anyway to show minimized windows in mission control??!!

Perhaps Matt, but that doesn't work if you have your dock set to hide itself and what about the half-baked "minimize windows into application icon" option, also in the Dock System Preferences. I have both of those options checked and now I can't see my minimized windows at all. Many of these options were introduced with successive operating systems and it doesn't feel very well thought through.

this is annoying Minized windows is lost.

i don,t have track pad i use iMac.

Yes, but not if you checked "minimize windows in application icon" in the Dock preferences.

Obviously, Isaac. So what's the point of "minimize windows in application icon?" In Snow Leopard it kept the dock clear of clutter, which was fine when you could use Expose to see your minimized windows. In Lion, it causes your minimized windows to be hidden. Which leads me to think that Apple hasn't thought through how these legacy features work together in Lion. I've asked several AppleCare reps whether there is a new way that I should be using these features, now that Mission Control doesn't show minimized windows. None of them have an answer and suggest that we give our feedback about showing minimized windows in Mission Control, here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

Matt Oceans wrote:

I agree, something doesnt exactly add up. it doesnt feel like its apple. expose in snow leopard (and most apple producs/services) feel like they are smarter then i myself could have come up with, in other words: I rarely have complains. You can find all kinds of reasons why the new mission control layout, while more advanced, chronologically speaking... seems like a step back in terms of usefullness and so called 'smartness'. and i dont feel like copy and pasting this entire thread into another forum. I dont work for apple.

They need to issue a patch. and add the minimized windows view to lion. i cant see why this should not be done.

Part of the problem is that Spaces/Expose/AppExpose/MissionControl have a range of benefits and only the basic ones (incl. aesthetics) are being considered in most positive reviews. Either people haven't realized what they could do, or (if we don't see a patch) they never will.

Good news, there is a better way and its call "Expose"...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktTNcj0fAM4

I went back to Snow Leopard - and couldn't be happier.

I've asked several AppleCare reps whether there is a new way that I should be using these features, now that Mission Control doesn't show minimized windows. None of them have an answer

Rule number 1 of software design is to ensure that every feature is supported by valid use cases, and that the features provided enable the users to accomplish their tasks. Seems like someone may have forgotten to do the use cases for Lion.

Unlike Windows, Apple does not have an open (as in one for non-developers and for free) Beta program for Mac OS X. if they don't ask, how do they know people do not minimise wndows? When I scan the forum, it seems that Apple has removed a whole load of features in Lion that people do actually use and now miss.

I have upgraded my 2009 iMac to Lion. When I used to use my "hot corners" to initiate Expose (aka Mission Control) it would show in the blue-outlined boxes all of my open programs/windows, even those that were minimized.

Now however, since upgrading to Lion, if I minimize my Safari window (with Minimize to Icon selected in my Dock preferences) when I activate Mission Control, it does not show my Safari window AT ALL. Is there a setting to fix this? Is there a workaround? I L-O-V-E being able to see all my active windows, including those that I have minimized, and then having the option to select said window when I'm ready to use it again directly from Mission Control.

Please BRING BACK THIS FEATURE!!!!!

Actually there is a way of showing minimized Windows expose style but only for the active app not for all open apps as before.

Check out this app I came across a few days ago which allows you to assign many more gestures and actions that Apple have for both mouse and trackpad. I have got a 3 finger click to expose all windows of the active app and shows them regardless of which desktop they are in and whether or not they are minimized, I have also set a 2 finger scroll on my mouse to expose the desktop which Apple had kindly removed.

http://magicprefs.com/

I miss this as well. It's really hard to find my minimized windows, and that's a problem.

I've been looking around I cannot currently find an efficient or elegant work-around for this missing feature. The best I have so far is to go to Mission Control (MC), select the program, then use the broken expose to get those minimized windows. If all windows are minimized then I won't see them at all in MC and my ONLY cue to know they exist is a small blue dot on my dock. Sure, I can see the blue dot, but it breaks my workflow to peruse the dock and compare against MC to find the odd app out. Ugh...

Matt Oceans wrote:

clearly everyone agrees that making mission control a "place where you can see everytyhing' but infact you cant see everything.. is just weard

Absolutely.

I agree. The lack of minimized apps in Mission Control means that I have to remember what app I was in when an item I was working on gets minimized. For example, often I am working on a document and need to check a fact, so I minimize to get to the browser. But when I finally get back to the doc, I can't recall if it was Word, or Preview, or Acrobat or what. So in Lion, I have to click all apps to find out which it was. Of course, I suppose i could keep all apps open, but who can work in that clutter.

Lion is supposed to take minimized apps and recover their memory allocations, so perhaps this is why they are not shown minimized as they are not actually 'running'. But also in Lion, they have removed (by default) the "open app' blue light in Dock, so now its even harder to find that app, since Lion doesnt even tell you which apps are running.

So, Lion doesn't show you which apps are minimized or even which are running, making it dirt simple to loose work or spend most of the day trying to get back to that app you were working in. Now I have to remember what I was using, rather than have the Mac do that for me. Thank goodness Lion resumes windows, or I would be up the creek, so to speak.