Dec 3, 2012 - Mission Control is a feature of Mac OS X which allows a user to quickly. To get started, download and install the program on your computer. How to Use Mission Control on a Mac. In this Article: Launch Mission Control Swipe between full-screen apps Understanding the Mission Control interface Organizing windows Community Q&A References.
Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET After learning a few keyboard shortcuts, my embrace of Mission Control has tightened. Because my 13.3-inch MacBook Pro has only so much screen real estate, I spread out the applications I use most frequently across a handful of virtual desktops in Mission Control in an effort to avoid feeling cramped when multitasking. I have come to rely on it and its virtual workspaces throughout the workday, and I get in and out of it more quickly now than when I relied solely on my MacBook's trackpad to navigate my way around it. Without further ado, I present a five keyboard shortcuts for Mission Control. Opening Mission Control Let's start with the basics.
To access Mission Control, you can swipe up with three or four fingers (depending how you have your trackpad set up), but you can also use the F3 button on Apple keyboards sold since Mac OX X Lion's release in 2011. If that's not to your liking or you have an older Mac, you can assign a key or key combination to access Mission Control in System Preferences Mission Control. Cycling through Mission Control desktops When you are in Mission Control, your virtual desktops are displayed as thumbnails across the top of the screen above Mission Control's preview pane.
To cycle through your desktops to preview each without opening one and exiting Mission Control, hold down the Control key and use the left and right arrow keys. Alternatively, you can hold down the Option key and click on a desktop thumbnail to preview it in Mission Control. Jumping directly to a desktop If you use a multitude of desktops in Mission Control, cycling through them via the above keyboard shortcut may not be efficient. To jump directly to a specific desktop, hold down Control and hit a number key. That is, use Control-1 to preview your first desktop, Control-2 to preview the second, and so on. Add or remove a desktop If you move your cursor to a desktop thumbnail in Mission Control, you'll see an iOS-esque X appears in its upper-left corner, which you can click to delete it.
If you mouse over to the right edge of the row of desktop thumbnails, a '+' button appears to add a new desktop. When deleting a desktop, you'll find you have to hold your cursor over the thumbnail for an extra beat before the X appears. To avoid this admittedly short delay, hold down the Option button to call up the X buttons on your Mission Control desktops and the '+' button to their right.
Enlarge a window If you would like to take a closer look at an open window in Mission Control's preview pane, simply move your cursor over a window and hit the spacebar. Related stories. As an added bonus, I will close with a Mission Control tip that does not involve the keyboard. It's still useful nonetheless. If you have multiple windows open of a particular app, you can move them all to another desktop in Mission Control by clicking and dragging the app icon for the group. As another added bonus (a double bonus?), I will point out you can assign a different desktop background to each of your virtual desktops in Mission Control. I find it helps me keep track of where I have stashed my apps across my various Mission Control desktops.
The quickest way to enter Mission Control is to hit the Mission Control button, which doubles as F3. You can also swipe up with three fingers on your trackpad. When you do, you’ll see an overview of all your open apps, so you can pick the app you want and bring it to the front in lieu of finding it on the Dock or using Command+Tab. If you want to move an application window to another desktop, you can drag it to any of them along the top. If you need to add more Spaces, then click the “+” in the upper-right corner.
Mission Control also steps in when you go into Split View mode. When you pick on window to split the screen, the other windows will be displayed so that you can pick another to go alongside it. To customize how MIssion Control works, open System Preferences and click on the Mission Control panel.
The first option allows Mission Control to automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use. If you ever been using your Mac and tried to switch between desktops, only to discover they’re not in the order you thought they were, this is probably why. It’s probably safe to disable this. The next option is for those who use Spaces regularly. Let’s say you have Safari open on Desktop 2 and you’re on Desktop 4 using Calendar.
When you switch back to Safari, the desktops will scroll back to Desktop 2. In order to open a new Safari window on Desktop 4, you need to turn this option off. “Group Windows by Application” is best shown with pictures. In the following screenshot, we see how it looks when things aren’t grouped by application. Each application window gets its own thumbnail. In this screenshot, we see how it looks when an application is grouped. It will obviously cut down on clutter, but might be harder to pick out a specific window unless you select the application and find it (you can use the keyboard shortcut Command+ to sort through multiple windows in the same application).
The fourth option, “Displays Have Separate Spaces”, only applies if you have multiple monitors. With this option checked, each additional display will have its own Space. The Dashboard dropdown applies to, you guessed it, the Dashboard. If you’re new to the Mac, you probably don’t know much about it, but Dashboard is a separate environment that allows you to run widgets. If you want Dashboard to appear overlaid on your desktop, then hit F12 and it will swoop into existence. Otherwise, you can have it appear in its own separate space, or you can turn it off.
On a related note, if you want to remove widgets, click the “-” sign in the lower-left corner. If you want to add widgets to Dashboard or download more, then click the “+” sign.
The lower half of the Mission Control preferences are devoted entirely to keyboard and mouse shortcuts, so if you’re not crazy about the default shortcuts, you can change them. If you want to add keyboard modifiers, then make sure you press the modifiers before you choose each shortcut. RELATED: Last but not least, there’s if you prefer to use those to access Mission Control, application windows, the Desktop, or Dashboard. Again, if you want to activate each Hot Corner with a keyboard modifier, add the modifier before you assign a feature to each corner.
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Mission Control is mainly about Spaces. Mastering them will let you quickly jump from desktop to desktop, move applications between them, and see everything running on your desktops in seconds. Thankfully, you can make Mission Control even better and have it work to your liking, plus if you use Hot Corners, you can add yet another way to quickly access it. Pretty soon, you’ll be a Mission Control pro.