I am using the 15.04 alpha2, and I feel the Alt-Tab switcher behavior merits some attention. I have it configured to cycle through all desktops. The problem: suppose I have 7 windows open. After working in window 5, I switch to window 7 and work in that window. If I then press Alt-Tab again, the switcher should open focusing on the previous window used, #5, but instead goes to window 1. Frustrating. It has been this way since the 14.10 release, through the 14.04 release and now the 15.04 alpha2. I think this has been commented on before on google+.
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How do you set it up so you can cycle through all windows with Alt-Tab? I know with Xfce it was in the setting, I can find in MATE.
It can be changed in dconf Editor:
org > mate > marco > global keybindings
change “switch windows” to disabled, then change “switch-windows-all” to <Alt>Tab
You could also have both of these actions enabled, just choose different keybindings.
Update:
My setup for the time being is to use <Alt>Tab for “switch-windows” and <Control><Alt>Tab for “switch-windows-all”. “switch-windows” operates only within the current workspace. Also, <Shift><Alt>Tab assigned to “switch-windows-backward”. These seem to be the conventional choices for these particular actions.
“switch-windows” has the correct behavior, so I organize windows I think I will be switching between on the same workspace. “switch-windows-all” is now also available in case I need to reach another workspace.
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Good points 
I’ll try and make the default switching behave as you’ve described in Ubuntu MATE 15.04, with the same keybindings used in Compiz and regular MATE.
EDIT - It turns out my default Compiz profile works as you describe.
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I’ve made the required changes in Ubuntu MATE 15.04. @Spyder your recommended keybindings will be default from 15.04 onward
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Sorry about the late reply been a busy week. Was going to see if I can recreat it, but looks like Wimpy has taken care of it. 
Thanks for fixing that. I am impressed by the responsiveness.
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Will the fix be sent to the 15.04 alpha2 as an update?
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Which leads me to wonder, will my 15.04 alpha2 with all future upgrades be equal to the final release version when that arrives?
Thanks.
You will get the updates but some apply differently from a fresh install, so you’ll end up with a lot of cruft.
The tab behaviour will arrive in the next update.
@Wimpy How to I get around this problem in 14.04? Alt+Tab is odd, as described by @Spyder. When I press Alt+Tab, that means I want to go to the previous window, not the first one, or the pre-default ones when opened. This Alt+Tab behavior is done right in other desktops. Can we get it solved in 14.04 anyway?
@tranjeeshan
Thanks for bring this up again. It’s been 6 months since the original posts. Nothing has changed. I too would like to see “switch-windows-all” conform to the standard behavior (as Xubuntu and Lubunu manage to do) regardless of whether that action is assigned to Alt-Tab or Ctrl-Alt-Tab. As it is set up in MATE (I have checked up to 15.04), it isn’t, and it’s inefficient and frustrating.
Couldn’t agree more. It needs to be fixed.
Bug report now exists: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-mate/+bug/1493408
This will be fixed in Ubuntu MATE 16.04 Alpha 2.
- Alt-Tab will cycle all applications from all workspaces.
- Control-Alt-Tab will cycle applications from the current workspace only.
Is this applying to Marco, Compiz, or both?
Note to self: Switch this back after 16.04, I prefer the current behaviour. 
Well, the change is not committed yet. And you make a good point about Compiz consistency. I’ll check that again. Perhaps I am getting in a cycle of changing settings repeatedly to satisfy different opinions.
Might be best to leave this alone. I’ll give it some though.
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Hooray!
Now, if only this sticky autohiding panel bug were only fixed, my two most annoying bugs would be gone:
The switching is pretty slow once you pull the trigger on this but for future reference of people trying to figure out the switch across all workspaces you need to run something like:
gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-windows 'disabled'
gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-windows-all '<Alt>Tab'
gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-windows-all-backward '<Shift><Alt>Tab'
Thanks for the work on this issue.
I am not able switch between all windows within nor outside of the same workspace using <Alt>Tab or <Shift><Alt>Tab. Both simply switch between the current and previous windows.
System
- Ubuntu 16.04.2. LTS
- Desktop Environment is Mate
- Panel is openSUSE
- Window manager is Marco (Software compositor)
I ran the commands described by @sukarsono and rebooted, but no changes to the behavior. Any help is appreciated.