How to switch desktops

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There are a number of utube presentations on this subject, but they mostly show the results of switching rather than how to accomplish the task.
I am interested in finding out how several desktops can be assigned in iMac Lion and what steps are involved to switch from one to the others.
If this has already been discussed in this forum I apologize for asking again.
John
 

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Just so it's 100% clear...what exactly are you trying to do?

Are you thinking of transferring your info from an old computer to a new computer?

- Nick
 
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Hey Jon,

Follow these steps, and you'll be multidesktopping in no time!

Press F3 to bring up this screen (Or 3 finger swipe up if you have a magic trackpad with that gesture)

20120413-pfridjjq9c96q3mt63j7yidu9j.jpg


Theeeen, move your pointer over to the top right, where a little "+" will appear...

20120413-xyxcwiq7q8b7tuq5w8xb8tk1ty.jpg


If you click on that, it will add a new desktop!

You can then three/four finger swipe left or right to switch between desktops. Alternatively press F3 again and then manually select the desktop you desire.

Hope that helps!
 
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Once you get your desktops set up you can also switch with control-1, control-2 etc...
 
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Once you get your desktops set up you can also switch with control-1, control-2 etc...

Is that a feature in Lion, or is it something you have to activate? because it doesn't seem to want to work on mine!

Running 10.7.3...

EDIT: It's Ctrl+Left arrow/Right arrow. Not 1 or 2... :)
 
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Hey John,

Follow these steps, and you'll be multidesktopping in no time!

Press F3 to bring up this screen (Or 3 finger swipe up if you have a magic trackpad with that gesture)

What I was looking for was the basic step :
"Move the mouse to the right upper corner to see a +"
It is beyond me why the designer of the Mission Control would hide such a basic step. This was not obvious to an old grand father like me. Wish to be 18 again !

Thanks a lot for the tip.
John
 
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Haha, I agree! It's not obvious, is it!?

Glad to have helped! :D
 
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Haha, I agree! It's not obvious, is it!?

Glad to have helped! :D

Now that you are in a helping mood, maybe you can tell me how to swith from one to the other desktop with my mouse instead of using F3. (F3 works just fine).
I have the normal mouse supplied with my new iMac, but am not sure if you would call this a "magic Mouse" . To describe it better, it is a mouse that permits the scrolling by moving the finger up or down.
John
 
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Ummm, I'm not to sure to be honest! As I'm not anywhere near my iMac at the moment and don't use the mouse as I have a Magic Trackpad, but just have the Macbook with me currently...

Buuuut, if you go into preferences and then select "Mouse", there may be a section in there which shows which gestures you can use?

Failing that, you could download a brilliant little app called "BetterTouchTool", which will allow you to assign addition gestures to the Magic Mouse.

Or, if that's not to your liking, you'll have to just press "ctrl + left arrow" or "ctrl + right arrow" to switch between.

Link to BetterTouchTool: BetterTouchTool (Mac) - Download
 
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Buuuut, if you go into preferences and then select "Mouse", there may be a section in there which shows which gestures you can use?

Failing that, you could download a brilliant little app called "BetterTouchTool", which will allow you to assign addition gestures to the Magic Mouse.

Or, if that's not to your liking, you'll have to just press "ctrl + left arrow" or "ctrl + right arrow" to switch between.

Link to BetterTouchTool: BetterTouchTool (Mac) - Download
Two finger right or left does the trick. Control + Arrow left or right works also.
Thanks.
John
 
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Once you get your desktops set up you can also switch with control-1, control-2 etc...

Switching desktops with control-1, control-2 does not work on my system. Does it work on yours?
 
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Is that a feature in Lion, or is it something you have to activate? because it doesn't seem to want to work on mine!

Running 10.7.3...

EDIT: It's Ctrl+Left arrow/Right arrow. Not 1 or 2... :)

Running SL and that command switches to a specific space.

Exposé & Spaces.jpg
 
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Ah. So it's Snow Leopard then, not Lion, because Lion doesn't have Spaces. ;)
 
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Just tried it on my wife's iMac with Lion. Make several spaces as shown above. Press control-2 and see if it doesn't switch.
Check in Keyboard prefs...

lionspace.jpg
 
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Just tried it on my wife's iMac with Lion. Make several spaces as shown above. Press control-2 and see if it doesn't switch.
Check in Keyboard prefs...

I noticed that in your screen shot the shortcuts for Show Desktop and Show Dashboard are shown as F11 and F12.
My iMac Lion shows the same assignment, but the actual keys are F3 and F4
F11 and F12 control the Audio.
 
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I noticed that in your screen shot the shortcuts for Show Desktop and Show Dashboard are shown as F11 and F12.
My iMac Lion shows the same assignment, but the actual keys are F3 and F4
F11 and F12 control the Audio.

By default the "F" keys aren't exactly F keys. They are what is shown. If you were to hit the Fn key, or Function, and F11 or F12, it would toggle Dashboard and Expose I think.
 
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By default the "F" keys aren't exactly F keys. They are what is shown. If you were to hit the Fn key, or Function, and F11 or F12, it would toggle Dashboard and Expose I think.
Another of these highly intuitive modes of operations. How is a mere mortal to know all this ?
Up to now I have not even noticed the existance of the fn key !
What other functions does this function key control ?
 
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Mostly just the F keys, but it also works with the arrow keys, for functions like Home and End.
 
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You can also switch desktops by clicking on the Mission Control icon in the dock.

And another method: control-tab.

More keyboard control if you use control-arrow method:
ctrl + up to activate mission control
ctrl + left to move one space left
ctrl + right to move one space left
ctrl + down to go to the selected space
 

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