> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://withbeckon.app/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Windows

> Go straight to the window you want.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Windows and thumbnails are in Beckon Pro, and in your 14-day trial. They need the
> Accessibility permission; thumbnails also need Screen Recording.

## Pick a window

An app with two or more windows has a **badge** with the number on the ring.

**1. Reach the app's icon**

Its windows open straight away, beyond the ring.

**2. Carry on to the window you want**

Crossing other apps' icons on the way doesn't switch to them.

**3. Let go (or click) on it**

That exact window comes to the front. Letting go on the app's icon instead switches to the
app, as usual.

The most recent window sits **straight out** from the app, so carrying a flick straight on lands
on it.

![Safari's four windows on the outer arc, the hovered one grown to a large preview](https://mintcdn.com/beckon/ZZ3Mx-oqja_BgUg6/images/windows-arc-light.jpg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ZZ3Mx-oqja_BgUg6\&q=85\&s=e58f6b0a31627559bc75d8a885ac8f59)

## Arc or column

Choose in **Settings → Windows → Show windows as**:

| Layout | What you see | How you pick |
| - | - | - |
| **Outer arc** (default) | A second ring beyond the app, centred on its direction. The rest of the windows alternate to either side of the most recent, in the order you used them. | By direction, like apps |
| **Column** | A list of window titles beside the ring, level with the app, or above or below it for apps at the top or bottom. | The title nearest the pointer |
| **Apps only** | No windows and no badges. | — |

Near a screen edge the arc turns away from the edge. If it still can't fit, the windows open as
a column. A column that can't fit on the app's side goes under or over the ring, next to the app;
only if there's no room there does it open on the far side of the ring. When the windows open
away from the app, a line links them to it.

![Safari's windows as a column of titles, with a large preview of the hovered one](https://mintcdn.com/beckon/ZZ3Mx-oqja_BgUg6/images/windows-column-light.jpg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ZZ3Mx-oqja_BgUg6\&q=85\&s=978fcbb1233b6e0f52c0dbc7daf876be)

* **Minimized windows** come last, dimmed and marked "minimized". Picking one restores it.
* **Many windows:** the arc shows up to 9. With more, the last one becomes **+n**, which
  switches to the app.

## Getting there

Moving from the app to its windows, you'll often cross other apps' icons, or the ring's middle
when the windows are on the far side. Beckon keeps the windows open while you're heading for
them, the way a menu keeps a submenu open.

* **Pause** on the way, for about a quarter of a second, and the windows close. Pausing on
  another app's icon switches to that app.
* **Crossing the middle** picks nothing, so letting go there still cancels.
* **Back to apps:** move onto another app's icon to see its windows, or stay inside the ring of
  icons to pick apps only.

## Thumbnails

Turn on **Settings → Windows → Window thumbnails** to see each window as a small picture.

* **Outer arc:** each window is a card. The one you point at grows so you can read it, and its
  neighbours grow a little.
* **Column:** each title has a small thumbnail, and the one you point at opens a large preview
  beside the list.

**Preview size** (Settings → Windows, under Window thumbnails) sets how big the window you point
at grows: from 280 pt, the default, up to 640 pt, big enough to read what's in it. Near the edge
of the screen the preview shrinks to fit, so it never covers the list or the ring.

Without thumbnails, each window shows as the app's icon, numbered from the most recent, or as a
list of titles in the column.

![Safari's windows on the outer arc as numbered icons, without thumbnails](https://mintcdn.com/beckon/ZZ3Mx-oqja_BgUg6/images/windows-arc-icons-light.jpg?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=ZZ3Mx-oqja_BgUg6\&q=85\&s=7fff40a10e69e3e83bd700d40f21c3d4)

Thumbnails need the **Screen Recording** permission, and Beckon has to be **quit and reopened**
once after you allow it (macOS asks for that). The welcome guide and Settings have a button for
it.

Beckon captures thumbnails in the background and keeps them, so the ring opens instantly with the
last ones and swaps in fresh ones. They're kept in memory only: never saved to disk and never
sent anywhere. Windows hidden behind others capture fine; minimized windows keep their last
thumbnail.

> [!NOTE]
>
> macOS may ask now and then whether Beckon can keep recording your screen. Allow it to keep
> thumbnails; deny it and windows show as icons and titles.

## Without Accessibility

Beckon can still count each app's windows, but it can't list or raise them. Reaching an app shows
a single **Allow Accessibility to pick a window…** entry; pick it to allow it. Without
Accessibility the counts are approximate, because some pop-ups (such as a browser's downloads
bubble) look like windows from outside the app. See [Permissions](/docs/guides/permissions).

## What's listed

Only windows on the current Space (desktop) are listed. Windows on other Spaces and full-screen
windows don't appear, because macOS doesn't report them to other apps.


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