Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let's take a
look at the many different ways that you can access the files on your Desktop.
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Now often we would say we put files on our Desktop on our Macs. But actually the Desktop
is just a folder like any other folder with one special property. That is that
you can see the files in the Desktop folder also on your Desktop. So here you can see a
few files and a couple folders on my Desktop. But in fact if I open up a new Finder window
and then I go to the Desktop folder you could see those same files and folders here. There
aren't two copies of them. These are just two ways of looking at the same thing. In fact the
Desktop folder is really no different than any other folder. Like say Documents. Here
I've got my Documents folder. Here I've got my Desktop folder. In Finder windows they are
both just different folders. Just different locations to store files. The only thing that
makes the Desktop folder special is that you see these files here on the Desktop as well.
The idea is that you have easy access to the files without having a Finder window open.
Now sometimes that easy access isn't so easy. For instance what if you have several windows
open. So here I've got a bunch of windows open from different apps and you can see how they
cover the files on the Desktop. I can't get to them because these files are shown over
the Desktop background but underneath all of the windows. The way most people could
access them is to simply move windows over or Hide apps or Minimize windows so they can have
access to the files that are behind them. But the more that you have on your Desktop,
the more space you have to make to get access or the more windows you have to Hide.
Now there is an alternative. If you just need to get access to a file on the Desktop very
quickly but you don't want to Hide or move these windows. You can use one of two keyboard shortcuts
to temporarily Hide all the open windows and see the files on the Desktop. So one is usually to
press the F11 key. Then you get this. You get this special view and you can see this border
that runs around the edges here. You can also actually see the windows hidden on those edges.
It simply moves everything aside temporarily. It is easy to bring those windows back. For instance,
pressing F11 brings them all back. So you can Hide them and bring them back.
Another keyboard combination that will do this is to use the Command key and F3. Now depending
upon your settings you may also need to use the fn or Globe key. So Command and then the
fn key and then F3 will do the same thing as F11. Now when you do this the idea is you have quick
temporary access to what is on the Desktop. So, for instance, if I were to double click
on this example document here it not only opens up the example document but it brings
all the other windows back. It exits that mode automatically. So it is just a quick temporary
way to get to these items on your Desktop without having to close or move any of your windows.
You can also Drag and Drop while doing this. So, for instance, if I wanted to drag
this file, say, onto something in the Dock I can bring the Dock up in this mode. I can also press
F11 while still dragging and dropping to bring the windows back and complete the drop to say
place an image inside of a document or something. By the way you can customize the keyboard shortcut
for this. So if the F11 key isn't working for you then go into System Settings, then go to Keyboard,
then to Keyboard Shortcuts. Look under Mission Control. You could see here Show Desktop. Make
sure that is checked. Then you could see what you've got it set to if it is not F11.
Now let's say you have Stage Manager turned on. I'm going to go into Control Center here and turn
on Stage Manager. Now you can see I can easily switch between these apps here
using the Stage Manager controls here on the left. Notice that the items on the Desktop are missing.
If you click on the Desktop, so not one of these but just somewhere on the background,
then it actually gives you access to the Desktop and you can Drag and Drop and do everything,
just kind of like using F11. You can also switch then to one of these windows and then you can see
those Desktop items are gone. So it Hides the Desktop items while you're using Stage Manager.
There is actually a setting for this though. So if you go into System Settings and then you go
to Desktop & Dock, scroll down to Stage Manager. Click Customize. Then there is Desktop items. If
you turn this On then you'll see the Desktop items even if you're viewing one of the windows here.
With it Off then the Desktop items are hidden unless you click on the Desktop background like
that so you're not actually viewing any of the apps sets in Stage Manager, just the Desktop.
You can still Drag and Drop here moving this file,
say, over to one of these apps until it opens up and then you can drop it into something.
Now sometimes were take apps full screen. I'm going to click the green button here and then
this is full screen. If I use Mission Control with Control Up Arrow, you can see I've got
Desktop 1 and I've got Safari full screen. So a full screen space here is not really a desktop.
It doesn't have anything behind it. There is no Desktop behind it. It's just the app. So
you can't get to Desktop items here. Instead you need to use the Mission Control keyboard
shortcuts or mouse or trackpad gestures to go between the different spaces. So I can go back
here to this Desktop space and I can see these items here. If you've got a lot of windows open
and they are covering things a handy thing to do is to create another Desktop, like that,
and not put any windows on it. So you can see here on this Desktop I've got these windows and
they maybe blocking the Desktop items but on this Desktop I've got no windows so I can have easy
access to the Desktop items and I can easily use Control Left and Control Right to go between them.
Now this brings up another thing I know people are going to ask. That is, if I've got two Desktops
here, Desktop 1 and Desktop 2, I see the same files on both of them on the Desktop. As you
can see there. Is there a way to have some files on this Desktop and some files on this Desktop?
The answer is NO. There's only one Desktop folder. Files are either in the Desktop folder or they are
not. There's no way to have some files assigned to one Desktop folder or one Desktop space and not
the other. There is no way to have two different Desktop folders. One assigned to each space.
Now, of course, another way to view the Desktop is simply as a folder like I showed at the beginning
of this video. So I'll create a new Finder window here and I'm looking at my Documents folder. But
instead let's use the Sidebar here to go to the Desktop folder. You could see exactly the same
files that are here. Just two ways of looking at the same exact files. If I delete a file from here
it is deleted from there because it is only one location. Just two ways of viewing the same thing.
Now the Desktop folder is actually either in your Home folder or in iCloud Drive. So if
you were to go to your Home folder and you're not using iCloud Drive Desktop & Documents,
you would see Desktop & Documents folders here. Since I am using that feature in iCloud Drive
if I go to the top level of iCloud Drive I can see my Desktop & Documents folders in there. Go
into Desktop and this is the Desktop folder. So this is the real location of the files. This is
just a second way of viewing that location. In addition to accessing it in the Sidebar,
either here in Favorites or under iCloud, you can also use the Shortcut here in the
Go Menu and say Go To Desktop. Notice that there was also the keyboard shortcut Shift
Command D to get there. So if I'm somewhere else in the Finder, like my Downloads folder,
and I want to get quickly to the Desktop folder I can use Shift Command D to jump there.
Now the useful thing about viewing the Desktop file inside a Finder window like this is the
ability to be able to go and use the various views. If you view as icons you can see it
in a different icon layout in what you see here in the Desktop. If you view as List or
as Columns though you can view it in the way that you could never view it on the Desktop.
I find this to be a really good way to organize your Desktop. I try to keep a
completely clean Desktop now but for years I was like everybody else and I'd have a bunch
of different things on the Desktop. Every once in awhile I'd want to do a spring cleaning and doing
that with the icons on the Desktop with other windows in the way wasn't very efficient. But
opening up a separate Finder window, going to the Desktop, then going to List View,
maybe sorting by size, maybe sorting by name, and then going through the items one
by one here and as I file things away, in other places like in the Documents folder,
they would slowly disappear from my Desktop folder which means it would cleanup my Desktop.
Now what if you're not in the Finder but you're in the Finder-like environment that you get when
you do File, Open or File, Save As. Well, in this environment you can also access
items on the Sidebar so you can click on Desktop there. But even if you don't see that there or
you would rather keep you hands on the keyboard you can still use Shift Command D to go to the
Desktop here and get quick access to your files in the Desktop folder in an open or saved dialogue.
Now there is one more useful way to access the Desktop or any folder really and that is
to use the Dock. The right side of the Dock over here contains folders and files. So,
if I were to go in the Finder to a new Finder window, and let's say go to the Desktop folder
I'm going to Command click here and go up one level so I can see the Desktop folder. Drag it
to the right side of the Dock. It has to be to the right side of that line there.
Then you can have the Desktop folder there. If I Control click on it I can set to view it in
various different ways. I'll have it viewed as List all the time. I'll also Control click it
and say Display it as a folder like that. Now I can click here and see all of the things in the
Desktop Folder. So even if I have other windows covering the Desktop items on the Desktop,
or perhaps I'm in full screen mode, I can go to the Dock, click there, and access the
items on the Desktop. Of course, I can do that with any folder as well. Not just the Desktop.
So there is some different ways to access the Desktop folder on
your Mac. Hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.