MACBOOK JUNKIE’S FOUR FINGERS SWIPE UP/DOWN FOR EXPOSE SETTINGS: ON

Ahhhh…Exposé…I LOVE Exposé! It’s such a great time saver and was actually one of the biggest influences on my decision to purchase a Mac.

For those of you who are not already familiar with Exposé, I’ll fill you in. Exposé lets you perform two, really huge, actions.

First of all, it gives you immediate access to your desktop without having to minimize or close windows. Here’s my screen with several apps open, before swiping up to access my desktop.

Here’s my screen after swiping up to access my desktop.

Everything that is open on the screen has been shoved aside so I can see my desktop. Now I’m able to quickly access files or folders located on my desktop.

After swiping up, you can edit the name of a file or folder and then swipe down to put all of your windows back into place. If you want to open a file on your desktop, you simply double-click the file and all of your windows automatically reappear, along with the newly opened file.

The second thing Exposé does is shrink the size of all of the applications you have open so that you can view all of them at one time. You are then able to select which application you want on top.

For example, let’s say you are working on a document and have 3 web pages open in separate windows for reference. In addition, you are running Instant Messenger, Skype and Mail. You’ve sent an instant message out to one of your friends and continued working while waiting for their response. 30 minutes later, your friend responds but the instant message chat window is buried under all of the tools you are working with.

Instead of minimizing everything to find the IM window, all you have to do is swipe down and instantly you are able to see every single window you have open. Now you can click the IM window and bring it to the front of all the other apps.

To give you an idea of what this looks like, here’s my screen before swiping down. Notice the multiple websites that are open.

Now, here’s my screen after swiping down. Each app window is small enough for me to see all of them on the screen but at the same time, not so small that I can’t tell what they are. In addition, the title for each app and each open web page is listed below it so that I’m able to quickly find what I’m looking for. When I click the app I’m looking for, it is brought to the front of all other apps.

You can see Apple’s video example of Four Fingers Swipe Up/Down for Expose by hovering over the Four Fingers Swipe Up/Down for Expose option in your Trackpad Preferences Pane.

TO ENABLE FOUR FINGERS SWIPE UP/DOWN FOR EXPOSE:

1. Open the Trackpad Preferences pane.

2. Click the Four Fingers Swipe Up/Down for Exposé box so the checkmark appears.

TO DISABLE FOUR FINGERS SWIPE UP/DOWN FOR EXPOSE

1. Open the Trackpad Preferences pane.

2. Click the Four Fingers Swipe Up/Down for Exposé box so the checkmark is removed.

Now that you have established your Four Fingers Swipe Up/Down for Exposé setting, you can decide if you want to enable the Four Fingers Swipe Left/Right to Switch Applications setting or adjust any of these other trackpad settings:

• Tracking Speed
• Double-Click Speed
• Scrolling Speed
• One Finger Tap to Click
• One Finger Dragging
• One Finger Drag Lock
• One Finger Secondary Click
• Two Fingers Scroll
• Two Fingers Rotate
• Two Fingers Pinch Open & Close
• Two Fingers Screen Zoom
• Two Fingers Secondary Tap
• Three Fingers Swipe/Three Fingers Dragging