How do I make Super+W show open windows from all workspaces?

A patched compiz-core which fixes this bug is available from PPA

  • As mentioned, this is a Compiz bug which will not be officially fixed until 12.04.2 (expected January 2013.)

  • But one of the compiz-core developers has made a PPA with a fixed version of Compiz that solves this bug.

    • If you are unfamiliar with PPAs, you may want to read What are PPAs... and Are PPAs safe...

To install from the PPA:

  • Open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T
  • Add the PPA with sudo apt-add-repository ppa:bsantos/ppa
  • Run sudo apt-get update
  • Update Compiz with sudo apt-get install compiz

Note: Installing this workaround will not break any future updates to compiz; between now and the release of 12.04.2, any official compiz updates may make the old (faulty) Super+W behavior return for a few days until the developer fixes it and releases the updated version to his PPA.

Demonstration:

Terminal, Software Center, Firefox and Nautilus are open in separate workspaces:

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After installing the fixed PPA version, Super+W shows all four:

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