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"Desktops" bar at top of screen
#39837 04/10/16 08:30 AM
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Out of the blue, when I use Mission Control to show all windows I see this ...the "Desktops" bar at the top of my screen being unexpected.

Can anybody tell me what I did to get it there and how to get rid of it? (Is it new in El Cap and I've never noticed it before?)

I've managed to get rid of the second desktop, but not the bar.

Thanks.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39838 04/10/16 09:34 AM
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Might that have something to do with what you just described in the other Desktop thread (Post #39836)? It might still believe that a second Desktop exists.

Have you tried restarting to see if that clears it?

Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39839 04/10/16 10:22 AM
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I have the same thing in El Cap. I never noticed it before and I don't know if it was in Yosemite. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to ignore it.


Jon

macOS 11.7.10, iMac Retina 5K 27-inch, late 2014, 3.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 1 TB fusion drive, 16 GB RAM, Epson SureColor P600, Photoshop CC, Lightroom CC, MS Office 365
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
grelber #39840 04/10/16 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
Might that have something to do with what you just described in the other Desktop thread (Post #39836)? It might still believe that a second Desktop exists.

That post dealt with jaybass's issue...had nothing to do with me.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
jchuzi #39841 04/10/16 11:17 AM
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Originally Posted By: jchuzi
I have the same thing in El Cap. I never noticed it before and I don't know if it was in Yosemite. As far as I'm concerned, I'm going to ignore it.

Originally Posted By: Wikipedia
Mission Control includes three separate features for organizing windows and open applications:

All windows:
Shows all open and unhidden windows and desktops shrinking their appearance so they all fit on a single screen. On newer Mac keyboards, this is activated from the F3 key, or F9 on older keyboards. On Apple's Magic Mouse or multi-touch trackpads, this can be activated by pulling up on the trackpad with three or four fingers. Mission Control redesigned this feature extensively to show all running desktops.

Application windows: ....

Desktop: .... (Emphasis added)

I guess that's it. I rarely use the functionality in question...never noticed that it had changed since Snowy.

Edit: The confusion is in part due to Apple's bad description of Mission Control in the MC pref pane; it's says "all open windows" but fails to mention "desktops".

Last edited by artie505; 04/10/16 11:28 AM.

The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39845 04/10/16 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: grelber
Might that have something to do with what you just described in the other Desktop thread (Post #39836)? It might still believe that a second Desktop exists.

That post dealt with jaybass's issue...had nothing to do with me.

Somehow I construed your comments
Quote:
I booted into my Snowy partition and emailed /Volumes/HDz/System/Library/PreferencePanes/DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane to myself, and I received this, with the icon correctly labeled DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane. (Clicking on the image enlarges it.)
The icon in the email is the light switch you described, and when I dragged it to my desktop it resolved into the correct icon...DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane.

to mean that you actually introduced something new to your system. My response just alluded to that. Sorry for the misinterpretation.

Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39857 04/10/16 07:19 PM
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System Preferences -> Mission Control -> Dashboard as Space


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
joemikeb #39859 04/10/16 07:39 PM
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Thanks for the suggestion, but changing Dashboard from "Off" to "As Space" added "Dashboard" to the bar along with "Desktop"; I'd like to get rid of the bar altogether. (As I implied, I don't use Dashboard.)


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
grelber #39860 04/10/16 07:40 PM
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Originally Posted By: grelber
Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: grelber
Might that have something to do with what you just described in the other Desktop thread (Post #39836)? It might still believe that a second Desktop exists.

That post dealt with jaybass's issue...had nothing to do with me.

Somehow I construed your comments
Quote:
I booted into my Snowy partition and emailed /Volumes/HDz/System/Library/PreferencePanes/DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane to myself, and I received this, with the icon correctly labeled DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane. (Clicking on the image enlarges it.)
The icon in the email is the light switch you described, and when I dragged it to my desktop it resolved into the correct icon...DesktopScreenEffectsPref.prefPane.

to mean that you actually introduced something new to your system. My response just alluded to that. Sorry for the misinterpretation.

No problem! Your having given thought to the matter was appreciated. smile


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39873 04/11/16 01:13 AM
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MacPilot has a command for turning off the Dashboard but I am not at my computer for a day or two so I cannot give you the command line command -- I just know there is such an animal in OS X. crazy


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
joemikeb #39876 04/11/16 05:43 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
MacPilot has a command for turning off the Dashboard but I am not at my computer for a day or two so I cannot give you the command line command -- I just know there is such an animal in OS X. crazy

I think I've got Dashboard turned off already. (Do MacPilot/Terminal do something different than what I've already done via System Prefs?)

The "Desktops" bar in my image seems to be a consequence of the merger of Spaces and Expose that can't be turned off.

No big deal... I'd rather not see it, but living with it won't cost me anything.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39894 04/11/16 04:18 PM
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Dashboard will show as its own Space if that preference is chosen so that you would see :
Dashboard Desktop 1 Desktop 2

I think there is a default to have two Desktops as standard. I have noticed that some applications (e.g., Mail, Evernote) will open in their own Desktop with no help from me. This may also be a consequence of opening in full-screen mode. Not sure why.

Have you tried entering Spaces mode (F3 is the default), mouse up to the Spaces bar and "X" out the extra space?


On a Mac since 1984.
Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
Ira L #39903 04/11/16 10:18 PM
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I've always kept Dashboard turned off, so when I first saw the bar it was populated with only two desktops - I guess your default guess is on the mark. - and I've since deleted one of them.

I thought it would be nice to get rid of the bar entirely, but that doesn't seem to be an option, and it's certainly not any sort of nuisance...merely annoying to an inveterate cleaner.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39914 04/12/16 11:15 PM
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Finally back at my computer. FWIW the command to disable Dashboard is

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool false

The command to hide Dashboard space in Mission Control is…

defaults delete com.apple.dock dashboard-in-overlay


If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
joemikeb #39917 04/13/16 06:04 AM
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Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Finally back at my computer. FWIW the command to disable Dashboard is

defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool false

The command to hide Dashboard space in Mission Control is…

defaults delete com.apple.dock dashboard-in-overlay

Thanks for posting the commands.

I've already got Dashboard toggled off at System Prefs > Mission Control > Dashboard, and your command disables toggling it back on but doesn't affect that bar at the top of my screen. (You've got that command backwards - to disable, it should read defaults write com.apple.dashboard mcx-disabled -bool true - and in addition, it needs to be followed by killall Dock.)

In OS X 10.11.4 defaults delete com.apple.dock dashboard-in-overlay returns

Code:
artie$ defaults delete com.apple.dock dashboard-in-overlay
2016-04-13 02:34:42.576 defaults[9875:3343004] 
Domain (com.apple.dock) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
artie505 #39919 04/13/16 11:37 AM
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Quote:
Domain (com.apple.dock) not found.

try com.apple.Dock



dkmarsh—member, FineTunedMac Co-op Board of Directors
Re: "Desktops" bar at top of screen
dkmarsh #39920 04/13/16 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted By: dkmarsh

Quote:
Domain (com.apple.dock) not found.

try com.apple.Dock

Thanks for the suggestion, but...

Code:
artie$ defaults delete com.apple.Dock dashboard-in-overlay
2016-04-13 08:43:17.962 defaults[11726:4013715] 
Domain (com.apple.Dock) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.
Artie'sMBP:~ artie$ 


The new Great Equalizer is the SEND button.

In Memory of Harv: Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. ~Voltaire

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