HOWTO | navigate Mision ControL IN OS X 10.11

1 Activate Mission Control

Swipe upwards with three or four fingers on your trackpad, or double-tap with two fingers on a Magic Mouse, to open Mission Control. All your windows will spread out across the screen to show what’s open. To return to the desktop, swipe or double-tap again, or press oe.

2 Switch between apps

With Mission Control open, your apps still run as normal. So, videos will keep playing and web pages will continue to update, for example. To switch to a particular app or window just click on it. This returns you to the desktop with that app or window selected in the foreground.

3 Organise windows

You can organise windows across several desktops, or ‘spaces’. Drag a window over the Spaces bar at the top of Mission Control, which will expand to reveal them. Drop the window on an existing one to move it there, or onto the + on the right to put it in a brand-new space.

4 Check out desktops

The current desktop is highlighted in the Spaces bar. To move between spaces without leaving Mission Control, so you can take a closer look at what’s in them, swipe horizontally with three fingers on a trackpad (two on a Magic Mouse) or hold å and click a space’s thumbnail.

5 Take a closer look

If you can’t find the window you want, put the pointer over one and press the spacebar to take a closer look. Alternatively, leave Mission Control, then swipe down with four fingers to see one app’s windows – that with the focus or the one whose Dock icon is under the pointer.

6 Full-screen apps

To switch a window to full-screen mode (if supported by its app), drag it over an empty area in the top bar (even between two spaces). Let go when a new space named after the app appears. Drop a window from another app onto that space to use Split View (see page 50).

7 Drag a file to a window

Hold ç and press the Mission Control key (£) on an Apple keyboard to reveal the desktop. Start dragging a file, then press the key to bring back your windows, and again to open Mission Control. Put the file over a window, wait for the window to come forward, then drop it.

8 Mission Control settings

Click > System Preferences and choose Mission Control in the top row of icons. Here you can set whether Mission Control rearranges your spaces based on recent use, and whether spaces on each of your displays can be switched between independently or are linked.