10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space

Spaces can be very useful, but there are some behaviours that can irritate or confuse. For example, if you switch to an application that has inactive windows in another space, you are taken to the space with an inactive window. This is usually helpful, but in some cases, especially if you use multiple spaces with one or two dev apps running in each, and need to go to the web via Safari to look something up, or open a Finder window to browse the local filesystem, it is not exactly what you want.

Fortunately, these two apps have New Window commands in their Dock menus. So, if you are in a space with Coda and a separate Terminal window or two, and need to open a Finder or Safari window but don't want to move spaces, simply choose the New Window command from the Dock menu of the appropriate app, and a new active window opens in the current space.

It's possible other apps have this command also (for example, TextMate does, but it opens the new window as inactive in the current space), so check out the Dock menus of your apps and see if this can help you enjoy Spaces even more.

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10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space | 7 comments | Create New Account

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10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: swilcox on Sat, Dec 22 2007 at 11:08AM PST

Interesting. I solve the Finder problem by having the Finder assigned to "Every Space." This is a nice alternative.

10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: whoadoggy on Sat, Dec 22 2007 at 2:59PM PST

Doesn't work for me. If Safari is linked to a certain space, the new window command in the dock brings me right there. Too bad, it would be a nice tip, if it worked. (10.5.1)

10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: sEEKz on Sun, Dec 23 2007 at 4:42AM PST

For Finder, you can also click on the Dekstop and press the command+n keycombo

10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: ecbtln on Mon, Dec 24 2007 at 10:41AM PST

This doesn't seem to work unless you do not have safari or finder in a specific space. If they are bound to space, then the new window will open in that specific space, regardless of where you click the dock from.

10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: spockboy on Tue, Dec 25 2007 at 3:19PM PST

You can achieve the same thing in QuickSilver with and some basic AppleScript:


tell application "Safari"
	make new document
	tell application "Safari" to activate
end tell

Simply save this AppleScript somewhere that QuickSilver will find it.

The good thing about the above AppleScript is that it doesn't mess around with focus (which can inadvertently switch Spaces). Unfortunately not all applications have a similar AppleScript command for making a new window (for example, Terminal does not).

I saved mine in my home directory, and called it "New Safari Window". I also changed it so that it had the Safari icon (by dragging the Safari icon from the "Get Info" window of Safari.app, to the icon in the "Get Info" window of the new script file).

[ Reply to This | # ]

10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: jaston1979 on Fri, Jan 18 2008 at 6:21AM PST

Depending on what your trying to achieve, you can also set spaces (system preferences) to open certain applications in every space. Just add Safari and click "every space" on the space option. So if you were to set Safari to be an application that opens in every space, then you could see the open safari windows in every space. If you were in space 2, 3, or 4 this would then allow you to open a new window in you current space without going back to space 1. So it doesn't switch you back to space 1, but the only problem is that that window will then show up on every space.

10.5: Open new Finder or Safari window in current space
Authored by: ratfox on Sun, May 11 2008 at 2:40PM PDT

So far, this is for me the most annoying "feature" of mac os X! :(

I simply don't understand what is the rule guiding this changing between open spaces. If you try opening one window on each space for two different applications, then just switch applications using Alt-Tab, you'll find yourself moving randomly from one open space to another, without rhyme or reason.

The thing I would really like is how to turn off this behavior. That is, I want to change open space ONLY when I explicitly ask for it.

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