Spaces used to show the space number in the menu bar; I would glance at it regularly to see which space I was in (1, 2, 3, etc). How do I get Mission Control to display the current desktop in the menu bar like that?
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Mission Control in Lion; how to show desktop # in menu bar (like Spaces used to do?)
- Thread starter slumpey326
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"I 2nd the motion"
Yes, please! After digging around, I finally figured out you can at least create keyboard shortcuts to switch between Desktops (like you used to be able to do in Spaces - write your Apple feedback specialist to bring Spaces back! www.apple.com.macosx.feedback), but I want to be able to see in the menu bar which Desktop I'm currently ON. To know where i am. I haven't been able to find a way to do this. They've got so much to fix.
Yes, please! After digging around, I finally figured out you can at least create keyboard shortcuts to switch between Desktops (like you used to be able to do in Spaces - write your Apple feedback specialist to bring Spaces back! www.apple.com.macosx.feedback), but I want to be able to see in the menu bar which Desktop I'm currently ON. To know where i am. I haven't been able to find a way to do this. They've got so much to fix.
It is under System Preferences>Keyboards>Keyboard Shortcuts Select the Mission Control option and on the right you'll find the spaces shortcut options.
I see nothing for Spaces, and we are asking to see if it can be including in the menu bar. Can this be done like in SL.
I don't believe there is anyway yet to add it to the menu bar. The other poster that I quoted was asking about adding the shortcut keys and that is what I answered (although I just looked and on the right it is also labeled Mission Control and not Spaces like I said prior, but there are assignable shortcut keys for the spaces within this. They say things like "move a space" and "Switch to Desktop 1", etc).
I never liked spaces much -- I had just started getting into it about a week before Lion released. I dig Mission Control, though.
You like MC because you never used the *real* Spaces app. You're exactly the target Apple had in mind for it.
I'm just afraid that power users who developed work habits using the old Spaces are finding out they're left behind now. Spaces as we know it is dead. Strange that Apple thought it was good enough to keep around all these years but now it's not.
I sincerely agree with Steve. Basically I bought my second MacBookPro because of two reasons:
(1) the trackpad (something Apple changed unwanted into "natural scrolling")
(2) the spaces (something Apple even removed!)
I worked continously with 4 spaces in a quadrant:
top row graphical apps, bottom row CLI.
left column location A, right column location B.
I'm an network/Cisco consultant, hence the location and graphical/CLI subdivision. My "comfort" with Apple dropped missing the spaces overview and quadrant options.
I had this problem, restarting Dock seems to work to solve it: open terminal, type sudo killall Dock, wait a few seconds and all menu bars should return.
Guys why dont you download the app called bettertouchtool. i understand that the mac keyboard shortcut to change a space left is 'ctrl left' and to change it right its 'ctrl right'. if you get bettertouchtool you can set a gesture to perform a keyboard command. so i set four fingers swipe left to change space left and four fingers swipe right to space right. so now it feels like im flipping a page of a book. i think better touch tools is a paid app but theres ways to get it for free.
hope i helped
hope i helped
Guys why dont you download the app called bettertouchtool. i understand that the mac keyboard shortcut to change a space left is 'ctrl left' and to change it right its 'ctrl right'. if you get bettertouchtool you can set a gesture to perform a keyboard command. so i set four fingers swipe left to change space left and four fingers swipe right to space right. so now it feels like im flipping a page of a book. i think better touch tools is a paid app but theres ways to get it for free.
hope i helped
a) You could have done that straight from System Preferences->Trackpad. It's called "Switch Between Full-screen Apps" there, but it switches desktops, too. It gives more fine-tuned control than the keyboard shortcut, too.
b) BetterTouchTool is free.
Custom DT image (wallpaper) can be assigned to each DT!!
Very cool (hidden easter egg) solution to this problem. Desktop&screensaver Preference Pane. Drag the Prefs window from space to space, and assign different (multiple) desktop pix as you go, left to right. After doing this, drag the window back across, right to left, while holding it by the left edge. Youll see the thumbnail change as you go.
So the logical next step is to edit your custom space-assigned desktop pix, adding some text: "DT 1", "DT 2", etc., so no need for it in a menubar!
Very cool (hidden easter egg) solution to this problem. Desktop&screensaver Preference Pane. Drag the Prefs window from space to space, and assign different (multiple) desktop pix as you go, left to right. After doing this, drag the window back across, right to left, while holding it by the left edge. Youll see the thumbnail change as you go.
So the logical next step is to edit your custom space-assigned desktop pix, adding some text: "DT 1", "DT 2", etc., so no need for it in a menubar!
I did this. In Photoshop, I created 6 separate desktop wallpapers, each with a number in the corner to indicate where it goes. (I also colour-coded each wallpaper based on what application I primarily use in that Space, eg Photoshop is Blue, InDesign is purple, etc.) But I disagree that there's no need for the number in the Menu Bar. I still find my eye going there dozens of times per day. And it's a good way to switch spaces if I happen to have my mouse up there.
I don't think this debate is about workarounds so much as bringing back options we used to have in Snow Leopard. If they were options once, why are they mandatory now?
I think this is the best solution for now (for those of us with photoshop or similar). I guess you could call me a "power user" (whatever that really means) but I was heavily reliant on spaces with all my own custom key commands etc. I have to admit that mission control doesn't quite work the way my brain does and with a lack of visible desktop numbers I feel completely lost amongst my multiple spaces. Really hope apple addresses this in a future update.
I'm really looking forward to that functionality as well : when I run a full-screen app on a second display (in my case, running Plex on a HDMI-attached HDTV), Mission Control no longer works - Exposé didn't work either. Desktop-switching shortcuts don't work either.
In Snow Leopard, I could use the dropdown space number menu to switch between desktops. Now, I'm stuck with clicking an active app on the dock to switch to its own desktop. And the problem with *that* approach is that it won't work if I run a full-screen app on my main display (eg, World of Warcraft).
Mission Control is such a HUGE step backwards ... some days I'm really considering the switch back to SL.
In Snow Leopard, I could use the dropdown space number menu to switch between desktops. Now, I'm stuck with clicking an active app on the dock to switch to its own desktop. And the problem with *that* approach is that it won't work if I run a full-screen app on my main display (eg, World of Warcraft).
Mission Control is such a HUGE step backwards ... some days I'm really considering the switch back to SL.
I'm sorry, but I don't get it. I opened up System Preferences and tried to drag the Desktop&ScreenSaver Preference Pane, and it doesn't move -- so I cannot drag it to the desktop. What am I doing wrong?
Okay, I got it. While dragging the ENTIRE System Preferences window (opened to Desktop&ScreenSaver), press Control+number_of_space.
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You don't need spaces in menu bar-
As a long time follower of spaces, and emailing apple many times on not getting it right, I read this thread and emailed them requesting everything mentioned here.
Then, and only then did I find out by looking at some apple videos the truth.
You don't need the menu bar menu icon of spaces any more.
What apple wants you to do is to buy a magic trackpad and start using it.
Manipulative, maybe, but very very worth it.
What you do is to swipe with 3 fingers to the right or left and your screen flows over to the window of the space to the left and the right.
You can keep swiping if you have more windows and you will travel there.
So that doesn't answer to what you want with the ability to click on the spaces icon?
Wait.
With the magic trackpad you now simply swipe your 3 fingers upwards and the space you are in appears on the screen with the other spaces on top.
You can then click one of the screens and you are there as spaces disappears and you are there.
Or you can drag from your screen in the center a document or application page such as a safari window, into one of the other spaces.
Or you can just take your 3 fingers and swipe your 3 fingers downward and you are back at the space you were in.
What they have done, and this is one of the big things I really wanted them to get into, was multiple monitor support for spaces. I have 4 monitors, so with each space I get to distribute to spread out to the 4 monitors and it remembers and keeps documents the way I left them. I keep a different application in each window.
APPLE HAS FINALLY GOT THIS DOWN!
I don't know if this will all be saved if I restart, but I imagine something this well thought out will.
As a long time follower of spaces, and emailing apple many times on not getting it right, I read this thread and emailed them requesting everything mentioned here.
Then, and only then did I find out by looking at some apple videos the truth.
You don't need the menu bar menu icon of spaces any more.
What apple wants you to do is to buy a magic trackpad and start using it.
Manipulative, maybe, but very very worth it.
What you do is to swipe with 3 fingers to the right or left and your screen flows over to the window of the space to the left and the right.
You can keep swiping if you have more windows and you will travel there.
So that doesn't answer to what you want with the ability to click on the spaces icon?
Wait.
With the magic trackpad you now simply swipe your 3 fingers upwards and the space you are in appears on the screen with the other spaces on top.
You can then click one of the screens and you are there as spaces disappears and you are there.
Or you can drag from your screen in the center a document or application page such as a safari window, into one of the other spaces.
Or you can just take your 3 fingers and swipe your 3 fingers downward and you are back at the space you were in.
What they have done, and this is one of the big things I really wanted them to get into, was multiple monitor support for spaces. I have 4 monitors, so with each space I get to distribute to spread out to the 4 monitors and it remembers and keeps documents the way I left them. I keep a different application in each window.
APPLE HAS FINALLY GOT THIS DOWN!
I don't know if this will all be saved if I restart, but I imagine something this well thought out will.
I, for one, am tired of this "trackpadmania". I use a mouse with my iMac and my MBA and do NOT like trackpads. Apple needs to accomodate all users rather than their select few.
The gesture is also supported on the BT magic mouse, for those of us who still prefer a mouse.