Contexts is intended to increase your productivity when you need to switch between open windows. The application has an easy-to-use interface. In this respect, most of the user interaction occurs through an unobtrusive sidebar, which you can move to different borders of your screen.
The other part of the interface is the settings window. Luckily, the different options have been conveniently organized into tabs, so finding them is not a problem. Besides, in case you feel overwhelmed with so many options, you can still leave them as they are because customization is not a must to use the tool.
The settings allow you to control how the program looks, but, above all, they help you personalize the way you want to interact with the app. Luckily, there are four different ways to switch windows. Although it is true that you can use the mouse, and even gestures, this will probably have little impact on productivity. In my opinion, the best advantage comes from using the keyboard, with support for keystrokes, key combinations and hotkeys. Likewise, you can use the search tool to find the desired window. And, one thing that I really appreciate from Contexts is the possibility of switching windows even if they are in different spaces or multiple displays.
There are other conveniences of using this tool to save precious time. For instance, if you use the command+tab method, the app puts the most recently activated windows on top of the list. As to search capabilities, it is great that the number of necessary strokes has been reduced to the minimum. In this regard, the tool does not require entering the letters of a word in the same sequence they appear in the window title. Likewise, it can automatically narrow your search by simply using an acronym instead of the full name. What is more, the application can “remember” your choices for every search and make them appear first in the list.
In general, Contexts is a great alternative for macOS’s methods to switch between windows. Compared with at least one popular similar app, the only thing Contexts seems not to have is providing accessibility to open windows and apps through the menu bar. Therefore, it is a product I strongly recommend if you want to be more productive and save a couple of key strokes.
v3.7 [May 8, 2018]
Command-Tab switcher has been updated to list windows in order they were last active instead of the order they are on the Desktop. This effects the ordering in two cases:
If you use the Dock or the macOS Command-Tab app switcher to activate apps, in case an app has multiple windows on the current Space, they will no longer all move to the top of the list; only the active window of the app will.
Windows which are set to always show above other windows will no longer always remain at the top of the list but will move down as other windows become active.
When Command-Tab switcher is activated, the second item is initially selected. However, if apps without windows or minimized windows are set to show at the bottom of the list, and the currently active app either does not have open windows or they are all minimized, the first item in the list is the most recent active window and will be initially selected instead.
