Use Expose and Spaces on a Mac to Increase Productivity

Compiled and Debugged by: Diego 26. Jul, 2010 View Comments

I’ve met quite a bit of people who own Macs of one sort of another and don’t use Expose or Spaces. I mean, why not? If used correctly they can improve efficiency and productivity. How? Well, you don’t have to be shifting through windows all on one desktop. You can create multiple “spaces” to hold your windows.

I use them especially when I start programming. I devote spaces to usually containing a header and implementation file for a specific class, a terminal window, reference window such as Google, and the final window for IM.

Setting up Expose and Spaces on a Mac

So how do you set it up? Look at the previous and next picture if you want to see how I have it set up.

System Preferences -> Expose & Spaces
Set up your corners. I prefer having one that automatically starts my screensaver which locks my laptop
I have another corner which brings up Spaces
Go to the Spaces tab, and Enable Spaces
Create the number of rows and columns of your choice
If you prefer, set up your preferred applications to open up in a specific space
Set up your shortcut keys for Spaces and Expose if you haven’t
Have fun!

Overview of Expose and Spaces

I believe its a great way to increase your productivity since you can create spaces with specific tasks in mind. You no longer have to create your “workspaces” using one desktop when you can have them all on multiple spaces. Go on, let us know how you create your workplaces.