Geek Posted September 6, 2011 Posted September 6, 2011 <div class="KonaBody"><p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/switching-desktops-mac-os-x-lion.jpg" alt="Switch between Desktops faster in Mac OS X Lion" title="switching-desktops-mac-os-x-lion" width="620" height="349" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20998" /></p> <p>Switching between active Desktops/Spaces in <a href="http://osxdaily.com/tag/mac-os-x-10-7/">OS X Lion</a> with the three fingered sideways swipe is quick, but an even faster method is by using the Control keys. </p> <p>The first option is to use the Control + Arrow keys, which is enabled by default. As you might expect, <strong>Control + Left Arrow</strong> switches to the desktop Space to the left, <strong>Control + Right Arrow</strong> goes to the right. </p> <p>The <strong>fastest method utilizes Control + Number keys</strong>, and needs to be enabled separately:</p> <ul> <li>Open “System Preferences” from the menu</li> <li>Click on “Keyboard” and then select “Keyboard Shortcuts”</li> <li>From the list on the left, choose “Mission Control”</li> <li>Check the boxes next to “Switch to Desktop 1″ and “Switch to Desktop 2″ – this will be Desktop 3, 4, 5, etc, if you use many Desktop Spaces</li> <li>Close out System Preferences</li> </ul> <p>Now you can <strong>hit Control+1</strong> to enter Desktop 1,<strong> Control+2</strong> to switch to Desktop 2, and so on. This is by far the fastest method to switch Desktops in OS X Lion.</p> <p><img src="http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/fast-switch-spaces-desktops-mac-os-x-lion.jpg" alt="Fast switching between desktops in Mac OS X 10.7 with Control keys" title="fast-switch-spaces-desktops-mac-os-x-lion" width="620" height="380" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-20999" /></p> <p>The reason for the speed increase relates to the animation for switching windows, which is accelerated when using the Control+Arrow keys, and made even faster with the Control+Number shortcut. Alternatively, the swipe gesture generally follows your finger movements and the inertia of the swipe, which is significantly slower. </p> <p>If you <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/08/11/assign-apps-to-desktops-in-mission-control/">assigned apps to Desktops</a> than clicking on the app will also use the faster method similar to the Control+Number keyboard shortcut.</p> <p>Finally, if you want switching between active desktops to be even faster, either don’t store any icons on your Desktop or <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2009/09/23/hide-all-desktop-icons-in-mac-os-x/">hide all icons from the Mac desktop</a> (if you don’t want to use the Terminal command, you can also use the free <a href="http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/26/get-4-useful-mac-os-x-features-in-your-menu-bar-with-desktoputility/">DesktopUtility tool to do this from your menubar</a>). Hiding desktop icons shows the biggest speed boost on older Macs running Lion, since it prevents the need to redraw icons when switching desktops. </p> </div> <p><a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UkUbkyX7SHfpjXgcV6Aremx3i8M/0/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UkUbkyX7SHfpjXgcV6Aremx3i8M/0/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a><br/> <a href="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UkUbkyX7SHfpjXgcV6Aremx3i8M/1/da"><img src="http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/UkUbkyX7SHfpjXgcV6Aremx3i8M/1/di" border="0" ismap="true"></img></a></p><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:V_sGLiPBpWU"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?i=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:7Q72WNTAKBA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=7Q72WNTAKBA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?a=-y5CDoLcTGs:6RduhMKy3_8:qj6IDK7rITs"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/osxdaily?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/osxdaily/~4/-y5CDoLcTGs" height="1" width="1"/> View the full article
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