Thanks for the comment regarding Command-Tab and toggling the minimized state of window(s) from The Dock. Would you mind elaborating in more detail? On Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 I your described procedure.

Are you certain a third party window management utility is not performing Command-Tab like switching of application windows?

In an effort to discover quirky local user account behavior of Keyboard Maestro – I have resisted installing such add-on’s myself. However, if there is a native method to manipulate minimized windows – be it at an application level, or globally, I will be quite literally ecstatic!

I often Command-M ( minimize ) to get windows out of my way. However, returning the window to the foreground is something I’ve never known possible without third party tools. Perhaps this feature relies on the “Minimize windows into application icon” checkbox in The Dock Preference Pane? ( My current preference choice is unchecked )

Feeling Safari is a stable, current, and minimal application designed to work as well as possible with Lion; I chose it as a test case application. I made an empty window, and pressed Command-M. I also made a second empty Safari window, and minimized via a single mouse click to the middle round minimize button in the upper left of Safari.

I had two ( blank of content ) Safari windows, minimized to my Dock.

I then followed your instructions and pressed Command-Tab, bringing the Application Switcher to the foreground. First, ( with Command still held ) I pressed the Option key, leaving the Application Switcher focused on the last application I used – nothing happened.

I then Command-Tabbed back to Safari, making it the currently selected application. While still pressing the Command key – in order to keep the Application Switcher on screen – I grew an extra finger to hit the Option key – Nothing happened. ( I have a single Option key on the left of this MacBook I am using now ).

I tried several more iterations, yet keyboard command can restore a minimized window that has been stuffed into The Dock via a Command-M, Minimize middle round button, or Window->Minimize from the “Window” menu.

This will make my New Year if it is indeed a native,functionality – while at the same time – make me feel pretty silly for not figuring this out ages ago.

This functionality or lack thereof has been an annoyance since Mac OS X Developer Preview. ( Ugh, I think I am now noting how old I am! )

Thanks Scot!, and Happy New Year.

I’m a windows convert, switched to 100% macs in November of last year, but the treatment of minimized windows in OSX -still- boggles my mind. I really couldn’t bring myself to pay money for an app that let me do what windows had built in (alt-tab switching worked even for minimized windows), and now with the command-1, I’m completely set.

Thanks a ton!

P.S. I have my dock set to “Minimize windows into application icon” to reduce the clutter on my dock. I think this changes a little of the behavior of hidden and minimized apps in the dock.

Test out the demo and see if it works to your needs.

Now with Leopard I personally think Apple has done a terrible job. Scroll directions have changed, scrolling down in Tiger moved the selection box to the right, now in Leopard a scroll down moves to the left, but most frustrating feature to be removed is that scrolling can’t loop around the list anymore!!!
When you get to the point where you have like 30 (or more) open applications it was a quick way to get from your most resent (leftmost) application to the one used longest ago (rightmost). Really *hate* the changes brought on by the Leopard application switcher vs. the one in Tiger.

As for the Finder, I am not sure what you want to come forward, there is really nothing to come forward. I am guessing you want your open folders and finder windows to come forward, but they are obscured by other apps. Correct on that one, you are stuck in that regard. LiteSwitch, I believe, can bring one forward, and tell all others to hide, though I do not use that feature.

Application switching is best when you need to toggle two applications all the time. For example, I move from typing this, to mail.app, then back to typing this, and back to mail.app, and I can do that all with no mouse at all. This is, in my opinion, where the Application Switcher really shines.

OK, I know I can cmd-h to hide windows and then they’ll appear in an alt-tab sequence, but sometimes minimizing is more convenient to get a window out of the way.

So how to bring up an app that’s in the dock?

@Todd, If you mean what I think you mean, you just click on the item in the dock with your mouse. If you mean an item that has been minimized to the Dock, I would like to know that myself

If I am off base here, reply with more detail about what your specific question is.

I would suspect that Address Book is just open, but the data window is closed. Go to the Window menu in Address Book and down to “Address Book”, this should show you your entire address book, then you can use command-tab to move to Safari, and back to Address Book.

http://osxhelp.com/primer-on-macintosh-os-x-keyboard-shortcuts/