How do you use minimized windows?

[Pangalactic]

I don't mean physically, I know how to press the yellow button 😁I mean conceptually.

What I do right now is using Hyperdock to show window previews like in Windows when you hover the mouse over them. Which brings me to the question, what is the point of minimized windows, and what for do you use them? It seems to take an equal amount of effort to click on an app icon and on a minimized window, so...what is the point of having them separately in the dock?

 

[ignatius345]

Most often I spread things out over multiple desktops or just hide an app I'm not actively using.

But I sometimes minimize to the dock when I have an app open with a lot of windows and am trying to focus on only some of them. Currently I have a writing project I'm working on in Pages that has a ton of documents but it's overwhelming to have them all on screen -- so I minimize some of the ones I'm not actively using. I want them open and easy to get to, but maybe I want them out of my face for a while.

One other focus tool I like a lot is HazeOver, which puts a semi-opaque background over everything except the window that has active focus.

 

[Gregg2]

I don't use the yellow button at all. I just use Mission Control.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I rarely use the yellow button. I space windows across the screen if need be, or use Sidecar.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Minimize is one of several ways of coping with desktop clutter. I tend to have a lot of open apps, often with multiple windows in many of those apps. Basically, the size of the available desktop helps determine whether I can leave those windows open or whether I minimize some of them to declutter. Sure, I could just allow them to get buried in the stack and click the Dock icon to bring them back to the top, but the act of "putting away" a window or app helps me to stay a bit more organized - do I click around to find the (buried) open window, or do I move to the dock to reopen it?

I've dabbled with multiple workspaces over the years - let's say a major project on one workspace while my day-to-day stuff resided on another workspace. But outside of project-switching I've found arranging multiple workspaces to be more trouble than its worth - there's inevitably one app/window that I need that ends up on a different workspace. By the time I find it, I may as well have been working in a single workspace and minimizing when a bit of declutter is helpful.

I used minimize most when I used laptops (that was before the days of Retina resolution) - smaller workspaces get cluttered quickly. With so many windows stacked/overlapping the "pile" could get pretty deep - minimizing reduced the depth of the stack.

On my 20" iMac (which meant it wasn't a Retina) things were better, but still not as much desktop space as I wanted. A 27" iMac gave me more room to spread out = less minimizing. Better still is the dual display setup on my 27" 5K Retina iMac plus a 27" LG 5K external display. Still, even with all the desktop afforded by those big, dual displays there are still a few apps that I minimize.

Mostly I minimize infrequently-needed apps - I always run Activity Monitor, but I only need to view it when I run into system slow-downs, etc. I refer to Calendar and Contacts infrequently, but still prefer to have them running. And when I have a lot of documents and spreadsheets open I tend to minimize the windows that are not in active use - it helps keep me from accidentally typing on the wrong document.

But we each find the workflow and methods that work best for ourselves. If minimize isn't helpful to you I'm not going to try to change your mind.

 

[Pakaku]

Nothing special on my machine, but minimizing reminds me that I still have things open, rather than forgetting about windows covered up by other windows