Switchover support
Switchover is a Mac menu bar app for people who switched from Windows and keep reaching for shortcuts that don't exist on a Mac. For help, email support@roleo.com.au and include your macOS version, what you pressed, which app was in front and what happened. From the app, click the arrows icon in the menu bar, choose Settings…, then Copy Debug Info and paste it into the email.
Setting up
- Open Switchover. It lives in the menu bar (a two-arrows icon); there is no Dock icon.
- Your shortcuts work straight away. The first time Switchover needs to act for you (paste a clipboard item, move the files you cut, close a window with ⌥F4, run Fill), it asks for permission to send a keystroke to the app in front. Click Open System Settings and turn on the switch next to Switchover under Privacy & Security ▸ Accessibility. That is the only thing the permission is used for. It does not log keystrokes.
- Settings ▸ Keystroke permission shows "Allowed". You're set.
Shortcuts
| Windows habit | On your Mac | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V on files | ⌘X, then ⌘V in Finder | Finder moves the files. Nothing moves until you paste; copying something else cancels the cut. |
| Win+V | ⌘⇧V (changeable) | Clipboard history. Click or press ↩ to paste, ⌘1 to ⌘9 for the first nine, ⌘P pins, ⌘⌫ deletes, Clear all keeps pinned items. |
| Ctrl+Alt+Delete, Ctrl+Shift+Esc | ⌃⌥⌫ or ⌃⇧Esc | Opens Activity Monitor. |
| Win+↑ / Win+↓ | ⌃⌥↑ / ⌃⌥↓ | Fill the screen with the window, and return it to its previous size (macOS 15 or later). |
| Alt+F4 | ⌥F4 | Closes the window or tab. On a laptop keyboard hold fn as well, unless function keys are set to standard. |
| Ctrl+W | ⌃W | Closes the tab or window. Left alone in terminal apps. |
| Home / End | Home / End | Jump to the start or end of the line. ⌃Home and ⌃End go to the start or end of the document. |
| Win+Shift+S | ⌃⌥⇧S | Drag over any part of the screen; the snip goes to your clipboard. |
| Win+D / Win+L / Win+E | ⌃⌥D / ⌃⌥L / ⌃⌥E | Show Desktop, Lock the screen, open a new Finder window. |
Every feature has its own switch in Settings, so keep the ones you like and turn off the rest.
What Switchover doesn't do
Two Windows habits are missing from the App Store edition, and it's worth saying why rather than leaving you hunting for a setting that isn't there.
- There is no Alt+Tab window switcher. Stepping through other apps' windows means controlling them, which the App Store sandbox doesn't permit (App Review guideline 2.4.5). ⌘Tab switches apps and ⌘` cycles the windows of the app you're in.
- No half-screen snapping. ⌃⌥↑ fills the screen with the front window and ⌃⌥↓ puts it back, using macOS's own Fill command. Dragging a window to the edge of the screen is macOS's built-in tiling.
Troubleshooting
- Nothing happens when I press a shortcut. Open Settings from the menu bar icon and check Keystroke permission. If it says not allowed, grant it as in Setting up. If the switch in System Settings is already on but Settings still says not allowed, remove Switchover from the Accessibility list with the – button, add it back with +, and turn it on.
- ⌘V pasted a copy instead of moving. Something else was copied between the cut and the paste, which cancels the cut by design. Cut again.
- Renaming a file in Finder, ⌘X cuts the text. That's intended: while you're typing in a text field the normal Mac behaviour applies.
- ⌃⌥↑ does nothing. Fill and restore use macOS's own Window ▸ Move & Resize commands, which need macOS 15 or later and an app with a standard Window menu.
The other Switchover apps
Switchover has six smaller companions, each restoring one habit on its own — a taskbar, a Task Manager, a Snipping Tool, mouse wheel direction, a text expander and a shortcut cheat sheet. See all seven, or read their support page.
Privacy
Switchover has no network access and collects nothing. Your clipboard history stays on your Mac and can be cleared or turned off at any time. Full details in the Switchover privacy policy.
Switchover · All apps · Support · Privacy · Terms
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Copyright © 2026 Thanujan Sathiyamoorthy. All rights reserved. Switchover is an independent product and is not affiliated with Apple Inc. or Microsoft Corporation.