AutoHotKey: make Win+Tab act as Alt+Tab, but remap all other Win+ combinations as Ctrl+

4
votes

I am trying to make my MacBook in Windows behave similar to macOS: so I can switch between apps using Win+Tab (i.e., replicate the Alt+Tab action), but have all the Ctrl+... actions (like, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Z, etc) be accessible using the Win key (Win+C, Win+V, Win+Z).

In other words, I am trying to :

  1. Remap Win key to Ctrl in all key combinations, but also
  2. Have the Win+Tab act exactly as Alt+Tab (and I don't care if Ctrl+Tab stops working as Ctrl+Tab, because I am not using that key combination at all).

I am able to separately individually achieve 1. using LWin::Ctrl, and 2. using LWin & Tab::AltTab, but I cannot make them work together. Whenever I have something like

LWin::Ctrl
LWin & Tab::AltTab

or

LWin::Ctrl
Ctrl & Tab::AltTab

it just stops working.

Any help is appreciated. I am using Windows 10.

1
autohotkey

1 Answers

1
votes

Did you try to use the symbols like documented here?

For your snippet that would mean:

LWin::Ctrl
LWin & Tab::Send, !{Tab}

There is a problem with this, as it simulates closed keystokes (regard !{Tab} as {Alt Down}{Tab}{Alt Up}. If you want to press and hold Win and then use Tab (or eventually tab multiple times), this doesn't work. To adress this issue, I found three main workarounds:

  1. )

Let Alt stick to being pressed down:

LWin::Ctrl
LWin & Tab::Send, {Alt Down}{Tab}
LWin & Capslock::Send, {Alt Up} ;Suppose you won't use that hotkey elsewhere
  1. )

Use something this solution by 2501:

h::AltTabMenu  ; Opens the menu. Press second time to close.
n::AltTab      ; Alt-Tabs through forwards
m::ShiftAltTab ; Alt-Tabs through backwards

The underlying principles/functionalities are documented here.

  1. ) Dig into AHK really deep: here (which is referenced in 1)

Annotation: Be aware that

<#::Ctrl
<#Tab::!Tab

does not work as Windows then handles the win key on its own first. You can verify This by testing:

<#::
MsgBox test
return
<#Tab::
MsgBox test
return