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Mac noob question.... (where is app hiding)

R

RGSMDNR

macrumors member
Original poster
I just picked up my first mac, and im still learning how to use it. the problem i cant figure out is where the app is hiding. ill use adium as an example. i tried to run it, and im sure its running because there is a blue light under the icon in the dock, but the window wont open up. i can click on the adium icon all day, and nothing. where did it go? and how do i open in?

thanks!
 
The contact list it self wont appear. i can quit and restart and it will open, but i think if i minimize it, it wont maximize.
 
well of course i cant get it to do it anymore. i think i just tried to run it, and the window wouldnt open. it said it was running, but i couldnt access my contact list.

its tough being a Mac noob... lol
 
Sometimes windows for applications can be closed while the app is still running. Such as safari for example. You can click the red button on the upper left and that closes the safari window, but not safari. You know this because Command Tab will show safari running, plus the blue dot on the bottom. And clicking the dot will bring the menu for safari up on the top of the screen.

If this happens, you need to create a new window. In safari, its under file>new window. Some applications will hide the option under a different menu. Adium should show you a menu on the top of the screen, i suspect you can re-open your buddy list window there.
 
OK, a couple of things that tripped me up at first. I don't use Adium right now but I've seen this behavior with other apps.

First, if you minimized the application (via the yellow "minus" button), it minimized to an icon on the right side of the divider lines in the dock, you can restore it from there.

If the application isn't minimzed to the dock, then use Expose (the F3 function key on my newer keyboards, F9 on older keyboards) which will show you a visualization with all the open windows (that aren't minimized to the dock) shrinking and arranging them so you can find which window you are looking for. Command-Tab (command is the cloverleaf key on newer keyboards, older Apple keyboards all have an :apple: icon on that key) lets you cycle through your open windows (what Alt-Tab did in Windows) but again applications minimized to the dock won't show up. F10 (or F3 then Tab) will show you all visible windows for the current application. F11 (or Command+F3) is Expose for the desktop in case you want to see something on the desktop instead of finding a running application.

Let me know if that doesn't help.
 
ruckus said:
Sometimes windows for applications can be closed while the app is still running. Such as safari for example. You can click the red button on the upper left and that closes the safari window, but not safari. You know this because Command Tab will show safari running, plus the blue dot on the bottom. And clicking the dot will bring the menu for safari up on the top of the screen.

If this happens, you need to create a new window. In safari, its under file>new window. Some applications will hide the option under a different menu. Adium should show you a menu on the top of the screen, i suspect you can re-open your buddy list window there.
Click to expand...
This is a good point, you may not need to create a new window. If you click the icon in the dock for the running app, that should change the Mac menu bar to show your application's name. At that point you should be able to click that menu item and select Quit ApplicationName or just hit Command-Q from the keyboard to quit the app.
 
ok, so it did it again...

i opened neoOffice, closed it (red X) now its running in the dock, but i cant get it open again. i have to shut it down, and start over.

??
 
RGSMDNR said:
ok, so it did it again...

i opened neoOffice, closed it (red X) now its running in the dock, but i cant get it open again. i have to shut it down, and start over.
Click to expand...
So if you click on the neoOffice icon in the dock, what does the application menu say (immediately to the right of the :apple: logo)? It should say the name of the currently selected application. Assuming it says neoOffice (and I don't know, since its not a program I personally use), then you should be able to get to a Quit item from the menu.

Also, right click on the icon in the dock, what options do you get from the pop-up menu?

I'm not completely convinced this isn't a problem with running a Java app in OS X.

Regardless, one solution would be to always use Command-Q to quit an application, or at least this particular one.
 
ya i can quit the application, but why cant i open it again? the blue light is on underneath the icon... so i can only assume its already running.
 
I believe the answer has already been posted but I don't believe you have a fault at all its just getting to grips with the following concept:

In Windows - Pressing the X, closes the window and 9 times out of 10 closes the application with it. (Unless it runs in the system tray)

In OSX - Pressing the X closes the window but 9 times out of 10 does NOT close the application.

Using a mac, you need to separate the idea that closing a window is closing the program when it isn't.

Some programs (e.g. iTunes), if you close the window, clicking the dock icon will bring back the main window.

Other programs (e.g. Word, NeoOffice) if you close the window, clicking the dock icon will do seemingly nothing. The program is still running but there are no windows open. To bring a new window up you need to create a new window from the menu. Typically File > New.....

Hope that helps.
 
RGSMDNR said:
ya i can quit the application, but why cant i open it again? the blue light is on underneath the icon... so i can only assume its already running.
Click to expand...

Do you have any documents open in it? If not, you can click on the NeoOffice icon all day long and nothing will show up. If you click the Neooffice icon and the menu at the top says "NeoOffice" than you're fine. Just click File -> Text Document and a new text document should open up. In multi-windowed applications like NeoOffice, no window will show up if you don't have anything open.

I'm not sure about your Adium trouble, though. Even when I close the contacts list, when I click the icon, it always comes back. Do you have the little Adium icon in the top right of your menu? Try clicking that.
 
RGSMDNR said:
ya i can quit the application, but why cant i open it again? the blue light is on underneath the icon... so i can only assume its already running.
Click to expand...
If you are getting the blue dot underneath the icon, then you aren't actually quitting the application even if seems like you are.
 
ahh ok, if i start a document and close it, i can reopen it no problem. but if i dont start a document and i close it, i cant reopen it. just found that odd...

thanks for everyones help!

lovin my Mac!
 
RGSMDNR said:
ahh ok, if i start a document and close it, i can reopen it no problem. but if i dont start a document and i close it, i cant reopen it. just found that odd...

thanks for everyones help!

lovin my Mac!
Click to expand...

Look at it this way: if you close the last window in a running app, there are no more windows open but the app is still running. Let's say you closed all documents in Word, so there are no more Word windows open. If you switch to another app and then switch back to Word by clicking its icon in the Dock, see how your menu bar changes to say "Word" and has the menus for Word? Then you can go to File > New to create a new document, or File > Open to open one, or what-have-you.

The document != the application. In any multi-window application, closing all windows does not close the application. When you select that application in the Dock, its menus will appear up in the menu bar, showing that you've switched it to be active. From there you can open a document or create a new one, or whatever.

In the case of Adium, you'd click the Adium icon in the dock, and then go to the Window menu and choose "Contact List." That would reveal the contact list you previously closed (but which still exists, since the program is still running and you're likely still connected to AIM or whatever).
 
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