> <img src="https://images.sayzlim.net/2013/09/contexts_search.jpg" alt="Contexts’s search result" title="Use Contexts Search to filter result" /> </a></p><p>Contexts’ main feature is search. By utilizing <code>Option-`</code> to access search field, you can find a specific window among hundred of active windows within a few key presses.</p><p>There is another shortcut to switch between windows — by using <code class="language-plaintext highlighter-rouge">Option-[Number]</code>. I don’t use this shortcut because it takes away the ability to type symbols on Mac. Some of the keys are pretty common such as ™ and ∞. I hope there is a way to assign our own shortcuts, or at least modifiers to avoid keys conflict in future.</p><p>While under development, Contexts can be used for free and purchased for $7. That’s half of the original price. If you think you need an application to manage windows, Contexts is one of the choice you need to consider.</p></article></section><aside class="related-posts"><h5>Related Posts</h5><div class="related-box"><div class="related-card"><div class="related-date">May 20, 2021</div><a href="/set-default-apps-mac/"><div class="related-title">Better Way to Set Default Application on macOS</div><div class="related-desc">Learn how you can set and manage the default application on macOS with OpenIn.</div></a><ul class="excerpt-tags"><li><a href="/tag/review">Review</a></ul></div><div class="related-card"><div class="related-date">Mar 10, 2021</div><a href="/dropover-review/"><div class="related-title">Replacing DragonDrop with Dropover</div><div class="related-desc">Dropover is one of my must-have macOS apps to boost my productivity by acting as a holding bin for me to move files around.</div></a><ul class="excerpt-tags"><li><a href="/tag/dragondrop">DragonDrop</a><li><a href="/tag/dropover">Dropover</a><li><a href="/tag/review">Review</a></ul></div><div class="related-card"><div class="related-date">Jun 07, 2020</div><a href="/find-conflicting-shortucts-mac/"><div class="related-title">How to Find Conflicting Keyboard Shortcuts on Mac</div><div class="related-desc">Here's how you can detect and find conflicting keyboard shortcuts on Mac.</div></a><ul class="excerpt-tags"><li><a href="/tag/review">Review</a><li><a href="/tag/shortcutdetective">ShortcutDetective</a><li><a href="/tag/mac">Mac</a></ul></div><div class="related-card"><div class="related-date">May 22, 2020</div><a href="/snappy-to-cleanshot-x/"><div class="related-title">Why I Switched from Snappy to CleanShot X</div><div class="related-desc">CleanShot X is the best screenshot app for macOS right now. Find out why I switched over from Snappy to CleanShot X in this post.</div></a><ul class="excerpt-tags"><li><a href="/tag/review">Review</a><li><a href="/tag/cleanshot-x">CleanShot X</a></ul></div></div></aside></main><aside class="sidebar"><div class="sticky-box"><div class="sidebar-promo form"><p><strong>ChatGPT in Keyboard Maestro</strong><br> A bundle of Keyboard Maestro macros to supercharge your workspace and get things done faster.<br><a class="button" href="https://keyboardtyro.com/">Check out Keyboard Tyro</a></p></div><div class="carbon-box"> <script async src="//cdn.carbonads.com/carbon.js?serve=CKYIC2JI&placement=sayzlimnet&format=cover" id="_carbonads_js"></script></div></div></aside></div><aside class="hello flow"><p> 👋 <strong>Thanks for visiting this site!</strong> Would you mind if I tell you more about what I create?</p><button onclick="toggleElement('.overlay');dismissElement('.hello')";>Sure</button> <button onclick="dismissElement('.hello')">Maybe next time</button></aside><aside class="overlay"><section class="flow"> <button id="close" onclick="dismissElement('.overlay')"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="3" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="feather feather-x"><line x1="18" y1="6" x2="6" y2="18"></line><line x1="6" y1="6" x2="18" y2="18"></line></svg></button><p>Interested in learning more Keyboard Maestro and the products I'm building? 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