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How to Minimize All Windows on Mac: We’ve all made the mistake of opening too many apps at once on our Macs. If the clutter on your desktop is distracting you or you can’t find files you saved there, you might want to quickly clear some space on your screen. Of course, you can click the “minimize” button (the small yellow circle) on each window, but this can be very time-consuming. Instead, let’s look at a cool way to close all your windows at once using the keyboard.
With this keyboard shortcut for minimizing windows, you can hide all open app windows while showing all open Finder windows. The only catch is that you have to be able to see at least a tiny bit of your desktop for it to work. Here’s how to minimize all of your Mac’s windows at once.
How to Minimize All Windows on Mac
Minimizing All Windows through Shortcut Keys
- For minimizing all windows and getting to the desktop, try the following shortcut keys.
Hold Command + Option keys and click anywhere on the Desktop with the mouse. - For minimizing all the windows other than the active window on the top try the following keys.
Command + Option + H - However, if you combine the M key with the above shortcut it will also close the active window that is on the top of all windows.
Command + Option + H + M
Note: The first three keys will close all the other windows and last M will close only the active window on the top. - For minimizing the similar application windows, the user can try the following shortcut keys.
Command + Option + M
Using the Show Desktop Shortcut by minimize all Windows
To show a shortcut on the desktop, you have to press the function key. If the option in Keyboard settings to “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys” is not turned on, the user must use the function key (Fn). But if you have already turned this feature on, you can just press the shortcut key without also pressing the function key.
- You can find the Show Desktop option by opening the Spotlight and searching for Mission Control settings. The default shortcut will be Fn + F11 (or only F11 if the option is enabled).
- You can also change the shortcut key to whatever you want by clicking on the Show Desktop option and choosing the different keys from the list.
FAQs
On your Mac, do any of the following in a window: Maximize a window: Press and hold the Option key while you click the green button in the top-left corner of an app window. To return to the previous window size, Option-click the button again.
The trackpad gesture is a default feature in all Mac computers, and you can use it to quickly hide all opened programs to unveil the desktop. Place your hand on the trackpad, and spread the thumb away from three fingers to show desktop. Sliding the fingers towards each other in a pinch gesture hides the desktop.
You can also double-click an app’s title bar to maximize the window (as long as the option to do so is set to “zoom” in Desktop & Dock settings). Minimize a window: Click the yellow minimize button in the top-left corner of the window or press Command-M.
Here is how to minimize windows on Mac Monterey, Big Sur, and other macOS versions: Command + Option and click anywhere on the desktop: minimize all open windows & access the desktop. Command + Option + H + M: minimize all apps on Mac and get to the desktop.