How to minimize whatsapp on mac

How to close, maximise and minimise apps and windows on Mac

How do I minimise windows on a Mac? And how do I make the minimised window go back to normal or fullscreen view?

Macs are easy to use, and few things come more naturally to modern users than the desktop and windows metaphor. But lots of newcomers to Mac OS X (especially those coming over from Windows) find it tricky to close, maximise and minimise app windows.

In this guide we’re going to take a good look at the nuts and bolts of windows management in Mac OS X: not just minimising and maximising windows, but opening, closing and even zooming windows. The desktop and windows metaphor forms the bulk of your interaction with a Mac, after all. We’ll look at how to manage apps and windows on your Mac.

Updated: 9 June 2016 with a guide on how to close apps on iPad and iPhone.

See also:

Complete guide to Mission Control, Expose & Spaces on the Mac | Spotlight tips for OS X Yosemite | How to select and copy text from a Quick Look preview

How to open and close windows on a Mac

Windows are the rectangular mini-screens that display information from an app across part of your monitor display (or all of it, if that window is running in fullscreen mode). A window shows information related to an app. Some apps (like iTunes) only have one window; others have a window for each document that you have.

Typically, when you click on an app’s icon in Applications (or in the Dock), it will open a new window for that app. If the app already has a window open, it will switch to the window instead. Here are the ways you can open a new window:

Choose on File > New to open a second window (sometimes it will be New Window, New Blank Document or a similar term).
Press Command + N.
Command-click the icon in the Dock and choose New Window (not available in all apps).

Closing a window is just as easy. There are lots of different ways to close a window:

Click the red close button in the top-left of a Window.
Choose File > Close Window.
Press Command-W.
Choose File > Close All Windows.

One way Mac OS X differs from Windows is that when you close the last window, the app itself stays open. If you look at the Dock, you will still see a small dot underneath the app icon to indicate that it’s still open. If you want to quit the app, you will need to choose the app’s name in the Menu bar and Quit (or press Command-Q).

How to Minimise windows on a Mac

If you keep opening windows, you’ll soon have more than you can fit on the screen at once. One way that you can manage windows is to minimise the ones that you aren’t currently using. Minimise shrinks the window down to the right-hand side of the Dock at the bottom of the screen.

Click the yellow Minimise button in the top-right of the window.
Choose Window > Minimise.
Press Command-M.
Press Command-Option-M to minimise all windows belonging to that app.

Learning to press Command-M (and Command- Option-M, also known as Command-Alt-M) are some of the handiest shortcuts you can know. They quickly enable you to get rid of windows that you don’t want right now, but will want to use later.

Most people just click on a window’s small preview icon in the Dock to return to it, but there are a few different ways to return to a minimised window.

Click the icon in the Dock.
Command-click the icon and choose Open.
Choose Window from the app’s menu and select the window from the list at the bottom.
Choose Window > Bring all to Front.
Hold Option and choose Window > Arrange to Front (this cascades all the windows).
In Safari, you can also choose Window > Merge All Windows. This command opens all the minimised windows as tabs.

How to Maximise (or Zoom) windows on a Mac

One thing you need to learn as a Mac user is that you don’t “maximise” windows, you “zoom” them. And from Yosemite onwards, zoom has been put on the back-burner in favour of Full Screen.

To take a window into fullscreen view, you click on the green Full Screen icon in the top-left of the window. Click it again to go back to standard view. Or choose View > Exit Full Screen (Command-Option-F).

Zoom is a different creature entirely, and it’s not quite. The green button used to be zoom in OS X, and you can still access zoom by holding down Option and clicking the green button.

But zoom isn’t quite the same as maximise on a Windows machine. On Windows, it automatically fills the whole display, while Zoom on a Mac takes the window to its optimal largest size. So it may not fill the whole screen, but will rather take up as much space as it should.

You can also choose Window > Zoom to zoom the window. Most users these days switch to Full Screen instead.

You can also resize a window in OS X by dragging any of the four corners of a window. The corners enable you to shrink (or grow) each window to any size you want, and then you can use Window > Zoom to return to the optimal size.

Read next: How to set up and manage user accounts on a Mac

How to close apps on iPad or iPhone

iOS is well built in order to deal with multiple apps in the background, so you don’t have to worry about apps taking up battery life or resources.

However, if an app is misbehaving and you want to close it, it’s easy enough to forcefully stop it.

First you need to open the App Switcher, to do this double-press (not tap) the Home button and you’ll be presented with various apps. Scroll through until you find the app you want to force quit, and simply swipe it away by flicking upwards – you can close as many as you want.

Once you’ve finished closing the apps you want, either tap on one of the apps in the App Switcher menu or press the home button.

How to go full screen and how to exit full screen on your Mac

No matter what size screen your Mac has, knowing how to get into and out of full screen mode for your apps is essential. Even with the largest external monitors, we often find ourselves putting apps in full screen on Mac to stay more focused on a task at hand.

Here, we’ll show you how to enter full screen mode, how to exit full screen, and showcase some apps that can help you make the most out of full screen mode.

When to use a full screen shortcut?

Anytime! Definitely every time you watch Netflix. Also, when you’re working, sometimes. Here are a few examples of when full screen might be useful:

Focused attention. Having a bunch of apps open on one desktop can be confusing. Placing the ones you need most in full screen mode allows you to focus, and swiping between desktops is better than pinching to get to your control center, then finding the app you need.
Side-by-side productivity. You can use two apps in full screen mode on one display, allowing you to compare data points or do things like drag and drop images from one app to another with ease.
Editing photos. If you’re getting granular with photo editing, you should consider full screen mode on your Mac. You get far more screen real estate in full screen, allowing you to hone in on small details, and see your edits on a larger screen.
Multitasking on multiple screens. Those with multiple monitor setups also love full screen mode for Mac! It allows you to have a dedicated space for each app, or apps, and have multiple full-screen or half screen apps in view. If you use an app like Mosaic or Swish, you can get even more control over your desktop setup and full screen apps.

Tip: If you don’t want to enter full screen every time you need to focus, install HazeOver. It dims background distractions, directing all your attention to one window.

How to go full screen on a Mac

There are a few ways to go full screen for Mac apps:

In an app’s window, click the green button on the top left
While using an app, press Command + Control + F (on Big Sur and earlier) or Fn + F if your Mac is running macOS Monterey or later
In the app’s menu, select “View,” then choose “Enter Full Screen” from the drop-down menu.

In macOS Monterey, there’s also a great feature that lets you tile windows, so you can view two apps in full screen fat the same time:

Hover over the green icon on the top left of your window
Choose Tile Window to Left/Right
Once that window is tiled, click the window you’d like to put on the other side of the screen.

If you want to split your screen into more than two workspaces and customize your window layouts as you wish, grab Mosaic.

The Mosaic app for Mac allows you full customization on how you put apps in full screen mode, and how to arrange your screen if you want apps to share full screen mode on your Mac. You can even define the precise area you want an app to occupy on your screen!

All you have to do is drag an app window and Mosaic will trigger the layout options. Drop your window on a layout — and that’s it! The app also has user-defined keyboard shortcuts for all settings, including grids you set up. Mosaic works with multiple monitors, and even an iPad you have connected to your desktop.

How to switch apps in full screen mode

If you’re viewing a window in full screen but then want to move to a different window, simply swipe right or left on your Trackpad with three or four fingers. You can always customize your Trackpad gestures (and not just Trackpad, any input device!) using BetterTouchTool.

If BetterTouchTool feels a bit too confusing, try Trackpad automation with Swish.

Swish is fully focused on gestures. The app has 28 built-in gestures you can take advantage of for managing full screen mode on Mac. There are some super clever features like pinching an app to quit, swiping down to minimize, and pinching away from the center of your trackpad to go full screen. The app also works with multiple monitors.

If you’re more prone to swipe around your screen than use keyboard shortcuts or a full screen hotkey, Swish is for you.

How to exit full screen on a Mac

The method to exit full screen Mac is also simple. If you’re asking yourself “how do i get out of fullscreen mode?” here’s are your options — and they’re mostly the same as entering full screen:

In an app’s window, click the green button on the top left
While using an app, press Command + Control + F (on Big Sur and earlier) or Fn + F if your Mac is running macOS Monterey or later
In the app’s menu, select “View,” then choose “Exit Full Screen” from the drop-down menu.

Now you know how to get out of full screen Mac mode! Keep in mind if you need to know how to minimize screen on Mac computers, you can’t do it from full screen. The option to minimize disappears, as your Mac considers a full screen app as its own desktop.

Enhance Mac window management with Setapp

Full screen mode for Mac is amazing, and we suggest everyone give it a shot. It will make you more productive, and most apps are just better in full screen mode.

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Managing application windows on a Mac

When an application or Finder is open on a Mac, the corresponding window is displayed on the desktop. Only one application is active at a time; the name of the active application (in bold) and the various menus of the application are displayed in the menu bar.

Some applications, such as Safari and Mail, can have multiple windows or multiple types of windows open at the same time. On macOS, there are several ways to manage open application windows, as well as close one window or all windows.

Move, align, and merge application windows

You can do the following on a Mac.

Move window manually. Drag the window by the title bar to where you want it. Some windows cannot be moved.
Moves the window to one side of the screen. Hold down the Option key and hover over the green button in the upper-left corner of the window, then from the menu that appears, select Place Window to Left of Screen or Place Window to Right of Screen. The window occupies the selected side of the screen; the menu bar and Dock are still visible.

To return the window to its previous location and size, Option-click the green button, then choose Revert.
Window alignment. Drag one window to another. When the windows are very close together, they will line up without overlapping. You can arrange several windows next to each other at once.

To make adjacent windows the same size, drag the edge of the window you want to resize. When its edge comes close to the edge of the adjacent window, the edges will align and stop moving.
Merging application windows into a single tabbed window. In an application, select the menu item Window > Merge All Windows. If multiple window types are available for an application (for example, a Preview window and a New Message window are available for the Mail application), you can only merge windows of the active type.

To make a tab a separate window again, select the tab, then choose Window menu > Move Tab To New Window, or simply drag the tab out of the window. See Using tabs in windows.

Maximize and minimize application windows

You can perform the following window actions on your Mac.

Maximizing the window. Hold down the Option key and click the green button in the upper left corner of the application window. To return to the previous window size, Option-click this button again.

Alternatively, double-click the application's title bar to maximize the window (if zoom is set for this action in the Desktop & Dock preferences).
Minimize the window. Click the yellow minimize button in the upper left corner of the window, or press Command-M.

In the "Desktop and Dock" settings section, you can configure the minimization of a window by double-clicking its title bar.

Most windows can be resized manually. Drag or double-click the top, bottom, or side of the window to expand the window in that direction.

Quick switch between application windows

On a Mac, you can do the following.

Switch to the previous application. Press Command-Tab.
Scroll through all open applications: Hold down the Command key and press the Tab key, then select the desired application by pressing the left and right arrow keys. Release the Command key.

If, while scrolling through the list of applications, you change your mind about switching to another application, press Esc (Escape) or a period and release the Command key.

Close one or all windows of an application

You can do the following on a Mac.

Closing one or all windows of an application does not terminate the application. A small dot below the application icon in the Dock indicates that the application is still running. To end the application, press Command-Q. See End Applications.

You can hide the active application by pressing Command-H.

Using Mission Control, you can quickly arrange open windows and spaces on a single layer so you can easily find the right window.

See also Organize your Mac desktop with the Director featureUse tabs for web pages in Safari on MacOpen apps on MacUse apps in full screen mode on MacUse apps in Split View on Mac

How to minimize all windows in macOS and quickly show Mac desktop in 4 ways

Instructions

Svetlana Simagina January 6, 2018 November 20, 2021

If you often need to quickly open the desktop on your Mac, the best and fastest way to do this is with a keyboard shortcut. This will minimize all windows, programs, other information and show only the desktop. In this case, none of the programs will be closed.

With macOS keyboard shortcuts, you can quickly access files and other desktop content, or just instantly hide what you have open.

On a Mac, there are several ways to quickly show the desktop, including a trackpad gesture. We will tell you how to quickly open the desktop with a keyboard shortcut and two other methods. These methods work on all modern versions of Mac OS that support Mission Control or Expose.

How to minimize all windows on a Mac

First combination: Command + F3

First combination to quickly open the desktop: Command ( Cmd ) + F 3 . Simultaneously hold down the Command key and the F3 key.

This will instantly activate the "show desktop" feature and all open windows will be minimized.

To return to programs, just hold down Command + F3 again. Also all windows will come back if you open a new program.

The GIF below shows what this action looks like.

How to minimize all windows in mac os

Second combination: fn + F11

Another way is to combine Function + F 11 . They will also need to be clamped at the same time.

The second combination works on the same principle as the previous one.

To hide the desktop and return to programs, press Function + F11 again or open a new window.

What to do if combinations don't work?

If for some reason the keyboard shortcuts don't work on your Mac, try the following:

Go to the  Apple menu and choose System Preferences.
Select Mission Control.
In the Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts section, find Show Desktop and select F from the menu next to it.
Try holding down the F11 + function keys at the same time, the desktop should open.

Combinations should work even if desktop is disabled, some icons are hidden, etc.