If you make any kind of extensive use of the OS X Dashboard, you probably close as many widgets as you open. Usually, that means hitting the plus sign at the lower left of the screen to reveal the widget bar, clicking the "X" on the widget you want to remove, and then closing the widget bar. Seems like there should be a faster way, right? Tipster Nass has a solution for you.
Next time you want to close a widget, just hold down the option key (⌥) while your mouse is over it. You'll see the "X" button on the current widget and can close all the widgets you want without ever having to open the widget bar. Sure, it's only a couple of seconds saved, but if you shuffle widgets as often as I do, that could add up to entire minutes being added back on to your life.
This being Mac 101, I'll also mention that ⌘-= will pop up the widget bar instantly without having to reach for the mouse, and ⌘-[left arrow] and ⌘-[right arrow] will scroll the bar. But you already knew that, having diligently read every page of the OS X help file, right?
Thanks, Nass!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-10-2008 @ 7:05PM
Mike Schramm said...
To me, it is, and will always be, the Apple Key. Or better yet, the %uF8FF key.
Shame that doesn't work on TUAW.
Reply
3-10-2008 @ 7:13PM
Adam said...
Eeeh, but this time we talked about the "alt"-key...
3-10-2008 @ 8:04PM
Brett Terpstra said...
... Sorry, had to try.
3-10-2008 @ 7:14PM
A. Jay said...
Funny, I have been using this since dashboard came out!! I guess I read too much of the Help file! By the way, ⌘-[arrow left/right] scrolls the bar not ⌘-. Also try to unlock your iPhone by touch and hold the the arrow sliding it just a bit, keep holding that finger down, and tap the end of the unlock bar....the iPhone is now unlocked!! Hope that makes sense...try it out!!
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3-10-2008 @ 7:57PM
Brett Terpstra said...
Sorry, the editor stripped my arrows out (but not my "command" symbols, for some reason). Fixed with good 'ol plain text. Thanks for the catch!
3-10-2008 @ 7:58PM
Brett Terpstra said...
Wow, apostrophe on the wrong side of ol'. Bad day, I guess.
3-10-2008 @ 7:19PM
CL said...
wow...I didn't know this one, very useful tip, thanks!
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3-10-2008 @ 7:25PM
Darren said...
very cool tips! what widget is that? looks very interesting... some type of player or remote?
Reply
3-10-2008 @ 8:00PM
Brett Terpstra said...
It's a countdown timer w/alarm, nice for quick and dirty egg timing. I can't recall the link, but it's in the Apple Downloads.
3-10-2008 @ 10:31PM
George said...
It's called 'Minutes', I just downloaded it the other day and it's quite slick:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/24218/minutes
3-10-2008 @ 7:41PM
Maxintech said...
Excelent tip for ⌘-=
Someone known the shortcut to avoid click on "Manage Widgets..." button?
Reply
3-10-2008 @ 9:59PM
smacklin said...
Just beware that if you have Command - arrow keys set for navigating spaces, they will not work to scrolling widgets.
3-10-2008 @ 8:37PM
tendo said...
I'd rather have a dashboard widget that opens a new dashboard that launches front row. now there's some improvement!
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3-10-2008 @ 9:11PM
Peter Zich said...
There are some widgets out there that sorta make multiple widget selections, they work by holding onto various copies of the two dashboard plists in the home folder's Library/Preferences/. As for opening Front Row that's easy enough.
3-10-2008 @ 9:22PM
tendo said...
oh, I was totally being sarcastic, I dont use the dashboard at all. It's actually the first thing I disable when I install the OS again.
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3-10-2008 @ 9:38PM
Zoli said...
I submitted this tip to you guys like 6 months ago! Nice to see you read your tips section.
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3-10-2008 @ 11:45PM
tophat said...
Some needed refinement to a great piece of software.
urltea.com/2td
Reply
3-11-2008 @ 2:31PM
jwilliek said...
you know, I was just thinking about this the other day. did you read my mind, TUAW?
duh, hold the option key, why didn't I think of that? I could've had a V8.
Reply
3-11-2008 @ 9:00PM
robogobo said...
another tip. command-R reloads the active widget.
Reply