Switching between windows in Firefox with command+`

If you "show all windows" from the app dock icon, are all windows visible, isn't there any "ghost" outline without an actual window?

Or if you do the system mission control and similar ("exposé", F3 show all apps key), no ghost windows there?

(I also remember Firefox has some hidden windows of its own, not sure if that was for rendering of things, or authenticating into things… wondering if the system window manager could let you navigate into one of these, so you then can't move anywhere else, dunno?)

THanks for the quick reply - no ghost windows to be seen in the dock or with F3. It's totally intermittent, I've restarted Firefox multiple times since it first occurred (e.g. for updates). It was only now that it bugs me so much that I thought to ask if anyone else has the problem. And I only realised today that I can go 'backwards' with the shift-key.

This sounds like it could be a conflict between Firefox’s window shortcut handling and macOS keyboard shortcuts rather than a hardware issue, especially since the behavior changes and other applications handle the shortcut normally.

I’d first check whether the shortcut is being intercepted by another macOS feature or utility. It may also be worth testing Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode with extensions disabled. If the shortcut works consistently there, an extension or customization is a likely cause.

Since you’re using a UK QWERTY layout, I’d also check the keyboard/input-source settings in macOS and test the same Firefox version with a different input source if possible. That could help determine whether the backtick key is being interpreted differently.

If none of those tests change the behavior, I deltaexecotr report it with the exact Firefox version, macOS version, keyboard layout, and whether the issue occurs with a fresh Firefox profile.

I’ve seen similar behavior with application-specific keyboard shortcuts, where the shortcut works normally in other apps but becomes inconsistent in one particular application.

In this case, I’d probably troubleshoot it as a software conflict first rather than assuming the keyboard itself is the problem. Checking Firefox Troubleshoot Mode, disabling extensions temporarily, and testing with a fresh profile could help narrow it down. It would also be worth checking macOS keyboard shortcut settings and any utility that might be intercepting Command-based shortcuts.

When troubleshooting software issues, I usually start by checking for conflicts, version differences, and recent updates before changing system settings. That approach has also helped me with other application compatibility and “not working” problems as deltaexecot was wad

Thanks Delta xecutor, I don't think it's a hardware issue either, otherwise it would occur in every app, not just Firefox. It works in the trouble shoot mode, and when I went back to normal mode, it works now as well - it could be that I have to restart Firefox, but it's still odd. I've checked shortcuts, and input sources - nothing odd to find here. If it persists, I'll drop FireFox a line as you suggested.