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I recently bought a 2019 mac book pro and am a new user to mac os, it has been quite the learning curve and there are still many quirks and features I don't quite like about mac os understand.

For example, whenever I open any app, its never in a "full-screen" mode, such that there is always some space thats unoccupied, and if you accidentally click outside of the minimized default screen then you lose / hide / minimize that window.

So that is why I downloaded Spectacle. But everytime, I have to use option+command+F to make my current window or all windows I'm using to full screen.

Is there a way I can automatically do this with certain apps and programs but not with others?

For example, I'd like to be able to open full screen but still have my menu bar up top to display without having to hover over it to display like in Word, or Chrome, but in other places such as opening a program installer, I don't need the full window size and a smaller size is better.

Is there a macro or something I do to set this up? Thanks.

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  • Welcome to Ask Different and welcome to macOS :) You can't keep menu bar visible all the time while running an app in full-screen mode. What you can do instead to achieve the desired effect is to set Dock to show/hide automatically (System Preferences → Dock → Automatically hide and show the Dock) and maximize the app window by taking the mouse cursor to any corner of the window until it turns into a diagonal resize view, press and holding Option key and double click.
    – Nimesh Neema ♦
    Jul 27, 2019 at 13:41
  • Apps should always open to the same view you had when you closed them. Spectacle may be interfering with that, so you may have to ask the developers.
    – Tetsujin
    Jul 27, 2019 at 13:41
  • Hi @NimeshNeema - I've been using Macs 30 years & never knew the corner/opt/d-click trick existed. Nice one! I wonder how long it's been there without my knowing ;)
    – Tetsujin
    Jul 27, 2019 at 13:44
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    @Tetsujin I believe this was introduced in OS X Yosemite 10.10. Window resizing has been a PITA prior to that. (On a side note, I am currently close to 30 years old. Glad to have elder folks around here :D)
    – Nimesh Neema ♦
    Jul 27, 2019 at 13:46

1 Answer 1

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I set my windows to what size I like. Here is how I use my web browser.

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You can adjust the windows to what size you like. The come back to that size the next time you start.

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For some reason, Windows seems to want you to work on one app at a time in full screen. In the mac, I have multiple apps open at once.

One of the great features of macOS for me, is to use a keyboard manager, keyboard maestro. I have set up F2 to be mail, f5 to be edit html, f4 to be a web browser, f8 to be bbedit and shift f12 to be activity monitor. The neat thing is you can press these key to start the app or switch to the app. Thus, there is no worry about whether the app is running or not. Thus, when I press f4, I get my web browser. I can "play" my function keys to quickly move between applications.

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