78
votes
macOS: Navigating between desktops using keyboard shortcuts
Go to System Preferences app → Keyboard → Shortcuts and you can assign keyboard shortcuts to move across Spaces (desktops).
You can also use the F3 (Mission Control) key on your Mac's keyboard to get ...
- 49.1k
70
votes
How to make Web Apps appear as First-Class Mac Desktop Citizens
Found a great way on Chrome Version 75.0.3770.100:
Go to the website you want to convert to an app
Click on three dots / more tools / Create Shortcut + make sure to tick 'open in new window'
That's ...
- 801
62
votes
How to change desktop wallpaper for all virtual desktops?
Another option until Apple gives us a better one:
If, like me, you have your additional desktops arranged just how you like them, then the thought of deleting and recreating them just to change the ...
- 625
61
votes
How to change desktop wallpaper for all virtual desktops?
From my comment on JDB's answer:
Right-click on the Dock icon for System Preferences and select Options > [Assign To] All Desktops.
Select your desired image for the current desktop from System ...
- 862
52
votes
Accepted
Is it a good practice to create a desktop shortcut on mac?
I would say desktop alias creation at install time for an app is an anti-pattern and bad practice for developers to implement as default behavior.
The desktop belongs to the end user and macOS is ...
- 227k
35
votes
Is it a good practice to create a desktop shortcut on mac?
This answer was written before the clarification that the OP is from a developer perspective, not end user
I've always been firmly of the school of "nothing on the desktop" personally - but each to ...
- 107k
21
votes
Accepted
Keep desktop icons as they are shortly after logging in
This is because it loads the previews of the files, which replace the default file icons. To disable icon previews on the desktop, click on the desktop, press ⌘J and uncheck ‘Show icon previews’.
grg♦
- 193k
21
votes
Accepted
Cannot delete Desktop and Documents folder from iCloud Drive after accidentally enabling their storage on iCloud
From my MacBook's Finder window, I deleted the empty Desktop folder from iCloud Drive and then immediately emptied the trash before the folder had time to reappear in iCloud Drive. The folder did not ...
- 226
19
votes
Where does OS X store your current desktop picture?
In current versions of macOS (at least in Mojave, probably since Sierra, not sure about others) the location of the desktop pictures are stored in a SQLite database located at ~/Library/Application ...
- 311
16
votes
How to make Web Apps appear as First-Class Mac Desktop Citizens
EASY, No software/installation required!
STEP 1: Simply navigate to the page you want to run/launch as a Web Application (e.g. https://www.gmail.com) using an existing or newly open Chrome tab/window....
- 323
16
votes
Is it a good practice to create a desktop shortcut on mac?
No. You should just copy the app to /Applications (or ~/Applications), and let the user choose if they want to create a shortcut in the dock or somewhere else.
A lot of the time, "installers" in ...
15
votes
Why does a .DS_Store file keep appearing on the desktop?
There's a way to hide all "dot" files from Desktop with 3rd party app called XtraFinder.
Go to Settings → Features tab → Hide dot files on Desktop
Though I still didn't manage to hide all .DS_Store ...
- 596
14
votes
Hide External Drive icon on Mac Desktop
You can hide all external disks from the desktop by opening Finder → Preferences → General and unchecking External disks. Then you can add aliases on the Desktop to the disks you do want shown.
grg♦
- 193k
14
votes
Accepted
How to view any folder as if it was desktop
From this SO answer:
Backup your old default Desktop folder
If you have files in your existing Desktop folder, don’t worry. We’re
going to back up your existing folder so you can copy your ...
- 9,679
14
votes
Accepted
Is there a way to switch virtual desktops on my monitors SIMULTANEOUSLY?
Option 1: Mission-Control Setting "Displays have separate Spaces"
I'm not entirely sure if this is what you're looking for:
If you go to "System Preferences" ➝ "Mission ...
- 603
13
votes
How to retrieve windows that have moved 'off-screen'
I thought I should make an answer to this that describes solutions specifically for XQuartz. Many of the solutions here do not work for XQuartz. From this ticket: https://xquartz.macosforge.org/trac/...
- 231
11
votes
How do I change desktop background with a terminal command?
None of the solution mentioned worked for me on macOS 10.14.2 Sierra and I ended up with this AppleScript:
tell application "System Events"
tell every desktop
set picture to "...
- 9,888
10
votes
Accepted
Immobilise Desktops
You can have them all static or dynamic but not a mix of both. To make them static (so they stay as you put them) do this:
Open System Preferences
Click on Mission Control
Uncheck Automatically ...
- 9,238
10
votes
Accepted
files not appear on Desktop and Drag & Drop is not working on Desktop
Just in case it's your preferences that have got corrupted somehow, you could try the following two commands in the Terminal:
$ defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop true
$ killall Finder
- 5,811
10
votes
Accepted
'Always on top' window on macOS
Try Deskovery3. It does that and more. (up to and including Catalina)
There's also Afloat (up to Mojave): http://www.perfectlyrandom.org/2016/10/23/always-on-top-in-macos-sierra/
Or AfloatX (for ...
- 4,860
9
votes
Where are Apple's default desktop images stored?
As of macOS 12:
Desktop JPEG wallpaper are located in /Library/Desktop Pictures
Pre-installed dynamic wallpapers (HEIF) are located in /System/Library/Desktop Pictures
Any dynamic wallpapers ...
- 191
9
votes
Accepted
High Sierra, how to set screensaver as desktop background?
The path and functionality have seemed to change. Heres a link and quoted tutorial to do it. Unfortunately, it appears its much more of a hassle in High Sierra+.
From here:
If you are using High ...
- 9,679
9
votes
macOS: Navigating between desktops using keyboard shortcuts
I would suggest to simply activate the predefined shortcuts within:
System Preferences… > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Mission Control
These shortcut could be replaced by ⌘1, ⌘2…
by clicking on ...
- 11.6k
8
votes
Where are Apple's default desktop images stored?
As of macOS 10.15 (Catalina) the location is /System/Library/Desktop Pictures. I'm unsure what version the location switched.
- 581
8
votes
Applescript to change desktop image on all monitors?
The previous answers look great, but I wanted to share a way I found to do this with much less code.
tell application "System Events"
tell every desktop
set picture to "path/to/picture....
- 1,903
8
votes
How to show desktop files on both screens?
I'd like to do the same thing, but I haven't found a way. The best compromise I could come up with was to move the menu bar to my primary display. By moving the menu bar, I changed the display which ...
- 181
8
votes
Hide External Drive icon on Mac Desktop
You need sudo, so:
sudo chflags hidden /Volumes/4TB_Drive_BU
After that relaunch Finder: sudo killall Finder
- 239
8
votes
Different Desktop Environment for Mac?
On the assumption that there isn't really a viable alternative desktop environment, I would answer some of your underlying issues:
Firstly, note that unlike Windows, you don't normally create multiple ...
- 29k
7
votes
How to move window to different desktop via keyboard in Lion?
Here is a mouse-less solution, using BetterTouchTool. You can assign a keyboard shortcuts to move the windows across desktops. In my case I use ctrl+shift+arrow.
- 7,384
7
votes
How to retrieve windows that have moved 'off-screen'
I have two screens and loading Inkscape usually puts it somewhere inaccessible. I can see it by using "show all windows", but if I select it from there it goes and disappears again. The solution I ...
- 221
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