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Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

mmazzarolo.com

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Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#171

I use https://rectangleapp.com/pro and really enjoy this app (I paid for it, it gets a lot of updates/fixes). It mostly takes care of snapping and resizing windows with hot keys, but has a less obvious feature in preferences to use mouse. My setup is: CMD+SHIFT will move any window under mouse pointer CMD+SHIFT+CTRL will resize any window under mouse pointer

I use Moom since 2012: https://manytricks.com/moom/

It’s a paid app too, but it was worth every cent. The app was updated for free since my first purchase ten years ago!

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#172
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That Wi-Fi button truck also works with the volume and Bluetooth buttons. You can also quickly toggle focus mode by option clicking on the time (or the Notification Center button)

Meanwhile on Windows, the same functionality for choosing which output you want to use is accessible by just clicking the dang volume icon Why does MacOS hide such a useful feature behind an obscure trick?

What? Just clicking on macOS's volume icon lets you change the output.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#173

Can we talk for a moment about how horribly well hidden these shortkeys are for normal users? Why not blend in a shortkey-tooltip when dragging a window around normally using the title bar? Make stuff discoverable again?

This would just be annoying when you reinstall or use a new machine, like going through a tutorial section when playing a game for the second time. Or you would end up with Clippy.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#174
post #165
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this may be a misunderstanding on your part (no disrespect). Cut/paste works slightly differently on macOS compared to Windows. There's no actual concept of "cut". You just "copy" whatever files you want. When you're ready to paste, you can hit Cmd+V to "paste" or Cmd+alt+V to "paste and remove the original file(s)". The benefit is that you don't have to decide whether you want to just "copy" or "cut" before…

Now how do I do this with a mouse? (I already know the answer, but I'm curious if you do. It isn't very discoverable.)

Drag while holding option?

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#175
post #146

MacOS is full of these UI "tricks" that remain undiscovered by 99% of users because they are: - not obvious - not discoverable For example: if you hold option when you click the Wifi button, you actually can view a lot of information about the Wifi networks you are connecting to. This is invaluable when you're dealing with a Wifi issue, and completely undiscoverable! I think MacOS is a perfectly usable operating syst…

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Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#176
post #175
post #146

MacOS is full of these UI "tricks" that remain undiscovered by 99% of users because they are: - not obvious - not discoverable For example: if you hold option when you click the Wifi button, you actually can view a lot of information about the Wifi networks you are connecting to. This is invaluable when you're dealing with a Wifi issue, and completely undiscoverable! I think MacOS is a perfectly usable operating syst…

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Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#177
post #158

Something I use all the time to handle applications which might have multiple instances opened at once. For example, web browsers. Press CMD-TAB to bring up the list of opened applications and then pressing UP or DOWN over a selected application to show the opened instances. After that use LEFT or RIGHT to select the instance you want to show.

Opened windows, not instances. There's only one instance of the application running.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can do exactly this with BetterTouchTool. You can also set it up with Hammerspoon.

> You can do exactly this with BetterTouchTool. Zooom2 allows for moving/resizing of background windows. Last I checked, BetterTouchTool window manipulation required clicking the window which brings it to the front.

This free Hammerspoon plugin will also resize background windows: https://github.com/dbalatero/SkyRocket.spoon/

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#179

Hyperdock is one of the best purchases I've ever made. It allows you to assign hot keys to window management - e.g. alt-left-mouse: grab anywhere in window to move option-command-left-mouse: resize window from anywhere in window Hasn't been updated in years but it still works on Monterey though it occasionally requires some kicking. I've looked for alternatives that are more up to date but can never find one that doe…

Try https://www.rectangleapp.com - the pro version probably has the functionality you’re looking for, and is actively maintained.

Re: Moving a macOS window by clicking anywhere on it

#180
post #146

MacOS is full of these UI "tricks" that remain undiscovered by 99% of users because they are: - not obvious - not discoverable For example: if you hold option when you click the Wifi button, you actually can view a lot of information about the Wifi networks you are connecting to. This is invaluable when you're dealing with a Wifi issue, and completely undiscoverable! I think MacOS is a perfectly usable operating syst…

It's an interesting definition of "usable" that is qualified on behavior that so many people didn't even know existed, it's worth the top of the front page of HN. In at least some of these cases, the tricks are hidden because they're not useful, and thus don't pay their cognitive freight, for most people.

I look forward to tomorrow's HN posts: "maximize a window by double clicking the title bar" and "secrets of the alt-space menu revealed!"
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