Filed under: TUAW Tips, Leopard
TUAW Tip: Assigning apps to Spaces
All you have to do is open the Spaces preference pane (Apple Menu > System Preferences > Exposé and Spaces > Spaces tab). Once there, just drag the application you would like to add to the specific space in the overview pane.
You can also add applications by using the list below the spaces overview, which is also how you remove the application assignments (just click the application in the list and then click the minus button).
Thanks, Tim!
Thanks, Tim!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mystique said 8:22PM on 1-24-2008
Here's a tip: You can use the Finder to browse through files and folders.
Sorry for being an ass but I thought that was pretty obvious guys. I guess after using Windows for so long, you tend to have to spell things out for those switchers.
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Tim said 8:29PM on 1-24-2008
Um: less obvious and didn't know until I read this post is that you could drag and drop apps onto the space above to add it to your listing - something that would of saved me time a while back when I was setting it up :) !
Bender Bending Rodriguez said 8:30PM on 1-24-2008
Many new to OS X probably don't even know waht Spaces is. This tip really should be listed under Mac 101, though.
Gareth Burleigh said 9:02PM on 1-24-2008
Way to go Mystique not only have you come across as a tool you have reinforced the arrogant Mac user stereotype.
I bet you blow minds at your local Apple store inverting the colours on the displays, so intimate is your knowledge.
Twat
Mystique said 10:51PM on 1-24-2008
Yes Gareth, that's exactly what I do. How did you know!
Ignorant prick
dagamer34 said 8:53PM on 1-24-2008
Office 2008 has obvious incompatibilities with Spaces (like disappearing windows). Hopefully Microsoft will fix this soon (I doubt it).
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Brian W said 9:07PM on 1-24-2008
I found many apps that can't keep track of spaces. Such as Firefox, Cyberduck, etc...
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adam said 9:47PM on 1-24-2008
What I want to know is how to not have Spaces automatically switch to the space in which the application belongs if you are not currently in that space. That is, I'm on space one and I open a file that opens an app assigned to space 2. I want to stay on space 1 but it automatically takes me to space 2. I understand design decisions behind this, but I wish it could be tweaked.
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P Stuart said 10:17PM on 1-24-2008
adam is right - Most times I need several apps for a single workflow, and several (non-exclusive) others for a different workflow. Forcing an app to a single space makes Spaces relatively useless. Am I missing something? (Yes, I am missing my unix/linux desktops that have done this for [seemingly] decades).
Try to open Safari in one space, in order to check on something, then go to another window where you need Safari again. If you launch Safari from window 2, you are immediately sent back to window 1. I can't figure out how to get 2 instances of Safari up in 2 windows, even though I can have 10 instances of Safari up in 1 window. I guess this works for using some single dedicated app like Lightroom in one space and everything else in another.
BLT said 11:36PM on 1-24-2008
To have Safari open in more than one Space:
Open Safari in Space one.
Add a new window (window 2).
Drag window 2 towards the right side of the screen until you are in Space 2.
Voila, Safari in two Spaces. This works with many applications. It is also the easiest way to move Apps from Space to Space.
B :o)
Marshall said 11:47AM on 1-25-2008
I have my middle mouse button assigned to open spaces (show all the windows). From this screen, you can drag your additional Safari windows to your desired space. I find this is faster than dragging to the screen edge, especially when you want the window to be four spaces away from the one you are in.
morbidi said 10:20PM on 1-24-2008
Hello, this feature of jumping trought spaces if an app is assigned is a PITA... well for wonce, if you are like me and web browsing or just developing in any other space than 1 (space 1 is just for conversations) and sudenly someone decides to test ichat I'm sent to that space and my work is interruped...that's quite anoying.
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Tim said 11:01PM on 1-24-2008
@Bender -
Yes, it's a basic tip. The new part, at least to me, is that you can just drag an app to the space in the overview window as opposed to using the "+" and "-" buttons below the app list.
Tim
(different Tim than above)
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wdympcf said 1:23AM on 1-25-2008
Here is a much more challenging question: Most people already know that you can assign an application to a single space. Not as many know that you can assign an application to appear in every space. No one that I know is aware of how to assign iCal to one space but have iCal alarms appear in every space. I want to have iCal assigned to just one space, but I want the iCal alarms to show up in every space so that I will see them regardless of the space I happen to be working in. Any experts out there know how to do this?
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Big John said 1:32AM on 1-25-2008
Another question. When you activate Spaces, the background image of each Space is a blue gradient. Is there a hack to change the gradient or tell it to use a certain image?
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JPT said 2:09AM on 1-25-2008
I've been an OS X user for over a year now and had been following Apple for a year before that. And I got Leopard soon after its release. This is the first time I've heard of that little feature. Before this I quit using spaces because of what I thought was the lack of that feature. Not sure it's Mac 101, but Mac 102: For the Oblivious :P
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Marco F. said 2:56AM on 1-25-2008
Well, Spaces is flawed.
Quite a few applications just won't stick to a desktop. Even though with Virtuedesks they did.
I'm not sure who to blame, but I think it's a bug in spaces, and not so much the application.
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Martin said 6:48AM on 1-25-2008
It took me a while to discover this, maybe I'm just slow ;)
But you can assign Finder and more importantly, imo, Screen Sharing to a Space by adding the relevant application from /System/Library/CoreServices/ to Spaces in System Preferences.
Regards
Martin
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Brandon Martinez said 10:33AM on 1-25-2008
Here's a cool tip, add the finder to all spaces. You have to find the finder in core services (or w/e it's called), though, since it's not under Applications.
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Justin said 11:17AM on 1-25-2008
Is there a way to make iChat stop stealing focus when you have it assigned to a specific space and then someone IMs you. I love spaces, but that ruins for me.
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