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So many Open (windows) hard to navigate between them

R

rdubmu

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 17, 2012
66
27
Hello everyone,

I am new to the mac, I am having trouble with trying to be productive. I have a lot of different windows open while I am doing work/school. I am used to the windows enviroment where I can just go to the taskbar and run my mouse over the app that is open and it shows all the windows open for that app.

What is the easiest way to beable to switch apps. I am having a hard time trying to find open apps (windows) that are behind each other.

I have a iMac with both a magic mouse and trackpad.
 
Last edited:
V

vmachiel

macrumors 68000
Feb 15, 2011
1,772
1,440
Holland
Try mission control under f3 or bij double tapping your magic mouse with two fingers. This will give you an overview of everything running on your Mac. By pressing ctrl+f3 you see only the windows of the foreground app. I'm not sure how to see that with the magic mouse though.

You can also see all the windows of a current app by clicking and holding on that app in the dock I believe
 
rocknblogger

rocknblogger

macrumors 68020
Apr 2, 2011
2,346
481
New Jersey
rdubmu said:
Hello everyone,

I am new to the mac, I am having trouble with trying to be productive. I have a lot of different windows open while I am doing work/school. I am used to the windows enviroment where I can just go to the taskbar and run my mouse over the app that is open and it shows all the windows open for that app.

What is the easiest way to beable to switch apps. I am having a hard time trying to find open apps (windows) that are behind each other.

I have a iMac with both a magic mouse and trackpad.
Click to expand...

I use http://hyperdock.bahoom.com/Hyperdock which gives you the same type of thumbnails like Windows.

You can also try Dockview. I haven't tried it yet so can't tell you anything about it. http://kapeli.com/dockview/
 
S

samh

macrumors 6502
Oct 29, 2009
317
3
rdubmu said:
Hello everyone,

I am new to the mac, I am having trouble with trying to be productive. I have a lot of different windows open while I am doing work/school. I am used to the windows enviroment where I can just go to the taskbar and run my mouse over the app that is open and it shows all the windows open for that app.

What is the easiest way to beable to switch apps. I am having a hard time trying to find open apps (windows) that are behind each other.

I have a iMac with both a magic mouse and trackpad.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if these are default settings, but on my MacBook Pro running Lion, I can swipe up with 3 fingers to get a Mission Control overview of all open Apps and if I swipe down with 3 fingers I get an overview of all windows for the current App.

You may also want to try using different "spaces" -- there are lots of demos around including on Apple's website. I find that having a few related apps in their own space sometimes helps me avoid distraction.
 
tkermit

tkermit

macrumors 68040
Feb 20, 2004
3,582
2,909
rdubmu said:
I am used to the windows enviroment where I can just go to the taskbar and run my mouse over the app that is open and it shows all the windows open for that app.
Click to expand...

On the Mac, you can double-tap with two fingers (or just one finger with the Magic Mouse, I think) on Dock icons or four-finger-swipe downwards over them to see an app's open windows. While you're in that 'App Exposé' view, you can click on other icons for apps in the Dock to see what windows they have open.
 
R

rdubmu

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 17, 2012
66
27
3 finger swipe up

3 Finger Swipe up, how do I get to do this on the magic mouse?

I guess this this best thing for me right now as it groups apps of the same kind together. Still doesn't help if I have more than one window open for chrome for example. It just groups them together. I could use tabed browsing but sometimes I don't. If I am working on something for school but want to go back to it later then I usually just open a new window...

I can't believe I miss windows for my desktop. The task bar is what I miss the most besides (onenote)... I am going to try those other apps which are mentioned above regarding to the dock :)

----------
rocknblogger said:
I use http://hyperdock.bahoom.com/Hyperdock which gives you the same type of thumbnails like Windows.

You can also try Dockview. I haven't tried it yet so can't tell you anything about it. http://kapeli.com/dockview/
Click to expand...

Hyperdock is exactly what I was looking for. I get a free trial and then decide if I want to pay for the app store version or homepage version.

Thank you for the help :)
 
S

samh

macrumors 6502
Oct 29, 2009
317
3
rdubmu said:
3 Finger Swipe up, how do I get to do this on the magic mouse?

I guess this this best thing for me right now as it groups apps of the same kind together. Still doesn't help if I have more than one window open for chrome for example. It just groups them together. I could use tabed browsing but sometimes I don't. If I am working on something for school but want to go back to it later then I usually just open a new window...

I can't believe I miss windows for my desktop. The task bar is what I miss the most besides (onenote)... I am going to try those other apps which are mentioned above regarding to the dock :)

----------



Hyperdock is exactly what I was looking for. I get a free trial and then decide if I want to pay for the app store version or homepage version.

Thank you for the help :)
Click to expand...

I miss this functionality, too. I'm not sure if MS has a patent on it? Well, anyway, there is one other thing you can do that I forgot about. You can click and hold on a dock icon and it will bring up all the windows for that app. Sort of what a 3-finger or 4-finger swipe (depending on your gestures configuration) will do for the *current* app.
 
R

rien333

macrumors regular
Jun 29, 2010
167
0
The Netherlands
Mission control or spaces/exposé should probably fulfill your needs. Have tried creating multiple desktops in mission control/spaces? That did the trick for me.
 
R

rdubmu

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 17, 2012
66
27
rien333 said:
Mission control or spaces/exposé should probably fulfill your needs. Have tried creating multiple desktops in mission control/spaces? That did the trick for me.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I never knew that- I love how I am learning more and more each day. I always concidered myself pretty techy in terms of figuring stuff out. With the Mac I am a newbie. Right click does the same thing :)
 
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