Comments on: How I’m using Spaces on Mac OS X

By: Colin Devroe

Colin Devroe — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 11:32:36 +0000

Shirish: I believe you can split anything you’d like up. The reason you ‘assign’ applications to any given space is if you want that application to _only_ open in that space. However, if you want to split worksheets in Excel among multiple spaces you can.

By: Shirish

Shirish — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 20:28:00 +0000

Paul. Is a browser the only app which will allow a window in more than one space?

How about other apps? I would like to have a Excel file open in space #1, and another different Excel file open in space #2. If that’s possible, then it would be true task separation, rather than application separation.

By: Paul

Paul — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 10:22:01 +0000

Finally figured out how to setup a different Browser window in a different space.

1. Make sure to turn off the option under preferences “when switching to an application, switch to a space…”
2. Make sure that Firefox is not assigned to any of the workspaces at all. This may still work if it is assigned to 1 workspace. I had problems with it was assigned to all workspaces.
3. Now go to a space and open Firefox.
4. Go to a new space and open Firefox again. You won’t see anything other than the Firefox toolbar come to the forefront. From the toolbar choose “New Window”. This window is a separate instance of Firefox.

You can now switch between both spaces and have separate instances of Firefox running. I think this was the way the author was suggesting to use this feature. You could imagine a Finance workspace where you have a copy of Quicken running along with a Browser window with several tabs (e.g. Wells Fargo, ETrade, Mint).

By: David

David — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:24:32 +0000

Really helpful. Thanks for this, Collin. I have been using Spaces but never realized I could switch the moving to other spaces with open windows. I never bothered to explore the preference pane, Just pu in the maximum number of spaces I could and got at it. Now I’ll definitely explore it more.

By: Al

Al — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:20:27 +0000

Good stuff and thanks for sharing. Previously, I had no interest nor need for spaces. However, I went with the 13in MacBook and now I find spaces invaluable. Spaces does a great job of making me forget about the 17in MacBook Pro I should have gotten Below is how I use spaces:

Space 1 – Firefox
Space 2 – VMWare Fusion(Unity mode) Outlook
Space 3 – VMWare Fusion(Unity mode) RDP
Space 4 – VMWare Fusion(Unity mode) RDP
Space 5 – Media (slingbox, lastFM, iTunes)

Play around with VMWare Fusion in Unity mode and Spaces….you’ll find it a great combination.

By: Dennis

Dennis — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:06:47 +0000

Collin, thanks for sharing with everyone how you use spaces… I’m going to start taking in action in the following ways that you are using spaces… Again, appreciate your column on this subject. Have a great day!

DM.

By: Kamal

Kamal — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:17:41 +0000

I love using spaces (I use 9)! I have a question though:

Does anyone know how to project only ONE space (I use a DVI to Video adapter) and still be able to use the other spaces on my laptop screen. I would like to project video to my TV, while surfing the web in another space.

Thanks in advance for any help!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:01:09 +0000

And by “Chris,” I meant “Colin.”

Crikey. Unemployment is rotting my brain right down to the stem.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:30:16 +0000

Chris, how do you keep the browser windows you mention in Spaces 1 and 4 (read/write and code) separate? The thing that has kept Spaces from being useful to me is the inability to pin down some Safari windows over there, while I work in other Safari windows over here. Using your model, any time I went to Space 4, all my Safari windows from Space 1 would come rushing over to join us.

And that’s precisely what I don’t want. Spaces should recognize that sometimes you use the same application for different tasks simultaneously, and that you don’t necessarily want to see all your app’s windows at once. But it doesn’t.

By: Colin Devroe

Colin Devroe — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:12:46 +0000

khan: Click F8, then drag the application from one Space into another!

By: khan

khan — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:50:49 +0000

Is it possible to to send a application from one space to other? for example, i have a terminal open on first space, and then want to send it to second one. In linux this is pretty straight forward, but i cant seem to be able to find the option in OS X.

By: J

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 07:18:04 +0000

Here is trick for easy switching between spaces… all using the mouse (more convenient than using keys). In Expose Preferences, Set the Active Screen Corners – Top/Left = All Windows, Top/Right = Desktop, Bottom/Left = Screen Saver, Bottom/Right = *Spaces*. Then it is easy to click between windows. One other Tip (for EyeTV users) – Set in Spaces Preferences to make EyeTV visible in Every Space so you can view video across all screens.

By: poushag

poushag — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:50:48 +0000

Oops. I meant to say “don’t” instead of “didn’t”.

By: poushag

poushag — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:08:52 +0000

Nice article. I am hoping that in the future ‘Spaces’ didn’t have to be the same size. Some apps just do better in (or only do) a certain screen resolution. Spaces would make my killer app list if it could maintain different screen resolutions in different spaces.

By: SmallBizMac

SmallBizMac — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:56:30 +0000

Good post. I don’t use spaces at all but some of the folks here do use it a bunch. I have not figured out any way it is better and expose, but based on this post, I will play around with it.

By: Jim Tobin

Jim Tobin — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:11:08 +0000

Colin, Thanks. Very helpful. Could not find the box for the life of me. Just realized I’m on 10.5.2… Upgrading now. Good info.

~Jim

By: RickAce

RickAce — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:05:42 +0000

I just do not get Spaces… I guess I don’t get distracted by open apps of different types being open on one “Space”. If I am doing a conversion of… lets say a DVD I just let run in the background. If I need to see it I just hit “Command-Tab” to switch to that program. Simple. I do not see it saving me any keystrokes/mouse clicks.

I guess this just proves that everyone’s mind works a little differently and thanks to Apple to allow us to set up our “Spaces” as we see fit.

By: James Fleeting

James Fleeting — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:58:09 +0000

I wasn’t aware that 10.5.3 added that function. I use more application separation. Space 1 is Browsing, Reading, Writing, etc. Space 2 is Dev Space with TextMate, CSSEdit, Transmit, etc. Space 3 is iLife Space which is for iMovie, iTunes, iStopMotion, etc (any apps that take awhile like Toast when burning dvds, etc). Space 4 is Graphics which is for Photoshop, Vector Designer, Pixalmator, etc. I use dual monitors so my second monitor has twitterrific, Adium, Skype, Coversutra, etc so they are always open for me.

I will have to mess with Spaces a little more and uncheck that box.

By: ChrisClark

ChrisClark — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 16:51:07 +0000

Thanks! I’ll give it a try when I get home.

By: Colin Devroe

Colin Devroe — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:50:57 +0000

Chris Clark: The money feature is to uncheck the “When switching to an application, switch to a space with the open windows for the application” box. That makes all of what I describe possible.

By: ChrisClark

ChrisClark — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 15:49:20 +0000

Very interesting, Colin. I’ve been using Spaces since I installed Leopard and basically using it in the “application separation” mode the whole time. Reading your post has got me itching to go home and start trying it out this way instead. I’ve loved having it since the beginning, because I have a pretty small screen (17″ iMac… or is it 19″? it’s whatever the size they discontinued with the latest models is) but I think I could be even more productive if I were using it in the way you describe.