Hide All -shortcut to just the desktop

[jeffhands]

I still use my Desktop a lot as a place to put newly downloaded docs & files and to save new docs. But it's still too many steps to get back to "just the desktop".

I suggest a command "Hide All" (except desktop of course), that could be activated in the following ways:

-right click anywhere in the Finder... see "Hide All" as a choice in this small context menu.

-Command Click in Finder... same effect as above.

-Command Shift H simply hides all apps and open documents

An alternative would be that this Hide All command comes whenever you right click or command click, ragardless of what program you're in. But why it's not at least already in the Finder mystifies me. (especially since stupid Windows has had it for a few years now...)

Anyone agree (or am I missing a hidden function that already exists?)

[saint.duo]

For classic Mac OS, I used to us a script tied tomy F15 key that would hide all apps except the Finder. It could be further customized to hide all apps except the finder and app "x", "a", whatever. I had it hide everything except the Finder, DragThing, and if it was running, Audion. I used creator codes to make this work.

Anyone know of how this could be implemented in X, and put in the dock?

[didde]

You can do that in X as well..

I am no AppleScript guru but one could use the API for running commands through the Terminal tofind the PID of the Finder and certain apps on login and then whenever the F15 key is pressed or so the app could get a list of all running apps from the Terminal and hide all of them except Finder..

That'll work.

Just don't ask me how to do it literally. :confused:

[brodie]

i dont even thinnk thats neccessary, if you find the .rsrc file, probably located somewhere in the finder app, you could add any shortcut to the "hide others" menu item, as long as it didn't conflict with another. then use that when in the finder or assign an fkey to the finder which is also the same hide others shortcut, although im not so sure that wouldn't conflict.

[mervTormel]

there is a binary file...

% file /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localized.rsrc
/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/Localized.rsrc: data

that contains the finder menu items and their command+key equivalents. but, being a binary file, you could really flumox things if you 'tip the apple cart' so to speak.

but, prefsPanel ASM has a hide all option and a localized.strings file with its menu items. i wonder if it's as simple as adding the command+key to that?

[jmelloy]

There is a "hide current app" feature. If you option click the desktop, it will hide whatever the application on top is. Not quite as useful as a "hide all", I know, but...

[Munky]

if you hold apple+alt and click on an application in the dock (say for example finder) every thing else will be hidden. Using tinkertool will make all of theses hidden application transparent in the dock which helps avoid any confusion what is hidden and what isn't.

[Phil St. Romain]

if you hold apple+alt and click on an application in the dock (say for example finder) every thing else will be hidden

I didn't know that. That's as easy as the old Hide All. Thanks! :cool:

[AHunter3]

I have QuicKeys X. It is not all that QuicKeys for the conventional MacOS environment is and has been, but it's better than nothing, and it does allow me to put an item in a universal menu, "Go to Finder", which does so and also hides all others.

In MacOS 8/9, I use FinderPop's "Switch to Finder/Hide Others" extension, which I can access from anywhere by clicking in the overhead menu. (I moved it to the root level of "FinderPop Items" so it's the first item to come up).

[vonleigh]

Uhm, thanks for the apple-option click for hide all. I'd submit it to the site since I don't think it's been posted before ;)


vonleigh

[jeffo]

i know that classic has it and it sounds all nice but i found that i only used it once or twice every 3 or 4 months. i never have a ton of windows open because i find that i end up always hiding the program as soon as i am not using it anymore, i do this on x and 9 and even on my winblows box at work.

[viennamac]

I use Show Desktop (http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=10005&db=mac), which works just like the command mentioned above, except it doesn't open a new finder window, just hides all windows by clicking on its icon in the dock (put it in your login items). Nifty when you've downloaded an installer to the desktop.

- Chris

[rmcellig]

I secind viennamac. Show Desktop works great. now I am wondering if there is something out there that will allow me to kill all open apps instead of having to quit each app individually:confused:

[JayBee]

quit all apps? sure - it's called "Log Out" and is in the apple menu :P

[rmcellig]

I meant how do I quit all applications without logging out. I remember under OS 9 there was software that did this.

[drjones]

Here's a couple of scripts, one gets you to the desktop, the other puts everything (I think) back.
Haven't tried it with an information window open, tho.

Show Desktop:

tell application "System Events"
set visible of (every process whose visible is true and frontmost is false) to false
set visible of process "Finder" to false
end tell


show All:

tell application "System Events"
set visible of (every process whose visible is false and frontmost is false) to true
set visible of process "Finder" to true
end tell



Paste each into it's own script, then save as compiled in Script Menu (which get ;) leave a space in front of name, loose in your ~/Library/Scripts for quick access. You could save as App with the never show screen option to put them in the dock also.
For a nominal fee "HotApp" on Versiontracker will let you use command key access, but I haven't tried it. I wish the script names could be encoded for command key access like in the old OSAMenu tho.

[Paul W. Brown]

A full list of hot keys (http://kbase.info.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/kbase.woa/108/wa/query?searchMode=Expert&type=id&val=KC.106743) from Apple's website give you what you need to know to do this.

[Marcwic]

I would like to be able to hide apps by right clicking on their dock icon too.

[rowedesign]

I didn't notice anyone mentioning that when you have multiple apps open (or just one) you can command/option/click on any visible portion of the desktop and it hides all apps. Pretty cool!

[logo]

Well if you press

command - alt -M

all (Finder) windows minimize to the dock and the desktop is yours!

[friedmaj]

I know this doesn't answer your question, but: I find it much tidier to have my downloads go into a folder named Downloads in my Home directory. I have that folder up in my Finder toolbar (with its own fancy icon). That way I'm never forced to hide/move around windows so I can see some part of the desktop.

[El Jordo]

Key Xing (http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=11465&db=mac) is a program I've been using for a while. It's $8 shareware. One of its many options is "Switch to Finder, Hide Others." So I assigned it to one of my otherwise-useless function keys. It does the trick for me.

(By the way, this is my first post. Hi everyone!)

[jonsaw]

Most of the suggestions above describe how to hide all application windows when you go to the Finder, by a variety of keyboard commands, including a variety of two-handed approaches like Option-clicking, etc; multi-button mice; contextual menu popups; etc. I guess these approaches work for some people, but why not request that Apple add a simple user-settable option in Finder Preferences to simply automatically hide the windows for all applications whenever you go to the Finder by normal means, so you can immediately see the desktop, no matter how you get there--by the usual methods of a single, one-handed click on the desktop, or by clicking on the Finder's icon in the Dock, etc.? I really don't like two-handed approaches to doing things with my computer when one hand will do, or "power user" approaches when the addition of a simple new option would make it easier. Once you're at the desktop, if there are Finder windows open and in the way, you could use that single hand, again, to tell Expose to push them out of the way temporarily by moving the mouse pointer to an Expose hot corner, or use some utility to hide Finder windows by letting you click somewhere else with just your mouse hand, instead of having to reach up to your Function key row.

There are utils that automatically hide the windows of all background apps as you switch between apps, which naturally hides all app windows when you go to the Desktop, and I've used most of them, but I've finally decided that I don't need to hide the windows of other apps until I go to the Finder, so I can see the Desktop, which makes all the extraneous (for me) window-hiding tedious as I switch between other apps--I find it tedious to have to watch as all app windows hide, then redraw as I switch back and forth between apps, when all I really need is to have these app windows hide when I finally go to the Desktop. I've found that enough repetitive window-hiding can slow my Mac down (a B&W G3) over the course of a day, so the less window hiding the better. Surprisingly, none of these utils has this as an option.

The "Show Desktop" utility is the closest thing I've seen to a simple window hider that works only at the Desktop. In addition to being able to show its icon in the Dock, you can show its icon in the menu bar, where it's easy to click on, if you don't like to show the Dock. But there are two problems with this utility: it doesn't always hide all windows, requiring you to click on it a second time; and it's requiring you to learn a new way to get to the Finder (clicking on the Show Desktop icon), rather than working through traditional methods for going to the Finder.

[AHunter3]

Whoa, zombie thread from the dead time again!

Mmmm, I'd think most people would want to be able to click on the Desktop and/or do things in the Finder and NOT have everything else disappear at least some of the time. And you'd want to be able to decide on-the-fly, you wouldn't want to drag out a System PrefsPane to switch settings from default to the alternative.

I'll stick with QuicKeys.

[yellow]

Ah.. those heady days before Exposé. :cool: