Mission Control and 3rd party apps like Photoshop CS5

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Mission Control and 3rd party apps like Photoshop CS5

I wish Mission control worked as well w/ 3rd party apps like Photoshop CS5. If you have PS open alone in mission control, say, on desktop #3, and happen to click on Mail in the dock, desktop #3 now becomes "polluted" w/ mail AND PS.

Generally it just doesn't stay "locked in" on a desktop, when moving back and forth w/ differnt desktops, like the apple born apps.

Or am I missing a tweak or configuration to help Photoshop stay locked in to a "space"?

Thanks, T

Mac Pro (2010) Westmere 3.46 GHz(OWC upgrade), 24 GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.7), Dual displays: LaCie 730,Eizo CG241W,Wacom Intuos4

Posted on Jul 21, 2011 4:22 PM

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Answer 1

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Barney-15E

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Jul 21, 2011 4:26 PM in response to Tim3308

You can lock an app to a desktop, if you want. With it in the desktop you want, right-click on the Dock icon and go to the Options submenu. There are various options for what desktop to use, All Desktops, This Desktop, None.

I also think if you drag it to a desktop in MC, it will set it to that desktop.

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Answer 2

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 21, 2011 4:46 PM in response to Barney-15E

Thanks for the "option click" tip, Barney!

But, here's what goes on: I have 2 displays if that matters...

I have Mail on one desktop, Safari on another, PS assigned to desktop 3. When I got to Mail page, zoom, Mail comes up on its desktop, then I hit F9 to go to mission control and photoshop's pallette are now gone when looking at the thumb of desktop 3. Click on that, desktop comes up but PS is "gone" from the screen. Large desktop is "blank". I then have to click on the PS icon in the dock to get the PS work space to show up. The other apple born apps don't act like this. They are more "locked in" so to speak... what am I missing?

Thanks.

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Answer 3

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 21, 2011 5:03 PM in response to Tim3308

Barney, I guess this also has to do w/ when working in PS when one clicks on the desktop they go to finder w/ the app going hidden. Mail and Safari don't "hide" like that regardless of Mission Control, right?

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

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Jul 21, 2011 6:15 PM in response to Tim3308

I think that may be the problem. Being that Adobe tends to hide all of its pallettes when it goes to the background, that may what is causing problems.

I just tried Adobe Photoshop Elements and I think I'm seeing the same thing. If I don't have a file open, there is no window and PSE disappears.

It seems to stay on that space, but it just disappears and I have to click the Dock icon to bring its pallettes forward.

I seem to remember seeing similar issues with Word 2004s pallettes and Spaces. Did you ever see this with Spaces?

Edit: I just tried with Pixelmator and get the same issue. It is something with floating pallettes.

And for the really stupid workaround. Open a small window and leave it open.

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Answer 5

Barney-15E

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Jul 21, 2011 6:29 PM in response to Barney-15E

Ok, I think I'm on a different issue.

With yours, Do you have one of those apps set to show up in All Desktops? When you do that, they essentially fly between each desktop as you switch.

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Answer 6

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 21, 2011 6:40 PM in response to Barney-15E

You have described it exactly.

There is undesired symmetry here*: Apple's apps stay right there, despite clicking on the desktop/finder.

Photoshop CS5, Corel Painter 11 & 12, step right of the way, visually, when one clicks on the desktop.

*So Mission Control/spaces is perfect for Apple apps. It gets them the heck out of the way when you want to go somewhere else. Mission control is made for them. These 3rd party apps are invited guests and they act like it... they are demure and go bye bye when looking elsewhere -- so they do not fit "hand to glove" for Mission Control like Apple apps do (they need to be hidden!).... right?

This is what it seems like to me.

It's too bad, it's making Mission Control clunky for my needs w/ 3rd party apps.

T

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Answer 7

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 21, 2011 6:50 PM in response to Barney-15E

And for the really stupid workaround. Open a small window and leave it open.

Wait, Barney that is the key. I wasn't working on an image in PS messing w/all of this. I opened and image in PS, went to mission control and dragged it into desktop 3, NOW it is locked in w/it. The image doesn't disappear. when you start going through the desktops. The palettes do, as you mention, but that doesn't matter. I have to click on the image again w/my stylus anyway and that brings all the pallets back... I think I'm good to go w/this.

Course w/wacom tablet, I don't exactly have quick finger gestures to swipe through desktops but I'll manage through F9 and some buttons that I can assign on my tablet (intuos 4).

Dunca, T

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Answer 8

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 21, 2011 6:55 PM in response to Tim3308

Yep, this is gonna work. Just a dumb little thing like assigning an actual image I have open in photoshop to the desktop makes it all work! Not just experimenting w/PS launched, because palettes alone disappear -- making it clumsy and not really work. Cool!

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Answer 9

Barney-15E

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Jul 21, 2011 7:24 PM in response to Tim3308

While it is still alive, I submitted an enhancement request to put up the little application badge on the desktop of documentless apps so that you can activate them from MC.

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Answer 10

Barney-15E

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Jul 21, 2011 7:27 PM in response to Tim3308

And I was going to call it a bug, but I realized it is not. The application has no document windows open. All apps without a document open are affected the same way. The only way to get back to them is click the Dock icon. I'd like a way to get to them from MC.

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Answer 11

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 21, 2011 8:50 PM in response to Barney-15E

Roger. It might help quite a more few potential users get over that first hump when running up against this. Thanks, Barney

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Answer 12

bl4ckd0g

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Jul 25, 2011 2:50 AM in response to Tim3308

Well, it is definitely Adobe's fault, but you gotta consider that is Apple changing the card deck every time here. Adobe CS got messed up already in the past, same kind of problem, in CS4 when Spaces was introduced, they fixed for CS5 and Apple messed it up again.

Happy to hear that there is a bug/workaround with the "open image" scenario, obtained because the Spaces API changed only partially, but i think that is as far as you go until CS6 😟 (because i think Adobe uses its own window-system for palettes etc.)

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Answer 13

Tim3308 Author

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Jul 25, 2011 10:33 AM in response to bl4ckd0g

Hi Blackdog,

As far as work around goes, this one is not really bad at all.

So, you saying Adobe has a moving target to hit? 😁

I will never forget the color issues apple inexplicably messed w/ /changed when Snow Leopard hit, caught a lot of profiling and color related companies like Adobe offguard, and me!

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Answer 14

bl4ckd0g

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Jul 26, 2011 5:34 AM in response to Tim3308

Yes i'm pretty sure about that, otherwise i don't see why the feature should cease to work fine.

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Answer 15

Nov 30, 2011 8:48 PM in response to bl4ckd0g

bl4ckd0g wrote:

Well, it is definitely Adobe's fault, but you gotta consider that is Apple changing the card deck every time here. Adobe CS got messed up already in the past, same kind of problem, in CS4 when Spaces was introduced, they fixed for CS5 and Apple messed it up again.

No, it's fully Adobe's fault. Adobe doesn't follow Apple's interface guidelines, or even use actual OS X GUI elements — they fake them. If Adobe would write proper OS X software using Apple's Interface Builder for the GUI, their software wouldn't break every time Apple makes a change to the underlying OS, and Photoshop, Illustrator etc would have always worked perfectly with Exposé.

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