100 Tips #33: How To Minimize Windows On OS X

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On Windows, you got used to the Minimize command, which sent any particular document or application window down to the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen. OS X has a similar feature, which is also called Minimize.

In most applications, you can minimize using the keyboard shortcut Command+M. If you prefer to use the mouse, click the amber button in the “traffic lights” in the top-left corner of the window you’re looking at. It will instantly shrink down into the Dock and stay there until you click on it to bring it out again.

Where Windows represented the minimized window with a little rectangle, OS X represents it with a thumbnail, so you can see at a glance which document is which when you have several minimized alongside each other.

Minimising works only for individual windows, not for whole applications. It’s very Windows-like in this respect. If you have six word processing documents open and hit minimise on the frontmost one, only that one will shrink to the Dock. The rest will stay as they are.

If you want to get all six of them out of the way in one fell swoop, you’d be better off using the Hide command – which we’ll look at in the next tip.

(You’re reading the 33rd post in our series, 100 Essential Mac Tips And Tricks For Windows Switchers. These posts explain to OS X beginners some of the most basic and fundamental concepts of using a Mac. Find out more.)

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