What causes the mail composition page to expand in Sequoia?

[rbpeirce]

When composing mail the page sometimes expands and I don't know why. It isn't as much as pressing the green button. but similar. The page doesn't fill the entire desktop but it seems to fill everything but the dock. I'm doing something to make this happen but I have no idea what!

 

[ferrarr]

It may be a double click/tap on the top of Compose Mail Window?

 

[rbpeirce]

Thanks. That does it and double clicking restores it. In earlier OSs, double-clicking minimizes the window! I wonder what happens in other apps. I'll have to experiment when I get the chance.

 

[pm-r]

In earlier OSs, double-clicking minimizes the window! I wonder what happens in other apps. I'll have to experiment when I get the chance.

It's unfortunate that Apple doesn't provide more options for the user to control those buttons as they used to work, or at least provide an option to change them and include the old options.

For your window position and size management you might be interested in the shareware Windownaut application that I believe allows one to modify the green button window size options like it used to do way back when, but I'm not sure.

Download Windownaut for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of Windownaut for Mac for free. Read 13 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.

www.macupdate.com

I believe there was another utility that could do a similar thing but I cannot find a reference to it or remember its name. I have been looking for such a thing for quite some time as I much preferred the old way as it was back in the Snow Leopard days I believe it was where the green button just resize the window to my preferred settings. Double click on the menu bar area would minimise it. It worked well and I don't appreciate Apple mucking about with well.

Have a look here:

Download Windownaut for Mac | MacUpdate

Download the latest version of Windownaut for Mac for free. Read 13 user reviews and compare with similar apps on MacUpdate.

www.macupdate.com

- Patrick
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[rbpeirce]

Bad news. Double-clicking is not the solution. It turns out that once the mail composition window expands, double-clicking will make it still larger and double-clicking agaIn will restore it to its former large size but we still can't figure out what makes it expand in the first place!

 

[MacInWin]

It works properly for me. The clicks need to be in the top bar of the compose window, but NOT on the red/yellow/green buttons. Just on the bar itself.

And this technique works for other apps, too. I have a card game that expands/contracts with double clicks on the top bar of the game window.

 

[pm-r]

expands

but we still can't figure out what makes it expand in the first place!

Best Buy just confuse your issue but you might want to have a look at these videos that relate to Windows sizing and position that should include and apply to the mail composing window:

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your problem, but in my Mac Mail, whether it's a composing window or not, once I use the match normal window resizing method to drag the window to the size I want, it will stay in that size until I click a resize button or manually resize the window using one of the methods the OS uses. But maybe Apple has changed the way things work in this regard with later Mac OS version.

I just thought you might be able to find a resize trick you could use from one of the above links.


EDIT: I guess I can't post the video links here but you should be able to find them using a Google search if you want, just search on resize Mac OS windows or something similar.




- Patrick
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[rbpeirce]

I finally got a text edit page to expand and I don't know why. This is normally a pretty small window as you can see from the amount of text. This time I did get a screen shot! As you can see it does not cover up the dock as would hitting the green button. I also find I can sometimes reverse this by the proper three-finger swipe but I don't know exactly why, where or how.

 

[MacInWin]

I finally got a text edit page to expand and I don't know why. This is normally a pretty small window as you can see from the amount of text. This time I did get a screen shot! As you can see it does not cover up the dock as would hitting the green button. I also find I can sometimes reverse this by the proper three-finger swipe but I don't know exactly why, where or how.

View attachment 39795

It is the same cause. A double click in the top bar of TextEdit will expand the window to the size of the available desktop, but not go "full screen" like the green button. Double clicking again in the top bar will restore the smaller window. By "top bar" it's that bar where the document name is shown. Double click there will alternately make it big and small.

 

[pm-r]

A double click in the top bar of TextEdit will expand the window to the size of the available desktop,

Excuse my interruption, but what Mac OS version provide this option as this operation in El Capitan minimizes the window on my iMac.
There used to be a feature that allowed the window to go to another size but not full screen but that seemed to have disappeared in El Capitan and I used to use it a lot, but I have not been able to find a method to enable it.



- Patrick
=======

 

[MacInWin]

Sequoia is where I first saw it.

 

[pm-r]

Sequoia is where I first saw it.

Thanks for the info Jake.
If I remember correctly, OS X 10.6.x Snow Leopard and 10.9.x Mavericks very similar feature but Apple seems to have dropped the feature in 10.11.x at least not as well done as it was in previous OS versions and it was enabled when holding down the auction key and clicking the green window button.

And El Capitan, that still sort of works but the resulting window is much wider than it needs to be, at least it certainly is on my 27" iMac display.

I have no idea why Apple seem to have this desire to change things, or even drop excellent old features with their OS upgrades that might replace good working features with something that aren't always an improvement.





- Patrick
=======

 

[rbpeirce]

It is the same cause. A double click in the top bar of TextEdit will expand the window to the size of the available desktop, but not go "full screen" like the green button. Double clicking again in the top bar will restore the smaller window. By "top bar" it's that bar where the document name is shown. Double click there will alternately make it big and small.

I don't think in this case. Conscious double-clicking always minimizes the window. I'm not sure if it is possible to unconsciously double-click. I think something else is going on and it seems to be relates to Sequoia..

 

[MacInWin]

I don't think in this case. Conscious double-clicking always minimizes the window. I'm not sure if it is possible to unconsciously double-click. I think something else is going on and it seems to be relates to Sequoia..

I don't know why you say that. If you use a mouse, it's easy to accidentally make a double-click, as it is with a trackpad. So, if the mouse pointer is in that top bar and you accidentally hit the trackpad or your mouse button "bounces," as they do sometimes, you get a double click. You can set the sensitivity of the double click in Settings>Mouse & Trackpad>Double-click speed. Speeding up the double-click speed may reduce unintended double-clicks.

 

[MacInWin]

I have no idea why Apple seem to have this desire to change things, or even drop excellent old features with their OS upgrades that might replace good working features with something that aren't always an improvement.

I guess "improvement" is in the eye of the beholder, Patrick. I like the new function as the green dot expansion hides the Dock and Top Menu Bar altogether and widens the window to fill the entire screen, hiding the desktop below, while the double-click leaves both as the window expands only until it hits them. The width of the window is also more limited as the window generally tries to hold the same width while expanding to touch the top menu bar and the Dock without obscuring them. I think it is a real improvement over the brute-force green dot.

EDIT: I've been experimenting with it, and Safari holds the same width but expands vertically. Mail expands both ways, but stops and leaves the Top Menu and Dock visible. So the function is variable. I also tried Messages, Calendar, and Activity Monitor and they work like Mail. In any event, it's an improvement over the green dot.

 

[rbpeirce]

I guess "improvement" is in the eye of the beholder, Patrick. I like the new function as the green dot expansion hides the Dock and Top Menu Bar altogether and widens the window to fill the entire screen, hiding the desktop below, while the double-click leaves both as the window expands only until it hits them. The width of the window is also more limited as the window generally tries to hold the same width while expanding to touch the top menu bar and the Dock without obscuring them. I think it is a real improvement over the brute-force green dot.

EDIT: I've been experimenting with it, and Safari holds the same width but expands vertically. Mail expands both ways, but stops and leaves the Top Menu and Dock visible. So the function is variable. I also tried Messages, Calendar, and Activity Monitor and they work like Mail. In any event, it's an improvement over the green dot.

My wife uses a mouse. I use trackpad. This has never happened before Sequoia. When it happened in mail on my wife's computer I thought maybe it was something she was doing. Then i upgraded to Sequoia and happened to me. I'm curious from your edit how you made this happen.

When I do a one or three-finger double click in Safari the window always minimizes. Three-finger does nothing in Text Edit. Two-finger in Safari just asks me to customize the Tool Bar. Nothing I've consciously done has caused the window to expand. I need to know how I am doing it so I can stop. If there is a Setting I need to turn it off.

 

[MacInWin]

Yes, it's new in Sequoia, as far as I can tell.

I don't know what you mean by this:

I'm curious from your edit how you made this happen.

I didn't do anything to make it happen. It's part of Sequoia.

I need to know how I am doing it so I can stop.

You must somehow be triggering a double click in the menu bar. That's how it works. No other way I know of, unless there is some setting in Accessibility that you have changed from the defaults.

About all I can suggest is that you use the Accessiblity function to change the double click speed down so that whatever you are doing, or your trackpad / mouse is doing won't trigger it. I don't use multi-finger gestures as I have always found them too inconsistent in operation, so I can't help you there.

 

[rbpeirce]

I think I've got it! This may not be the total answer but in my case, playing with a PDF file in Preview, a three-finger UP swipe expands the window while a three-finger DOWN swipe restores it. It appears I was being sloppy with my drag and instead of keeping it horizontal it had a slight upward tilt. Now I need to see how to duplicate that with a mouse..

 

[rbpeirce]

More info. This only works when the window touches the top bar, whatever that is called. If the window is lower it just moves up but retains its size. I tried this with a small RTF file.

 

[MacInWin]

I think I've got it! This may not be the total answer but in my case, playing with a PDF file in Preview, a three-finger UP swipe expands the window while a three-finger DOWN swipe restores it. It appears I was being sloppy with my drag and instead of keeping it horizontal it had a slight upward tilt. Now I need to see how to duplicate that with a mouse..

That is, I think, what is called "tiling."

Tile windows on Mac

Quickly arrange windows on your Mac by dragging them, using menu options, or using keyboard shortcuts.

support.apple.com

Also new on Sequoia.