TMO Quick Tip - Spaces: Grouping Projects Instead of Applications

by , 7:30 AM EDT, June 2nd, 2008

Mac OS X 10.5 introduced Spaces, which lets users create virtual Desktops and overcome the limited Desktop real estate imposed by computer displays. The problem was that Spaces pushed an "application per workspace" instead of a "project per workspace" mindset, but Mac OS X 10.5.3 fixes that with little more than a mouse click.

To change the default Spaces behavior so it is easier to group items based on project instead of application, do this:

• Choose Apple menu > System Preferences to launch the System Preferences application.
• Select Expose & Spaces.
• Click the Spaces tab.
• Uncheck When switching to an application, switch to a space with open windows for the application.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 lets you change the way Spaces behaves with your open apps.

That cryptic sounding setting makes a big change in the way Spaces works: Now Spaces will leave you in the current space when you switch applications, even if the application does not have any open windows in the currently active space. Jumping to a different space becomes an intentional action instead of a side effect from switching active applications.

The upside is that it's much easier to group document windows together based on project. For example, you could have windows open in the same space for FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Word, and Safari that all relate to a single project. If you switch to a different space and then switch to Microsoft Word for a different project, you won't jump back to the first space that Word was launched in.

Another bonus is that Spaces now performs in a way that's more familiar to Unix and Linux users, and it adds some flexibility to the way Spaces works for the rest of us.

Jeff Gamet is TMO's Morning Editor and Reviews Editor. He lectures, teaches and speaks on Mac OS X and design-related topics, and is the author of The Designer's Guide to Mac OS X from Peachpit Press.

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