Hey F9, Whatcha got?

One of my favorite tricks is Exposé.



Great, so what is it and why does it matter to me?

OK, you have tons of windows open. A few Safari windows, maybe a Firefox window or two. So many Finder windows that you begin to wonder if someone is playing some evil prank on you. Basically your screen is filled with junk and it is completely inhibiting you getting your work done. I am sure you have been here cause I have been in this position a thousand times.

This is where Exposé comes in to save the day.

Try this (just make sure you have tons of windows open like i described):

1. Ready, set, HIT F9!

(if you are on a laptop and your "F" keys are mapped to something like volume, hold the "Fn" key down along with all the keys I mention here on out)

2. Sit and watch in amazement.

So what just happened? Every window open on you computer just shrunk down so you can see it all. Now why? Proceed on to step two:

3. Rollover a few windows. Notice how they highlight and a description text bubble is displayed.

4. Select a window and watch it zoom into your foremost selected document/window.

Exposé is a document or window selector. It really doesn't get any more complicated than that. Even though this is as simple as pie, there is still more that Exposé can do.

1. With a few windows open in Finder

(To open more windows, hit ⌘+N)

2. Ready, set, hit F10!

This looked exactly like hitting F9, whats the difference?

This time Exposé only minimizes windows of the current application. Which is super useful for applications like Word and Photoshop where having many open windows is the norm.

The last Exposé trick is the F11 key. Lets test it:

1. Again with some windows open.

2. Just hit F11, cause I am sure you already have!

This one is pretty clear. F11 is the key you wanted when you were growing up and you mom wanted you to clean your room. It takes everything and makes it disappear so you have a nice clean computer. But not to worry, it isn't gone forever.

3. Tap the F11 key to bring the mess back!

There you go. There is Exposé in a nutshell. One of the most useful advances to the desktop in years. There is much more you can do with this, but that is for a later topic. Just remember the following:

F9 = Exposé all windows

F10 = Exposé your current application's windows

F11 = Exposé your desktop

enjoy.