Clicking to Hide Others in Sonoma
In previous versions of macOS, if you wanted to hide all running apps containing a UI on your display, you could simply Option-click anywhere on the Finder’s Desktop. This would hide all other visible running apps and display only the Desktop.[see comment]Now in macOS Sonoma, if you Option-click on the Finder’s Desktop, only the frontmost running app is hidden. All other visible running apps are still visible in the background.
If you want to hide all visible running apps except Finder in macOS Sonoma, you now click on the Finder’s Desktop without holding down any keys on your keyboard.
I end up triggering this by accident when I click on the desktop to clear the current Finder selection.
If you want the same behavior as in previous versions of macOS - namely to be able to instantly hide all non-Finder apps without the new border or zooming animation, you can still do so. Just Command-Option-click anywhere on the Finder’s Desktop to immediately hide all visible apps.
Or you can turn off the new behavior in System Settings ‣ Desktop & Dock by setting Click wallpaper to reveal desktop to Only in Stage Manager.
Update (2023-10-24): Christian Tietze posted a screenshot of the “notification” the first time you click on the desktop.
Update (2023-10-27): ednl:
An annoying side effect: now, when another app like Safari has focus and I select files on the desktop to delete, the Finder doesn’t get focus! So I can’t immediately use Cmd-Backspace. Example video: starts with Safari in focus, drag on desktop files, Safari still has focus, click on selection to give Finder focus (and don’t lose selection..).
Update (2024-08-09): ednl:
This, or maybe 14.6 because I hadn’t checked before I installed the patch, fixed the issue I mentioned to you a while ago: if you selected a few files on the desktop by dragging while another app (usually the browser) had focus, focus stayed on the browser. So you couldn’t immediately do stuff with the selected files, had to give them another click first. But carefully, inside the selection. This has been fixed: dragging to select now again also gives focus.
[…]
Oh wait, it’s very strange. The fix is not stable.
Previously:
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Yeah. I click on the desktop *a lot*, and *never* expected this behavior - that is, hide all open windows.It's intrusive, and *your* option is the correct one.
So it appears - sarcasm intended - that this is a new behavior due to Stage Manager? It took some work to figure out how to turn it off. (And even then it seems to turn itself on at will.) So, does anyone actually use Stage Manager on a Mac? Or is this just another way Apple is trying to merge iPadOS (used to be iOS until last OS upgrade cycle) with macOS (used to be called OS X until a few years ago)?
And, yeah, do NOT get me started with how poor they shipped System Settings UI to us Mac users....
I am confused. Option-click on the desktop in Ventura does nothing. I did find where I can configure keyboard and mouse shortcuts to Show Desktop, but just Option-click was not an option--I can only use the "secondary mouse button" and buttons 3 and up. (Then again, despite listing buttons 3 through 16 in the menu to choose the mouse shortcut, it doesn't actually work with my mouse's buttons 4 and 5...)
I have absolutely no idea how this shipped as a default. It makes me wonder if Apple is more committed to Stage Manager than I think is warranted.
One of the most idiotic features on macOS I have ever seen.
If you have a warning for a feature to turn the feature off you know that something is wrong.
>In previous versions of macOS, if you wanted to hide all running apps containing a UI on your display, you could simply Option-click anywhere on the Finder’s Desktop. This would hide all other visible running apps and display only the Desktop.
>
>Now in macOS Sonoma, if you Option-click on the Finder’s Desktop, only the frontmost running app is hidden.
Huh?
In Sonoma, just as before and since probably, like System 6, option-clicking hides the current app in favor of the app you're clicking on. Option-command-clicking hides _all_ apps in favor of the app you're clicking on.
This hasn't changed at all, best as I can tell.
>If you want to hide all visible running apps except Finder in macOS Sonoma, you now click on the Finder’s Desktop without holding down any keys on your keyboard.
This is indeed a new thing, but completely unrelated to hiding. It's just a new way to invoke what used to be called Exposé long ago.
I had this on for about a week but ended up turning this (interesting) behavior off, because I've found that I have muscle memory: I click on the Finder not to _reveal_ stuff, but to make sure the current window isn't focused. For example, while composing an e-mail, to make sure I don't accidentally send it yet.
>So it appears - sarcasm intended - that this is a new behavior due to Stage Manager?
No, I think the idea is that this was previously available in Stage Manager (and is always on there), but they're now offering as an option for non-Stage Manager as well.
Note that I was notified about this when it was first invoked. So while Apple did make it the default, they were mindful that it might confuse people, and offered a notification that tells people that it can be disabled.
The alternative would've been to not make it a default, in which case people wouldn't discover it at all.
I'm assuming it's the default now to make widgets easier to get to. It's a banner feature. (…the feature?) But it's Mission Control, previously Exposé from Tiger/10.4, sweeping windows to the side, not really hiding the app.
I remember it as Sören does back to the System # days. Command-option-H is also the keyboard shortcut for Hide Others.
I think it's interesting as well and I use the trackpad gesture a lot, but it's really hard after these decades to get used to.
FWIW widgets can be really useful: For example I have cheatsheet/PDF files open in a floating Automator "website popup" action, great during screen sharing when keyboard shortcuts are sent to the remote Mac.
