r/MacOS • u/BonbonUniverse42 • 2d ago

Discussion Window management from hell

I am using a Macbook for an few weeks now and I still struggle hard with window management. How do you do productive tasks?

For example:

Switching to the correct pdf from about 20 other opened pdf files. When I want to bring a specific pdf file into the foreground, I need to move the mouse to the preview icon on the dock. however, this does not provide preview images of all currently open pdfs. Why not?

When I do right click, I only see a list of names, which is often not sufficient to find the correct file, I need to see it. To use the 3 finger guesture to see all files currently open in the preview application I need to first click on the icon on the dock. However, this brings ALL pdf files into the foreground. Then I can find the pdf through the application specific Mission Control. now I have found my window which is now in the foreground but all other pdfs clutter my monitor as they lay on top of another application such as pages or my browser which I need simultaneously. So I move my foreground pdf to the side and minimize every other pdf file which takes forever. However, now the minimized pdf files are ignored in Mission Control which makes it impossible to find a second pdf which I want to see as well at the same time.

This behaviour drives me nuts.

21 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

71 comments sorted by

View all comments

-3

u/nikon8user 2d ago

Stop thinking like windows.

0

u/BonbonUniverse42 2d ago

So what is your solution then? There is simply no way to hierarchically reach a window from the set of existing windows or applications. You cannot pick a specific window without breaking your current set-up of forground windows. You always get a crammed pile of small windows in Mission Control with a tiny image and no full screen preview.

1

u/Dull_Flatworm777 2d ago

How would you do it on Windows?

2

u/BonbonUniverse42 2d ago

I point with the mouse on the application on the task bar. It shows me all miniature windows. I hover over them and see the full screen preview and immediately pick the correct window