Every once in a while I end up in a situation where a window opens up but does not come to the foreground. It opens up behind the current window. I can see it open and I can even see that app menu item reveal that the new app is now the foregrounded app, but nevertheless, its window opens behind the most recent one I was working in.
This is on Macs with the latest Sequoia. I can’t say exactly when it started, Sequoia or one of its point updates, but it’s definitely not been around for longer than Sequoia here I’d say.
Has anybody else seen this? I’m trying to figure out if this is an actual Sequoia bug or if it’s interference from something else I have running (AltTab?).
Data Point: I have seen this too, but not often enough to be able to track it down even to a specific App. I’m fairly sure it’s been happening pre-Sequoia too.
Similarly, the Reeder (and now Classic) App, I used to use in Full Screen mode but it would I would launch it, its menu bar would appear, but the window was AWOL. Sometime fullscreened itself to the left, sometimes right. I like the app but have never got any customer support response so now I use it in a large window instead of full screen.
I’m not using any dodgy 3rd Party Apps but I do turn off a lot of the stuff in System Settings and deactivate the ‘new features’ when they come out, so I’m possibly using my Mac ‘wrong’ ;-)
I haven’t seen exactly what @Simon describes, but I have found a perhaps similar window anomaly in Activity Monitor. If I select the CPU History window (which was already open) by pressing command-3, it does not become the front window (and similarly with GPU History and command-4).
Hmm! I can reproduce the problem with CPU History and Command-3, but the others (1, 2, and 4) work fine. Those CPU window have a setting to stay on top, so they’re sort of special. When that setting is off, Command-3 does bring CPU History to the front, but doesn’t make it active.
Worth reporting via Feedback Assistant, if you have it.
I’ve noticed a similar behavior, and it seemed to start with the Sequoia upgrade.
The first I noticed it was with PCalc. When I open the application the calculator is front-most and has focus. But if I use ⌘-tab to switch to PCalc from another application, the calculator is in front but does not have focus.
The same happens with Google Chrome. If I ⌘-tab from another application the top browser window is in front but does not have focus.
In both cases I have to trackpad-click on the window to restore focus. Not hard, but annoying.
I’ve thought about filing a bug. I haven’t filed a bug with Apple in years, so I don’t know what’s the current process.
I know exactly what you mean, same happens randomly to me. Started after one of Sequoia’s point upgrades – can’t recall which one.
Also randomly: an active application window (usually Apple Mail) suddenly stops accepting keyboard input and mouse clicks. Quit and restart the app and it works fine again.
Apple says they won’t respond to feedback, but I have seen reported things get fixed/implemented over time.
I suspect feedback gets triaged. Serious problems get scheduled for immediate work, where less serious problems are given low priority until/unless a lot of people report the same problem.
So, if they consider your bug report serious, action will probably be taken. If they don’t consider it serious, maybe not, but if it’s a commonly-reported bug, adding your voice to others should increase its priority.
But you will probably never get a response, no matter what they do.