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One of the requirements to use clamshell mode is to have the power adapter plugged in. Is their any file modification or app that will work around this? Like to switch throughout the day from a sit down desk to stand up and bringing the power adapter back and forth, is becoming more of a hassle.

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  • Clamshell works for me with or without power adapter... running 10.11.6 El Capitan
    – Bhang Bhosadda
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 1:57
  • 1
    Welcome to Ask Different! This does not answer the question; stating that Clamshell mode works with/without power adapter does not help answer the question. Perhaps you could include the settings you have made, or anything that affects this outcome?
    – brickery
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 2:54
  • I didn't change anything at all, was just trying to say it works out of the box as intended for me...only reason I brought up clamshell with/without adapter is because that's what the title of the thread is; also mentioned in first post
    – Bhang Bhosadda
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 4:59
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    Per the Apple support link the OP provided, Mac laptops must be plugged in in order for "closed-display" or clamshell mode to work. The fact that you are stating it works differently means it is actually not working as intended on your computer.
    – tubedogg
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 5:29
  • Oh well, I've never had any problems with it, this is something I use daily; thought it worked that way for everybody
    – Bhang Bhosadda
    Commented Oct 30, 2016 at 11:28

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
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You can use Insomniax to disable sleep when the display is closed. This will mean that you can close the lid and display the screen on a secondary monitor mode without needing to have a power adapter connected as the Mac will not sleep when you close the lid.

Insomniax is now abandonware and no further updates or binaries will be supplied. Further info.

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  • 2
    Works perfectly.
    – tron_jones
    Commented Jan 5, 2015 at 20:26
  • On opening the link of Insomniax, it gives Cannot GET /projects/insomniaxinfo/
    – Mozak
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 11:13
1

An extension called nosleep does exactly this. Free and easy to set up!

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0

CREATE A SHORTCUT/APPLICATION TO TOGGLE BETWEEN SLEEP MODES

Open 'Automator' create 'New Document' and choose 'Application', on the top left bar search and choose "run AppleScript". Paste the commands below and save the file to desired location. Voila ! Double click to toggle the sleep settings,

Toggle off the sleep mode and use your macbook with clamshell closed.

PS: it runs sudo commands hence it will ask for your credentials.

Hack: Run the Application once to disable the sleep mode , close the lid (clamshell mode) , run the application again to enable the sleep mode.You can now continue working in clamshell mode and can 'sleep' your macbook when you are done with your work.

on run {input, parameters}
    do shell script "sleepvar=\"$(pmset -g | grep SleepDisabled)\"
       sleepval=\"$(grep -c 0 <<< $sleepvar)\"
       if [[ $sleepval -eq 1 ]];
          then 
            #echo \"SleepDisabled set to 0, setting to 1 i.e. Disabling sleep\"
            sudo pmset -b sleep 0; sudo pmset -b disablesleep 1
          else
            #echo \"SleepDisabled set to 1, setting to 0 i.e. Enabling sleep\"
            sudo pmset -b sleep 1; sudo pmset -b disablesleep 0
       fi" with administrator privileges    
    return input
end run

If you want to create a rather lightweight but a bit less UI friendly executable bash script, follow my answer here

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