Pick of the Week - Nov 10 [Show all picks]
Path Finder 5 - A feature-laden Finder replacement
Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsFAQHeadlinesRSS
12,000 hints and counting!

10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking System 10.5
If you activate the all windows view of exposé with your keyboard or mouse, you do not need to click on the window of your choice, but simply place your mouse on top of the window and press the keyboard or mouse shortcut again.

Now I hear you ask, what is the use when surely it is just as convenient to click the window seen as you place your mouse on it anyway? And truthfully, when activating all windows from the keyboard, it isn't too useful.

However, in case you have set up one of your mouse buttons to view all windows it becomes useful, because usually clicking the same button twice requires actually less effort than clicking two different buttons in sequence.

[robg adds: This works in both 10.4 and 10.5.]
    •    
  • Currently 0.00 / 5
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  (0 votes cast)
 
[4,094 views]  

10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking | 9 comments | Create New Account
Click here to return to the '10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking' hint
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: karlfranz on Tue, Nov 13 2007 at 5:45PM PST
Of course, even better: you can simply hold down the key for exposé, hover over the window you choose, then let go of the key to bring that window to the foreground.

And if you have a button assigned to the same exposé function it works the same way: click the exposé mouse button and keep it held down, hover the window you choose, then let go of the mouse button to bring it to the foreground.

Either of these two methods will save you either one button press or mouse click compared to the hint mentioned here.

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: Shawn Parr on Tue, Nov 13 2007 at 6:17PM PST
Hm, I wasn't aware other people didn't know about this.

I use this all the time for drag and drop operations. Drag a file/item, hit F9, mouse over the window, hit F9 again and drop.

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: hackerssidekick on Tue, Nov 13 2007 at 7:08PM PST
You don't even have to hit F9 in this case, after a short wait the window will activate (kinda like spring-loaded folders), and you can drop away!

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: JohnInDC on Tue, Nov 13 2007 at 7:16PM PST
Also too that second click might have an unwanted effect - e.g., the format painter in MS Word forgets the format to be pasted if you click the mouse in Expose to switch to the target document. The hover method preserves it, making it possible to copy formats across documents.

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.3
Authored by: Mechcozmo on Tue, Nov 13 2007 at 10:12PM PST
This works (worked?) in 10.3 too...

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.3
Authored by: adrianm on Tue, Nov 13 2007 at 10:47PM PST
Did it? I know it's been a while, but didn't exposé arrive with 10.4?

---
~/.sig: not found

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: Mac Berry on Wed, Nov 14 2007 at 2:45AM PST
Don't forget too that just hovering over the required window for a second will activate it (no mouse or keyboard button required, or that tabbing will cycle through the various windows.

Mark

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: Mac Berry on Wed, Nov 14 2007 at 2:47AM PST
Should have pointed out that hovering only works if you're dragging something, and that you can also navigate between the various windows shown in Expose using the arrow keys.

[ Reply to This | # ]
10.4: Choose Exposé windows without clicking
Authored by: dstewart on Wed, Nov 14 2007 at 5:33AM PST
Other things you can do once in Expose:

Use the arrow keys to move from window to window, though it's very literal about left, right, up and down. Then...

Press space to go to the selected window (however selected, by mouse pointer or keyboard).

Opt-Tab moves through the windows in the Expose application view, full-size (or larger, anyway).

---
David

[ Reply to This | # ]