How to Quickly Show the Desktop on a Mac
You can quickly navigate to the desktop on your Mac by pressing a keyboard shortcut, by swiping the trackpad using a specific gesture, or by creating your own customized shortcut. Press + . Doing so will reveal your desktop.
Method 1 of 3:
Using a Keyboard Shortcut
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Press Fn + F11. Doing so will reveal your desktop.- Alternatively, you can press ⌘ Command + F3.
Method 2 of 3:
Swiping on the Trackpad
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Place your thumb and first three fingers on the trackpad. Make sure you've got a window up, such as a browser, to switch to the desktop from. -
Spread your thumb and three fingers apart. Doing so will reveal your desktop.- For a demonstration of the gesture, click on the Apple icon in the top left corner of the menu bar.
- Click System Preferences.
- Click the "Trackpad" icon.
- Click More Gestures.
- Click on "Show Desktop." An example animation will play on the right side of the window.
Method 3 of 3:
Adding a Custom Keyboard Shortcut
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Click on the Apple icon in the top menu bar. If you want to make your own keyboard shortcut for accessing the desktop quickly, simply navigate to the shortcuts menu.[1] -
Click System Preferences. -
Click the "Keyboard" icon. -
Click Shortcuts. -
Click Mission Control. It's on the left side of the window. -
Click Show Desktop on the right side of the window. -
Click it again to highlight the keystroke text. -
Type in your custom keyboard shortcut.- If you're using an "F" function key, you will have to hold down the Fn key to type your command.
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Click the red "X" button. Your keyboard shortcut will be saved!
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