How to un-hide a hidden Mac OS X window

MacOS FAQ: How do I “un-hide” a hidden Mac Window (hidden Mac application)?

At one point or another every new Mac OS X user learns that you can easily hide a window on Mac OS X using the [Command][h] keyboard command, but that moment of fun is usually followed by a few moments of panic and terror and the thought “Hey, wait, how do I un-hide/show/display a hidden Mac OS X window?”

How to un-hide a hidden Mac window (application)

There are at least two ways to un-hide a hidden Mac window:

  • Click the application icon in the Mac Dock (the icon for the application you hid)
  • Use the [Command][Tab] keystroke to cycle through the open applications, and select the application you hid

As an example of using the Dock technique, I’m currently using TextMate to type this blog entry. Pressing [Command][h] hides my current TextMate window, but then if I go to the dock and click the TextMate icon, my application window is restored.

I hope this tip on how to un-hide a hidden Mac window (hidden Mac application) has been helpful.



You can also [Apple][Tab] and scroll through your open apps. Or, since the OS places your recently hidden window at the end of the open apps window, you can [shift][apple][tab] top go directly to it. not totally elegant, but doable.


Good suggestion, but if the window of the application you want to unhide was minimized, [apple][tab] will not open the window.

Does anyone know how to un-minimize a window without using the mouse/trackpad?


I have an adobe help window off screen, it appears with F9 but disappears when I click it. Think previous owner had a large screen and kept it close to the edge, pity you can't choose to center all open windows on screen.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

I had something like this Adobe problem you describe happen one time, and I can't remember what I did to solve it. My usual attempts are:

  • Hide the app, then try to re-display it.
  • Minimize the app, then re-display it.
  • [Command][Tab] between apps.

Ugh, sorry, I can't think of what I might have done other than that, but I know the problem, you can tell the dialog is there when you display all your Mac Spaces (or all windows in the current space), but when you go to the Space where the dialog should be, it's still hidden. There was one app where these tricks didn't work and I did something else ... and I can't remember right now, sorry.

In reply to by Ian (not verified)


So I was having the same problem and after trying a few things, this seemed to work. I managed to find the tiny bit of the window that was visible on the screen and clicked on it. That allowed the Adobe menu bar to appear up top. Then I went to Window > Tile > Horizontally. I'm not sure why, but this caused the adobe file to maximize. In case you can't find the minimized window, it turns out that the command for that action is [Shift][Apple][K]. Hope this helps.


While selecting a hidden instance using Alt-Tab restore the focus to the application (ie the menu bar changes to the application) hidden windows aren't restored. However, if you hold the Option key while selecting the application using Alt-Tab, then any hidden windows will be restored.

Hidden windows also appear with a 'black diamond' prefix in the application's Window menu, and selecting them from there will retore them.

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