Zoom In On Windows While Using Exposé 7
Tip
Hey
I stumbled across this little trick by accident, but I think it is rather cool. If you have ever used Exposé with a lot of windows open, you may find that they can get rather small, very small, especially if you have the option to show every window and not ones from a specific application. Instead of trying to search through these small windows using you can press the space bar while hovering over a window to bring into view.
While using the space bar any window you have highlighted will automatically become the biggest thing you see. In a similar manner to how Quicklook works. If you have lots of reports open a quick tap of the space bar will allow you to bring one into view to see its contents. Another quick tap will set it back with the rest of the windows.
Another cool trick with Exposé is to press Command + ` (the tilde or button next to the number one). If you press these keys in a similar manner to scrolling through windows, while Exposé is running, you will scroll through the applications while Exposé is up and running. This is another quick way to gain an overview of what you have open.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave one below using the form.
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7 Responses to “Zoom In On Windows While Using Exposé”
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press the space bar and move the mouse around and it will highlight whichever one you move it near.
Comment By Nick on September 2nd, at 8:02 pm
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Hi James,
I’m not so sure this technique is so much a method to zoom into windows when in Expose view (as, say, using Quickview in Finder) in as much as the spacebar simply acts as an alternative to the left mouse button to actually select the file. That is, once you press the spacebar, you exit Expose. Does this sound right?
Cheers,
PhilComment By Phil on September 3rd, at 2:23 am
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Hi, the command + tilde combination is same as pressing tab, should be much easier to press tab instead…
and for the zooming in, I think it might only be possible in Snow Leopard and not Leopard.
Comment By Rong Kang on September 3rd, at 3:54 am
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Awesome. I had no idea about these features. They will make Exposé so much more helpful. Thanks for the tip! :-)
Comment By JJ on September 3rd, at 10:07 am
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Are these not documented anywhere? It seems so strange for them to implement such cool features, yet not document them.
@Phil: As Rong Kang said, these features might be Snow Leopard (10.6) specific.
Some notes of a little experimenting:
* Space switches into this Actual-Size mode. Mousing over any other mini-window switches to zooming it. i.e. Hit space once and then move the mouse around. Each window will zoom as you move over it. (This isn’t Zoom as in the green Zoom button. It shows the window in its actual size, rather than scaled down)
* Tab switches to the “[Current] Application Windows” Exposé (i.e. just showing the current app‘s windows), if not already. It also makes the next app active.
* ` does the same, but activates the previous app.
* ⌘` is the same as ` , however ⌘-tab does the normal app switcher.
* When tabbing through Application Windows Exposé, hidden apps will also activate, showing their windows. (Normally, Exposé doesn’t show hidden apps)FYI, I recently found someone (here, maybe?) a hidden config setting for making the Dock icon transparent when an app is hidden:
$ defaults write com.apple.dock showhidden -bool YES; killall DockComment By Noach on September 3rd, at 11:15 am
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@Phil: You said “once you press the spacebar, you exit Expose. Does this sound right?”
On my mac, 10.6.4, press the spacebar again and it goes back out to Exposé. It behaves more like QuickLook (space bar).
Comment By Taylor on September 15th, at 7:33 am
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7
you don’t have to press command, you just have to press `
Comment By Sam on December 8th, at 8:53 pm