Macos – taskbar for OS X

macososx-spacestaskbar

I'd like to permanently see a clickable list of windows I have open, in the same way that the taskbar allows in Windows. Can I do this on Mac?

Some details:

  • i have many virtual desktops (spaces), so often a single application has windows on many of them.
  • I often have multiple windows of each application, such as the terminal or browser, on the same virtual desktop
  • I have multiple monitors, if it matters.

Edit: When I say 'permanently see a clickable list of windows I have open' I mean that I want to see every window I have open, and I'd like to be able to click on each one to open that window. I'm not looking for the newer behaviour where tasks are clustered by application.

Best Answer

On Mac there's a visual window management tool called Exposé. On recent Macs, the default key is F3. (I think it used to be F11 on older MacBook keyboards.)

  • F3: show all open windows
  • Ctrl F3: show current application windows
  • Cmd F3: hide all windows to show the desktop

Clicking on a window will bring it to the foreground.

While in Exposé, you can use the Tab key to switch apps and see their windows. Google "Exposé keyboard shortcuts" for more tricks.

You can assign the Exposé key and see the assigned shortcut keys in System Preferences.

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