I swear this was working correctly a few days ago, but now the “launch (KiCad)” window (the one that shows the project) is invisible to the Window Menu. If I open a KiCad project, and click on the Schematic, the only way to get back to the launch window is to move the schematic window out of the way, and click on the launch window it is hiding. I can then click Layout. The same thing happens on Layout - the only windows listed in the Window item on the Menu Bar are Layout and Schematic - the launch window is not listed, and cmd-~ doesn’t; cycle through to it, either.
OK, I just tested it and - it worked!
But not for long. Switching through the windows got it to stop showing the KiCad window.
So, this is a “flaky” problem.
This could be due to a number of reasons, including a glitch in the software or an issue with your computer’s display settings.It’s possible that your computer’s display settings are causing the launch window to be hidden. Try resetting your display settings to their default values and see if this resolves the issue.
Whilst not directly an answer to bringing up the project window, you do know that there are buttons in the schematic view to take you straight to layout and vice versa i.e in layout back to schematic?
FWIW, to deal with this I changed Settings->HotKeys->Schematic Editor for “Switch to PCB Editor” to cmd-1 and in PCB Editor I added cmd-1 for “Switch to Schematic Editor”. It’s close enough to cmd-` that the muscle memory adapts pretty quickly. As a bonus, if you have other KiCAD windows open, they won’t be selected.
I have a related issue (same configuration). When I “close” KiCad, the icon in the dock remains. Not only does it remain, but it isn’t accessible – I mean, there’s nothing I can do from that icon, other than quit the program. I can’t reopen KiCad from it, nor does “show windows” reveal anything.
I some applications, there is an option to “remove icon from dock” when not in use. Or I’ve also seen program options along the lines of “when you close the window, really close the program”.
I see the same sort of flakiness with same OS and KiCad version. I’ve been pushing things really hard lately by moving windows between monitors with different aspect ratios, and switching between desktops and other full screen apps. Not only does the Window menu start to loose items like you say (rendering my go-to habit of cmd-~ pretty useless), eventually the windows themselves (particularly modal dialogs) start to disappear. I’ve just been using “right-click Dock icon → show all windows” to find my way back.
The problem of windows disappearing when switching between desktops/full-screen apps has been a growing macos issue for years, so I wouldn’t point firmly at KiCad on that one. But there’s probably room for improvement on the Window menu issue.
@Heath_Raftery … Something happened in the past week, but I can’t put my finger on it. Suddenly I realized that I was no longer having to kill the stray KiCad icon in the dock after closing anymore. I’m pretty sure I haven’t updated KiCad since May, when I wrote the above remark. But there have been a couple of MacOs minor security updates since then. So problem solved, although I don’t know why or how.