Open Multiple Desktops at Same Time on Max OS X Yosemite

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Video: Open Multiple Desktops at Same Time on Max OS X Yosemite

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You're watching VisiHow. In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to create more than one desktop for use at the same time when using Mac OS X Yosemite. To do this, we need to use the touchpad of the Mac.

1. 1
   We need to take three fingers and place them on the bottom of the touchpad, making sure we don't press firmly enough to click

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   Rather, lightly place three fingers on the touchpad, and then swipe all three fingers up toward the keyboard at the same time. When we do this, a new screen will appear on the desktop.

   

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2. 2
   The dock will be visible at the bottom of the screen, even if it has been hidden previously

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3. 3
   A small image of our desktop will be shown at the top of the screen with the word "Desktop" underneath

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4. 4
   Now, we're going to move our mouse cursor to the right side of the screen, where we will see a plus icon

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5. 5
   If we click on that plus icon, it will create "Desktop 2"

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6. 6
   Click on the plus icon again to create "Desktop 3"

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7. 7
   We can click on "Desktop 2" to open it up full screen

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8. 8
   Then from the dock at the bottom, we can click to open "Firefox"

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9. 9
   If we would like, we can use our three fingers again by lightly setting them on the bottom of the touchpad, then swiping back up

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10. 10
    Now, we can click on "Desktop 1" to move over to that desktop

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    This will not have Firefox open.

    

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11. 11
    However "Firefox" is still listed on the dock at the bottom as an available open option

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12. 12
    Again, swipe up with three fingers on the touchpad

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13. 13
    We can click to go to "Desktop 3"

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14. 14
    On this desk top, we could, for example, open our "System Preferences" window

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15. 15
    Once again, swiping up from the bottom of the touchpad to the top with three fingers will take us back to the main area, where we can see "Desktop 1", "Desktop 2" and "Desktop 3"

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16. 16
    We can close any of the open desktops by clicking on the "x" at the top left corner of the desktop image

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17. 17
    For example, if we click the "x" on "Desktop 1", it will close that desktop

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18. 18
    We can also close "Desktop 2" by locating the white circle with the gray "x" and clicking it

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19. 19
    This now leaves us with the third desktop, which now simply says "Desktop"

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20. 20
    Further, we'll note that Firefox did not close when we closed Desktop 2 because Firefox was operating independently of that desktop instance

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21. 21
    We can choose between "System preferences" or Firefox by simply clicking on the one we want

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22. 22
    Both will still be visible on the screen, as indicated by the System Preferences window behind the Firefox window

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    However, the one we click on first will be the one that takes priority.

    

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23. 23
    If we no longer need these Windows open, we can simply click the red circle with the black "x" at the top left corner of each window to close it

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24. 24
    To completely close Firefox on the dock, right click the icon with the mouse, or use a two-finger click on the touchpad to open a small menu

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25. 25
    Then select "Quit"

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26. 26
    This concludes our tutorial on how to open multiple desktop Windows at the same time when running OS X Yosemite

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    If you have additional questions or comments, please let us know in the section below, and we'll be happy to assist you.

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If you have problems with any of the steps in this article, please ask a question for more help, or post in the comments section below.

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