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Mission Control vs Exposé+Spaces

Hello everybody. Very simple question: is there any way to do something like this with Mission Control?

I mean show every window of every app of every space at once and entirely (not stacked).

This is my main obstacle to Lion adoption.

Thak you in advance for any answer.


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Posted on Aug 3, 2011 6:23 AM

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Posted on Aug 3, 2011 6:26 AM

No, not anymore.


Captfred

10 replies

Aug 3, 2011 8:01 AM in response to stefano67

Just curious, what did the old Expose do for you that Mission Control doesn't/cant/makes more difficult? My main problem comes when I have lots of spaces open on my 13" MBP and I imagine 11" MBA owners will see it too. The thumbnail sketches of the individual spaces become so small I can't tell which is which. But since I normally work with just 3 spaces plus 2 fullscreen apps, it isn't an issue that often.

Aug 3, 2011 8:33 AM in response to dwb

hello dwb


to answer your question here is a typical scenario for me.

I work on a keynote or ppt presentation using various sources in several open documents (pds, office) and web pages (for pbotos and content).

sometimes I move windows to other desktops (usually 4).

with expose and spaces I can show all windows of all desktops and I can quicky locate the one I need for my work.

I hope it is clear. please tell me if it isn't.

any idea about how I could do a similar thing efficiently with MC? I always see stacked windows and it is hard to get the right one. am I doing sth wrong?

Aug 3, 2011 8:54 AM in response to stefano67

I'm no expert on Lion but here's the behavior I see with Mission Control that makes it really different from Expose. With Mission Control, if you don't assign an application to a workspace then when you enter Mission Control you see all the spaces along the top and all the applications below. If a application has more than one open window, its windows are stacked together and you can look at the windows stacked below by click dragging. Click and you select that window and leave Mission Control. Click drag and the window comes to the front so you can see it better but you'll stay in Mission Control.


The limitation (if you want to call it that) is that if you have assigned an application to a specific workspace, if you didn't enter from that workspace, you don't see it or its windows in MC (unless you move to its workspace). This has led me to assign far fewer programs to specific windows than I used to. So, for example, since I assigned my word processing programs to space 2, if I enter MC from space 3 I won't see my Pages documents. Even so, I can use a gesure or or control arrow to move to Space to and move one of my Pages documents into another window. (I chose to park my writing applications in a space because they are apps they I most often want to move windows to rather than move their windows to another space.)


This limitation has also led me to temporarily park programs in a space but then unpark them when I've completed a project. In Leopard and Snow Leopard I had lots of programs permanently parked. MC is a different animal that needs a slightly different way of working but for me it has changed my workflow without damaging it.


Does this help?

Aug 4, 2011 11:44 PM in response to dwb

I made some tests about the click and drag. It is better than nothing, but I still have to try and guess the right window to click and drag. Much far from what I used to be.

I am back to Snow Leopard now. May be back to Lion once it becomes a real desktop OS and not a modified iOS.

Thanks everybody for the useful answers.

Aug 27, 2012 8:19 AM in response to dwb

I know this thread is older but there is a question posed and I'd like to give my 2cents.


Spaces gave me the ability to quickly switch up/down/side and Desktop is only horizontal. Also, it seems like Spaces used less CPU when rendering pro applications on individual spaces. On Desktops, there is more CPU usage, I've tested this with ML and SL on same build iMacs and same build Macbook Pros. maybe Mountain Lion uses more CPU than Snow Leopard. I'm not quite sure about the internal configuration, I'd love to know. Other than the intense and increased CPU usage on individual Desktops with pro apps, the ability to quickly switch "Spaces" is what I really hope to have back in future releases.

Nov 23, 2013 2:07 AM in response to stefano67

Since upgrading to Mavericks from SL, I really started to appreciate what a solid OS SL was even today, sadly support for it is fading and we don't get new features, hence we have to upgrade and why not especially when it is free.


Mission Control has changed how I work on a Mac - I would not say completely in a positive way since I really miss being able to see every minimized window from every app.


I wonder if you are still on SL?

Mission Control vs Exposé+Spaces

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