If you have a Mac with a small display, it can take longer to fit apps so that everything is visible on the screen than it does to work. Enough tolerating this! Today we’ll talk about how to free up the maximum screen space for applications.
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How to automatically hide the menu bar
The menu bar contains the Apple menu (“bull’s eye” in the upper left corner), the menu of the active application and status icons (for example, time, Wi-Fi signal strength). If you think about it, we don’t always need this part of the macOS interface. If so, why not disable it and call it only when necessary?
1. Open System settings (via Apple menu, Dock icon, or Spotlight search).
2. Select a section The main…
3. Check the box next to the inscription Auto hide and show menu bar…
The menu bar will disappear immediately. The next time it will appear only when you move the mouse cursor to the upper corner of the screen or click Ctrl + F2…
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How to automatically hide the Dock
The Dock is a bar with icons for applications (Finder, Safari, Mail, etc.) at the bottom of the screen. There you can also add icons of programs that you often use, folders and documents. It is very convenient – but the Dock often takes up a lot of space, and you can switch it to work “on demand”, ie displaying it only when you need it – it can save you a lot of desktop space.
To do this:
1. Open System settings…
2. Select the Dock section. By the way, you don’t have to go to the system settings – just press ⌘Cmd + ⌥Option (Alt) + D…
3. Check the box next to Show or hide the Dock automatically…
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The Dock will then automatically disappear from the screen. Now it will appear only when the mouse cursor is at the bottom of the screen, and will go back to cover after you click on the desired icon.
If you do not want to hide the Dock, you can make it smaller (slider Size) or make the small icons grow when you hover over them with the cursor (checkmark opposite the item Zoom). Finally, the Dock can be moved from the bottom of the screen to the left or right side – it may not bother you as much there.
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Full screen mode
If you want to focus on one application and not be distracted by anything else, activate full screen mode! It automatically hides both the menu bar and the Dock, while the program window expands to full screen. If necessary, you can reach them with the cursor (as in the previous two cases).
There are two ways to switch to full screen mode:
1. In the application window, click on the green circle with two arrows diverging in different directions (it is located in the upper left corner). Another click on this icon will return you to normal operation.
2. Shortcut Ctrl + ⌘Cmd + F…
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Spaces (additional desktops)
Spaces helps organize open applications. You can organize up to 16 spaces at the same time and place as many applications in them as you like. The Spaces tool is great for sorting apps – for example, one Spaces can contain only work programs, another – only apps and games for home entertainment, and so on.
If you’ve used Windows before, it’s like working in Windows with virtual desktops.
To access Spaces,
1. Open Mission Control (F3 or Fn + F3 depending on your keyboard type, or Ctrl + up arrow).
2. Click on the icon “+” in the upper right corner and create a new desktop. Open the necessary programs on it (you can also drag icons from an already used table to a new one).
For more information about the Spaces desktops and how to switch between them, we talked in this article.
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Your option
How do you keep your Mac desktop tidy? Share your opinion in the comments!
See also:
