App windows: open, move, resize, close

Each app shows its work inside a rectangle called a window. You can have many windows open at once. Learning to arrange them saves a lot of confusion later.

The three circles

Every window has three small circles at its top-left corner.

• Red (left): closes this window. In most apps the app itself stays open. Its name stays in the menu bar, and a dot stays under its icon in the Dock.
• Yellow (middle): hides the window in the Dock, at the right end. Click it there to bring it back. Apple calls this minimizing.
• Green (right): makes the window fill the whole screen. The menu bar and Dock hide. To get the menu bar back, move the pointer to the very top of the screen. Click the green circle again to return to a normal window.

Rest the pointer on the green circle without clicking. A small menu may offer other choices, like putting the window on the left or right half of the screen. Pick one, or move away.

Move and resize

• To move a window, drag it by its title bar: the strip along its top. Press and hold there, slide, let go.
• To make it bigger or smaller, point at any edge or corner. The pointer turns into a double arrow. Then drag.
• Double-click the title bar to make the window as big as it can be. Double-click again to shrink it back.

Close a window or quit the app

Closing a window and quitting the app are different things on a Mac.

• Command + W closes the front window, the same as the red circle.
• Command + Q quits the whole app. The dot under its Dock icon disappears. Use this when you are done with an app for the day.

It is fine to leave apps open, too. The Mac manages them.

Switch between apps

Hold Command and press Tab. A row of icons appears, one per open app. Keep holding Command and press Tab again to move along the row. Let go on the app you want. Clicking an icon in the Dock also brings that app to the front.

To see every open window at once, swipe up on the trackpad with three fingers, or press the top-row key marked with three small rectangles (F3). This view is called Mission Control. Click any window to go to it, or press Escape.

Practice

1. Open Notes: hold Command, press Space, type notes, press Return.
2. Drag its window by the title bar to the right side of the screen.
3. Drag its bottom-left corner to make it smaller.
4. Click the yellow circle. The window slides into the Dock. Click it there to bring it back.
5. Click the green circle. Notes fills the screen. Move the pointer to the top edge and click the green circle again.
6. Press Command + Q to quit Notes.