Guide · reference
Troubleshooting — when something feels off
Updated April 29, 20265 min read
Every other guide has its own troubleshooting table. This page collects them all in one place, organized by what you're experiencing rather than which feature it touches. Find your symptom, get the most-likely cause and fix.
The menu won't appear
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Pressing my hotkey does nothing |
Accessibility permission not granted, or revoked by macOS |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → toggle Swik on. Then quit and relaunch Swik. |
| Hotkey works for a while, then stops |
Swik crashed or was killed by Activity Monitor |
Click the menu bar icon → Quit → relaunch from /Applications. Enable Launch at Login if it's not already. |
| No menu bar icon, no hotkey |
Swik isn't running |
Open /Applications/Swik.app. If it doesn't appear, drag a fresh copy from the DMG. |
| Menu bar icon present but hotkey doesn't trigger |
Hotkey was never configured, or another app stole it during launch |
Click menu bar icon → Settings → Hotkey → record a new key. Try F19 or Right Option — they almost never collide. |
| Mouse-button trigger doesn't fire (Pro) |
The button is being captured by your mouse driver (Logi Options, Steermouse, etc.) |
In your mouse driver, set the button to "system default" or "no action" so macOS sees it. Then re-record in Swik → Hotkey → Additional Triggers. |
The wrong app fires
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Wrong wedge fires occasionally during fast flicks |
Cursor crossed the angular boundary right at release |
Settings → Advanced → Behavior → raise Selection Stability a notch. |
| Wrong app fires when I click far from the menu (Toggle mode) |
Strict wedge selection is off — clicks far away still commit by angle |
Pro: Settings → Hotkey → Trigger Mode → enable Strict wedge selection. Free: drag back to dead zone before releasing. |
| Menu fires the moment I press, before I drag |
Dwell Time is set very low |
Settings → Advanced → Behavior → raise Dwell Time. |
| Menu commits when I'm trying to cancel |
Released outside the dead zone |
Drag back to the center circle before releasing. Or raise Dead Zone Radius in Advanced → Behavior. |
I can't dismiss the menu
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Esc doesn't dismiss — it types into the frontmost app |
Overlay window isn't claiming key-window status |
Quit and relaunch Swik. If it persists, file a bug — overlay should take key while visible. |
| Toggle mode won't dismiss when I tap the trigger again |
Trigger key is being swallowed by the frontmost app |
Switch trigger to F19 or a mouse button. Or click outside the menu (Strict on) to dismiss. |
| Click-outside doesn't dismiss in Toggle mode |
Strict wedge selection off — click landed inside an angular zone |
Click in the dead zone, or enable Strict mode (Pro). |
| Backspace doesn't step back from a sub-menu |
Keyboard Navigation is off |
Settings → Advanced → Feedback → toggle Keyboard Navigation on. |
My hotkey collides with something
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Pressing my hotkey opens Swik and triggers another app |
Hotkey is also bound in another app's shortcut |
Settings → Hotkey → record a different key. F19/F18/Right Option rarely collide. |
| Hotkey types its character into the focused field |
Using a regular letter key without a modifier |
Use a function key, modifier-only key, or remap Caps Lock via Karabiner. |
| Hotkey works in some apps but not others |
App is in immersive / fullscreen mode that intercepts global hotkeys |
Try a mouse-button trigger (Pro) or a different hotkey. Some games disable global keys entirely. |
Window previews / thumbnails
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Live preview toggle stays off after I grant Screen Recording |
macOS hadn't propagated the grant to the running process |
Quit Swik, relaunch from /Applications, retry the toggle. |
| Thumbnails are blank / black |
Window contents are protected (DRM video, Apple TV, banking apps) |
Expected — those windows aren't capturable by any app on macOS. Falls back to title pills. |
| Window arc shows for one app but not another |
Second app has only one window open |
Open another window in that app. Arc only triggers at 2+ windows. |
| Worked yesterday, no thumbnails today |
macOS update silently revoked Screen Recording |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording → toggle Swik off then on. |
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Menu opens with a small lag |
Live thumbnails being captured for many windows on older Intel Mac |
Settings → Menu → Window Expansion → turn off Show live previews. Falls back to instant title pills. |
| Cursor feels slow tracking the wedge |
Predictive Highlighting + Magnetism stacking up |
Settings → Advanced → Smart Selection → disable Predictive Highlighting first; if still slow, lower Magnetism. |
| Animations stutter |
Reduce motion is on, or system is under heavy load |
Mostly cosmetic — check Activity Monitor. If reduce-motion is on, animations are intentionally simplified. |
I lost the Settings window
Settings is a regular macOS window — closing it doesn't quit Swik. To reopen: click the small radial dot in the menu bar (top-right of your screen) → Settings. Or trigger your hotkey to open the menu, then click the dead-zone center for the quick-access menu.
If the menu bar icon is missing too: Settings → Menu → Menu Bar → Show menu bar icon. The icon is hidden if you previously turned this off; relaunch Swik to bring it back if Settings can't be reached. As a fallback, deleting ~/Library/Preferences/com.swik.macapp.plist resets the preference.
It worked yesterday, broken today
| What stopped | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Hotkey doesn't trigger anymore |
macOS update revoked Accessibility |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → toggle Swik on, relaunch. |
| Live previews show black boxes |
macOS update revoked Screen Recording |
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording → toggle Swik on. |
| AppleScript / Apple Shortcuts wedges fail silently |
Apple Events permission revoked by update |
Settings → Advanced → Permissions → status indicators show what's revoked. Click to re-grant. |
| Pro features locked despite valid purchase |
Receipt cache expired, network unavailable for re-validation |
Settings → About → Restore Purchases. Or wait — Swik retries periodically. |
My layout looks wrong
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Wedges are too small / hard to target |
4K/5K display + default 1.0× scale |
Settings → Advanced → Accessibility → Menu Scale → 1.3× or 1.5×. |
| Some wedges have lock icons |
Pro features in your layout but not on Pro tier |
Sub-menus and clipboard wedges show locks if not Pro. Either upgrade, or replace those wedges with launch wedges. |
| The menu rearranges itself unexpectedly |
Frecency Auto-Sort is on |
Settings → Advanced → Adaptive Menu → turn off Frecency Auto-Sort for a stable layout. |
| Different menu fires depending on context |
Profiles with context triggers are switching automatically |
Settings → Profiles → check trigger conditions, or delete unwanted profiles. |
A wedge action doesn't run
| Action type | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Apple Shortcut wedge does nothing |
Shortcut name changed, or Shortcuts app permission denied |
Open Shortcuts.app, verify the shortcut still exists with the same name. Re-pick it in the wedge editor. |
| Clipboard wedge shows empty list |
You haven't copied anything since Swik launched |
Copy something to test. Clipboard polls every 1 second and keeps the last 8 distinct text clips. |
| Custom action — paste text doesn't paste |
Apple Events permission missing |
Settings → Advanced → Permissions → grant Apple Events to Swik for System Events. Required for the simulated Cmd+V. |
| Open URL wedge does nothing |
Default browser misconfigured |
Verify in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Default web browser. Try the URL in Spotlight to confirm macOS can open it. |
| AppleScript wedge fails |
Script has an error, or targets an app without Apple Events permission |
Test the script in Script Editor first. If it works there but not from Swik, grant Apple Events for the target app. |
Pro features stopped working
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|
| Sub-menus locked, theme reset to Glass after a fresh install |
Receipt not yet validated on the new Mac |
Settings → About → Restore Purchases. Sign into the same Apple ID that bought Pro. |
| "Pro Mode" / "Free Mode" toggle in menu bar shows wrong state |
Debug toggle if you've been testing |
Settings → Advanced (scroll to bottom) → Debug: Pro Override should match your real status. |
| License key (gumroad / direct sale) doesn't activate |
Key entered with whitespace, or revoked |
Settings → About → Activate License → re-paste the key (no spaces). If still failing, contact support. |
Reset everything
If your tweaks have made the menu feel weird and you don't remember what you changed:
- Reset Advanced settings only: Settings → Advanced → Layout & Reset → Reset to Defaults. Keeps your wedge layout and hotkey, restores all Behavior / Smart Selection / Feedback values.
- Re-run onboarding: Settings → Advanced → Onboarding → Re-run setup. Walks you through the welcome / setup / permissions flow again. Existing wedges are preserved.
- Full nuclear reset: Quit Swik, then in Terminal:
defaults delete com.swik.macapp and rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Swik. Relaunch Swik — you'll see the first-run onboarding again as if you'd just installed it. Your Pro license is preserved (it lives in StoreKit, not Swik's prefs).
Still broken?
If nothing here matches your symptom, send a bug report. The most useful information to include:
- Swik version — Settings → About → version + build number.
- macOS version — Apple menu → About This Mac.
- What you did, what you expected, what happened.
- Console output if available — open Console.app, filter for "Swik" or "swik", reproduce the issue, copy the lines.
Send to swik@swik.me or open an issue on GitHub if you've been linked to a repo.
Swik — a radial menu for macOS
Launch anything. One gesture. Free for five wedges, $9 one-time for unlimited. Requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
Download for macOS