Get out of MAC full screen

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Level 1

13 points

Get out of MAC full screen

I play a video game (Diablo 3) which goes into the full screen mode. When I receive a message while I play the game, I used to use a keyboard shortcut (OPTION-COMMAND-MEDIA EJECT) to take control of the computer and open MAIL, but with an update of the game, I cannot exactly get out of the full screen mode. The keyboard short cut described above does not let me take control of the computer, and all the suggestions described in the Internet or Apple documents have no effect (eg. CONTROL-COMMAND-F). What is the quickest way to temporarily take command of my Mac (MACOS v.15.3)? Otherwise, I have to play the video game to a convenient place, leave the game completely and run MAIL, or the game has to be replayed.

iMac 27″, macOS 15.3

Posted on Feb 5, 2025 7:06 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 8

35,111 points

Feb 5, 2025 7:19 AM in response to yoyox

Command-H (⌘H) may hide the game and let you get to the desktop and other applications.

Pressing the Escape key (esc) might break game free from full screen mode.

Command-Tab (⌘Tab) will normally move you from one application to another on the Mac.

Depending on the game, however, it's possible that some of these keystrokes might be commandeered by the game.

I've also seen mention of a game setting to allow "Full screen - windowed" rather than simply Full Screen. You might check into that.

Use apps in full screen on Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Feb 5, 2025 9:59 AM in response to yoyox

You might try to get another monitor so that the message has another place to go.

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Answer 3

yoyox Author

Level 1

13 points

Feb 5, 2025 9:29 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you for your reply. I set up the game and tried CNTL+COMMAND+F per your reply, but there was no effect. I believe the game (Blizzard) has put control on all the regular keyboard shortcuts. I can still use Control+COMMAND+MEDIA EJECT which takes me to some strange place, and so I will have to live with this full screen mode for now.

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