[cmeisenzahl]

so that I am only looking at my desktop and dock? There's a button next to the Start button in Windoze that does exactly that and I've grown to use it often.

Is there a Mac OS X keyboard combo that will do this? I'm not referring to all windows for the current app, but rather for /all/ windows.

Thanks again guys,

Chris

[f1000]

Press the F11 key.

You can customize this feature in System Preferences / Expose

[Ricky]

You'll want this.
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10005

[Wiskedjak]

If you actually want to minimize (or hide) everything, Show Desktop is the tool for the job. Expose moves things out of the temporarily, which is nice too, but isn't really the same.

[f1000]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
If you actually want to minimize (or hide) everything, Show Desktop is the tool for the job. Expose moves things out of the temporarily, which is nice too, but isn't really the same.

Yes, but Expose is so much cooler.

I'd also like to add that one can:

1) option-right click
2) control-option-left click
3) control-option-click (for single button mice)

the Finder icon in the dock to "Hide Others."

[d0ubled0wn]

Option-click the desktop.

edit: hmm, that only hides the current window. nevermind.

edit2: Option-Command-click the desktop will hide all windows except Finder windows. That almost does what you want.

[Detrius]

Click on the desktop and then press option-command-h (hide all).

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by Detrius:
Click on the desktop and then press option-command-h (hide all).

Show Desktop is far easier; click on the icon in the dock

[Detrius]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
Show Desktop is far easier; click on the icon in the dock

Yes, but it involves getting it. Why get it when I can do this right now? Getting it involves following a couple of links, downloading the software, putting it somewhere, and putting it in the dock. How much time was just wasted in doing this, vs. simply learning command-option-h?

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by Detrius:
How much time was just wasted in doing this, vs. simply learning command-option-h?

just an estimate, put perhaps about 10-20 "click on the desktop and then press option-command-h"

[jasong]

Originally posted by Detrius:
Yes, but it involves getting it. Why get it when I can do this right now? Getting it involves following a couple of links, downloading the software, putting it somewhere, and putting it in the dock. How much time was just wasted in doing this, vs. simply learning command-option-h?

Um . . . none really. Wasted time implies that the end result is unsatisfactory. In this case a few moments of setup work results in a better method. Show Desktop means one click to do what he wants, your method means click to desktop, switch hands back to keyboard, hit the command key. Of course if your desktop is covered you also have to add in moving a window, clicking on the finder icon, or activating expos�, all of which make your method "wasteful."

Personally, I stopped using Show Desktop once SideTrack came out, allowing me to activate Expos� from my trackpad.

-- Jason

[f1000]

Originally posted by d0ubled0wn:
edit2: Option-Command-click the desktop will hide all windows except Finder windows. That almost does what you want.

Winnah!

[Wiskedjak]

Originally posted by f1000:
Winnah!

I think only cmeisenzahl can make that announcement

[Detrius]

I set the bottom right corner to be the expos� show desktop, and the other two are the extra two buttons on my five button mouse. So, expos� doesn't require moving a hand to the keyboard, and revealing the desktop only requires a flick of the wrist.

I think the command-option click the desktop is best, though. It's never impossible to click the desktop... unless you have the dock set to autohide... and don't have three monitors.

[Uncle Skeleton]

"Hide Others" is not a solution because it doesn't hide Finder windows.

[SpaceMonkey]

I'm not sure why Expos�'s F11 keystroke is unsatisfactory. It's actually called "Desktop" in the Expos� system preferences pane, and it allows you to manipulate anything on the desktop (and pretty much everything else in Finder) to your heart's content without reverting back to normal until you tell it to.

[cmeisenzahl]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated!

[asianbond]

which one is the desktop icon?

which one is command key?

[f1000]

Originally posted by asianbond:
which one is the desktop icon?

which one is command key?

If you look in the Dock, the Picassoesque face on the left is the Finder icon.

The command key is the one with the funky clover-looking thing next to your spacebar.

[kcmac]

Originally posted by Wiskedjak:
If you actually want to minimize (or hide) everything, Show Desktop is the tool for the job. Expose moves things out of the temporarily, which is nice too, but isn't really the same.

Don't really get what you mean.

When I use XP at work, I can click a desktop icon that I place in the startbar. Click it. Go to desktop. Can then select something from the desktop to open it. To go back to where I was I then have to look for stuff in the startbar, click on that and maybe have to decide between several items in that selection. (Choose from 3 Word docs for example.) Clicking on the Word document thing in the startbar doesn't automatically go back to the document I was just working on. (A real pain in the a$$ if you ask me.)

With Expos�, I just move my mouse to the upper right hand corner of the screen. Now I am just looking at the desktop. No clicking involved. If I want to select something to open from the desktop I can. If I want to go back to the document I was just working on, I just move my mouse back to the right hand corner and it automatically opens to the place I was before. No clicking involved.

Expos� is truly something I miss when I am at work on a PC. Frustrates me all day.

[CaptainHaddock]

Originally posted by kcmac:
With Expos�, I just move my mouse to the upper right hand corner of the screen. Now I am just looking at the desktop. No clicking involved.

Expos� is truly something I miss when I am at work on a PC. Frustrates me all day.

Know what's even more convenient? I have a Logitech Bluetooth mouse with extra thumb-buttons, and I set them to different Expos� functions. Trying to change applications under Windows (the odd time I use it) is so frustrating now!

To Chris, the original poster: It's your call, but I highly recommend you forget about the Windoze method of minimizing everything just to get at your desktop icons. The Mac method is so much more efficient once you get used to it.

1. Between the Finder and the Dock, there's very little need for icons on the desktop. I keep mine totally clean. Remember that folders you access frequently � like Applications or Music � can be dropped on the right-hand side of the Dock.

2. Expos� (F9) is so convenient for keeping track of windows, there's no need to constantly minimize things. Tie this function to a screen corner or mouse button and it's even easier.

3. The consistent location of every menubar (at the top of the screen) and document-oriented nature of OS X means there's no need to ever "maximize" a document and hide everything else. Just make each window the ideal size for its contents.

4. If you ever do need to quickly get something from the desktop, Expos� (F11) does the job.

5. If you want to hide a document you won't be using for a while, just option-click the desktop while it's open.

6. You can combine drag-and-drop with any Mac OS interface function, including Expos�. For example, you can grab a file in Finder, hit F9 to reveal all windows, and drag the file to one. Or you could hit command-tab for a list of all running applications and drag the file to one.

7. Drag-and-drop isn't limited to files. Even snippets of text or image clippings can be dragged and dropped between applications, like copy-and-paste without copying or pasting. You can even drag a file or folder to a program's "open" dialogue box, and the box will immediately change locations to that file or folder.

Once you get used to the Mac, you'll see how primitive Windows was and how limited its work-arounds (like "minimize all and show the desktop") were.

[nuggetman]

Originally posted by SpaceMonkey:
I'm not sure why Expos�'s F11 keystroke is unsatisfactory. It's actually called "Desktop" in the Expos� system preferences pane, and it allows you to manipulate anything on the desktop (and pretty much everything else in Finder) to your heart's content without reverting back to normal until you tell it to.

if i do an expose to get the desktop, and then double click something (say a drive image i just downloaded), i have to do expose AGAIN because after double clicking all my windows fly back in

[kcmac]

But the window you want to work in is on top. I guess if you aren't used to having many things open or visible at once this could be a little disturbing.

Not knowing if you are a recent convert to Mac (but if you are) remember that the menu for the front window is always on the top of the screen as opposed to it being attached to the window in Windows. This makes it much easier to work with multiple open windows. Makes it real handy for drag and drop and the like.

If you are a Mac user, well then you knew that.

[Wiskedjak]

ShowDesktop is basically a shortcut for Hide All. If you actually want to hide everything, ShowDesktop is a better tool than Expose, though Expose is a better tool if you only want to get a something on the desktop.

[nuggetman]

Originally posted by kcmac:
But the window you want to work in is on top. I guess if you aren't used to having many things open or visible at once this could be a little disturbing.

Not knowing if you are a recent convert to Mac (but if you are) remember that the menu for the front window is always on the top of the screen as opposed to it being attached to the window in Windows. This makes it much easier to work with multiple open windows. Makes it real handy for drag and drop and the like.

If you are a Mac user, well then you knew that.

except when i want to mount a disk image and drag files around on my desktop, i want to see my DESKTOP, not all my windows

[kcmac]

Can't you just use the finder for that? Column view?

[CaptainHaddock]

"except when i want to mount a disk image and drag files around on my desktop, i want to see my DESKTOP, not all my windows"

The desktop is an awful place for storing and managing files. The Finder does a much better job. OS X simply isn't designed to facilitate desktop clutter.