Mac Basics: The Red, Yellow and Green Window Buttons
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
- macmost.com/e-... The Red, Yellow and Green buttons at the top left corner of windows on a Mac perform a variety of functions. They are similar to, but different than buttons at the top of windows in other operating systems. Find out how they work and learn some tips.
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As a predominently Windows user, I found this very helpful, as the functionality of the green button has always befuddled and frustrated me when expecting it to act like Windows. Thanks, Gary!
I have always been a Windows user and had so many questions about Macs to make the decision on switching to Apple. I watched some of your other videos and they have cleared all the questions I have for now and will switch to Mac. Thank you very much for uploading these tutorials! They have been more than excellent!
I've just jumped into Mac world from decades of Windows usage, found your channel and instantly subbed. You're a real treasure for someone coming from the PC universe and being a little lost in a seemingly chaotic realm. Little by little I discover the real benefits of the Mac universe and you're a real lighthouse for us beginners.
Many thanks for your great work.
I’ve had iPhones and iPads for years but I just got my first Mac (m1 Mac mini) you’ve helped me so much. I would have never figured this all out. Thank you so much
I just got the same pc. I'm new to Mac, so these vid's really help.
I’m always amazed what I don’t know ... until I watch a MacMost video that is 👍🏻
I thought I knew everything about Mac, but you keep teaching me new things, Gary. You're the best!
Thanks 🙏🏻 - now after more than 10 years I finally got it 😅✌🏻
Hello, new viewer to macmostvideo, I (guess I) am a Windows expert but somewhat new to Mac OS. I have watched several videos so far and Gary's method works well for me. I like the level of detail he provides, not too much and not too little
Thank you for both the video and the Turkish language in the translation. Love from Istanbul.
Gary- This snippet is like a diamond. Tiny but still very valuable!
Gary, you are the very best at explaining and navigating on my MacBook. Astounding presentations. Keep up the phenomenal work.
Wow! More info about the Red, Yellow and Green Buttons than I ever thought I'd need but now want to utilize!
I never knew what the green was for. I'm going to find the split screen so helpful! Thank you.
Thank you so much. The genie effect" has been bothering me since I got my Mac 3 years ago. Never liked that image and never knew it could be changed. I prefer the non-genie, LOL!
Command W-that might just be my new shortcut. I can't count how many tabs I close with my cursor. Not anymore. Keep up the great work.
I thank Enacaus for introducing me to your content! Altho I know all of this, it is a good way to remember old basic stuff.
Firstly, let me thank you for these tutorials.
Now. I'm a windows user myself. Recently, I've been asked to help and teach an older person to use computers. He has his daughter's old macbook. So I've been watching your tutorials to learn about the differences of the OS's.
I'm very much surprised by what I'm seeing. All my life I've heard that macos is just simpler, it's much more user friendly, "it just works" and all that. I'm finding that all these are plain lies. Trying to explain all that to an older and completely clueless person is much, much more confusing. Red button doesn't quit the app. Have fun trying to explain that to an older person. Minimizing the app, by default it's not in the place where you launched the app on the dock, it's on the right side now.. So your windows are playing hide and seek now. No way of maximizing a window without holding a modifier key and double clicking the corner of the window.. Have fun trying to explain this as well, not to mention sitting there patiently watching them trying to get the mouse exactly on the corner, accidentally moving a pixel too far so the arrows disappear, so now let's try again, and now let's remember which of the bazzilion modifiers is required, and now lets double click without moving the mouse so the arrows don't disappear....
Seriously, who finds these things more intuitive than the way they're handled in Windows??? I'm not questioning whether someone can learn these commands and work with them seamlessly, I'm questioning whether they're easier and more intuitive to a person who is completely clueless about computers, since that's one of the biggest arguments for macos. "It just works".... yeah, ok, right, that's why someone has to make a tutorial and in one video say about 6-7 times "you might think that this button will do this, but it actually doesn't"...
I owned windows all my life.
I was also told how intuitive Mac OS is.
The past 2 months I am struggling to navigate through my MacBook! Happy to know it's just not me.
I been speaking to my friends and I am like, I respect the speed of MacBook but it is far from being user friendly!
Navigating windows is much easier on Windows....handsdown!
May I continue to struggle on macbook lol
As someone who has been using Macs for 10 years and is just finding out how the red, yellow and green buttons are actually intended to be used, I agree with you 100%.
This video deserves to be uploaded 10 years ago
Brilliant as usual.
Great one.. thanks again. very usefull content for a new mac holders.
First person to properly explain the RED x. THANKS! Now to talk about windows in focus, versus those not in focus, but you want to start/stop media on that out of focus window...
Depends on the app, but in most cases you need to bring the window to the front to use any of its controls. Still, some apps will pause if you use the play/pause button on your keyboard or Touch Bar.
@@macmost ah, thanks for the tip! I general have two 'windows' of Chrome running. One I am researching things, and the other, playing CZcams videos. When I want to skip to another video, or pause, I generally have to use two clicks. One to 'activate' the window, and the other to pause or play the CZcams video. Alas, I am new to Mac OS. So... :)
This helps me a lot!!
Love your channel! Even though I'm a long-time Mac user, I learn new tricks with every one of your videos. One other tip I would have included with this video is how to use "History" to re-open a tab or window you accidentally closed (this has happened to me a lot). Also using "esc" to get out of full-screen mode.
Very helpful. Thank you! Gary! 👍🏻
I will watch all of your videos, they are so helpful
Your are the best youtuber I’ve ever seen! Thank you for making my life much easier
Very informative. Thank you!
Great tutorial , do you know, if there's a way to make the Red Yallow and Green buttons any larger ? I keep missing them with my mouse, Thanks
No, but you can use the menu commands or keyboard shortcuts for everything they do: Close, Minimize, Full Screen, etc.
Two additions I would like to add, The three buttons to the left are called Traffic Lights.(hence the Red, Yellow and Green colors) Also, the Red button also has an additional function you may have decided to leave out. When you are creating a document in most if not all apps. Any unsaved document the Red Button (Light) will have a black Dot in the middle, this is an indicator that the current opened document has not been saved.
That’s brilliant. I didn’t know many of those.
Hey Gary please do a video on how to adjust spacing on folders and icons! 🙏🙏🙏
Simple things that make big differences. Thanks! :P
As always very handy info Gary! Thanks
Keep kicking mac butt!!
Your videos are really very very helpful. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for these videos 🙏
As someone who just got my first Mac (m1 yay), the windows functionality is surprisingly complex
yeah and it doesn't need to be.... Apple should take some hints on how "EASY" the PC is...
Great video.
I just can't believe I am unable to minimise a window when I am in Full Screen.
There gotsa be a way!
I need to first press the green button and then the yellow button.
Such a pain! 😪
You can't minimize a full-screen window because what would that leave? A blank void? There's nothing behind it to reveal. If you want to switch to something else, use Mission Control or Control+left/right to switch to another space. See czcams.com/video/H3hUk0zsxc4/video.html
Rich content! Thanks
Cheers Gary , Keep safe man
thanks A lot !
Great video as always. Why would I use move or tile--or tile over move window to the right or left...they seem to do the same thing.
You always hear that Macs are easy but there are so many complicated little secrets that I feel like I’ll never memorize. New Mac user here, long time Windows person 😅
Thanks for the great tutorial. Is there any way to increase the size of the red, yellow, and green buttons?
There's no way to change the size other than changing the screen resolution. Or, you could use the menu items or keyboard shortcuts for whatever it is you are trying to do.
Can they be moved to right like windows ?
Thanks a lot. I have questions if you may. While I use safari or any software and using the full screen mode by clicking the green bottom, the show desktop shortcut( command-f3) is not working any more!! Is there any way to go directly to desktop from full screen mode??
How do I disable command-W and also hide the red button. I have a re-occuring problem where I accidentally click the red button of type command-W and close Chrome and it takes me at least 5 minutes to log back into all my work apps. It is just terrible to my productivity. I need to disable both command-W and hide the red button (without going to full screen) as I need to see all my many pinned tabs for my work.
When fullscreened, my green yellow and red buttons dissapear. How can i keep them on the screen in FS?
Thanks for another great tutorial. Intuitive one-click and click-and-drag windows management is one area where Apple could learn from Windows 10. New users and casual computer users would benefit the most from some improvements in MacOS in this area. Of course, if you can remember all of the key combinations and some of the other things you show, MacOS can quickly do pretty much everything you want. Sadly, some of this isn't as intuitive as it could be.
How do I make the red, yellow, green buttons bigger? Can they be resized?
hey maybe will sound weird but there’s an option that those 3 buttons be on right upper side rather then left? thanks
No, there's no way to do that. But you can always just not use the buttons at all and just the keyboard shortcuts for everything. Or the Menu Bar.
What frustrates me is that when you are in full screen with an app the yellow button does not work and you have to use the green button first and then you can minimise the window. Do you know why is that?
Right. You can't minimize the window as it first needs to BE a window, not full screen. Instead, just use Mission Control, like Control+left/right to move to other full screen apps or desktops. If you really don't want a full screen app in the first place, just expand the window to its max size (Option+double-click a corner, for instance)
@@macmost thank you very much! you are so kind to answer! :)
Very useful. Can you let me know if i don't want to hide menu bar of open window (eg google chrome or any app) in macbook air (sonoma) what steps do i need to follow?
If your menu bar is hidden, you can adjust that for all apps in System Settings, Control Center at the bottom.
I just want to disable the green button. I don't need/use any of its functions and when I do click on it by accident it disturbs my workflow. Can I disable it in Preferences or Terminal?
No way to disable it that I can think of.
Can those tiny buttons be resized?
Is there a way to reverse the green button meaning that for Zoom and move I don't need to push the option key ?
hi those control buttons they set on top of my icons at the dock how do I disable that and go back to normal
"control buttons they set on top of my icons at the dock" -- I have no idea what you mean by that. Can you describe them a bit more?
By the way, is there any command for "forward delete"? Been looking for it. So easy in Surface.
Yes. FN+Delete is forward delete. See czcams.com/video/Vu2wvDZzHkk/video.html
how do i move the red, yellow and green button to the opposite side of the wndow . this is a huge problem with MS users switching to Apple. im on the new Macpro 2022 M2
Those buttons are at the left side. You can't switch them to the right. Why is it a problem, though?
Hello
Little question: when a window or an app is minimized, does it use less RAM? Does it free some till it's brought back front?
It may use a tiny bit less, but not enough to help if you have a memory problem. Are you getting warnings that you are running out of memory? What's your situation?
@@macmost Hello and thanx for your answer :)
I don't have any warnings but I'm using a MBA m1 8GB RAM and Safari eats most of the RAM, I'm usually running the System Monitor full orange with 15 opened tabs. I don't see any difference if I minimize Safari, or barely. So I was wondering what was the point of minimizing it if not for keeping the desktop clean.
@@YvesFOLLET It is mostly for helping you with clutter and productivity, yes. Don’t worry too much about the memory indicators. Apps will use available memory as unused memory doesn’t help anything.
Hi Gary,
Do you know if there is an option to full screen window _and_ keep the top menu bar visible? This allows for easy access to the menu items, instead of holding the mouse to the top and wait for the menu to drop down.
Also, in the Photos app, the red button fully closes the app instead of closing the window. Because of this, I need to use CMD+H to hide the Photos in order to allow it to run and sync photos while running in the 'background'.
Lot’s of greetings, Dennis 🇳🇱
Just make the window the maximum size for the screen, not a full screen app. Or, just use it as a full screen app. You still have access to the menu bar just like when it is visible. Just move your cursor up to it and it appears. As for hiding Photos, it should still sync with iCloud even when it is not running. But hiding apps is my default. I only quit apps I don't use regularly.
Hi Gary, great video as usual but I have a problem...when i press option and click on the green button I do not see the tile window options I only see the move window options. Can I change this?
The tile option appears if you hover over the green button without pressing the option key.
So what all colours are called??
What is the equivalent of the option button on a logitech keyboard??
Depends on the keyboard. A made-for-Mac keyboard would have an Option key. But I'm guessing you have a made-for-Windows one if you don't see it there. Hard to say since you don't mention which one you have.
Can you move those buttons to the other side of the page or is it not customizable?
Not customizable. They have been at the top left since MacOS 1 in 1984.
@@macmost Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification.
not sure why i haven't found the answer to this, but in all seriousness, ...how can I make the window buttons (close, minimize and expand) larger?
There are no size options for those. If you are having a problem clicking them, you can use the menu bar items for each, or keyboard shortcuts. Or, if other things seem too small, try adjusting your display resolution.
@@macmost is there REALLY no way to do this? Their design essentially breaks their functionality for me and I don't use Mac OS enough for me to remember keyboard shortcuts. On windows, any inconvenience has a software solution someone made to fix shoddy code or design. Why is Mac Os so backwards in this regard?
@@ginjafox9509 Can you explain the problem? Maybe if I knew the details I could suggest something. Is it that these buttons are too small and it is hard for you to click them? Which function(s) of these buttons do you use? If you can't remember the keyboard shortcuts, then what is wrong with using File, Close or Window, Minimize?
@@macmost yes, they are too small. I don’t understand why they are so proportionally small compared the window space they occupy. It’s like the design was to intentionally make people NOT use them. In which case, why do they exist at all? I don’t understand the last part of your reply, please elaborate.
@@ginjafox9509 First, I encourage you to go to System Preferences, Displays and change the resolution of your display to something scaled. This scales the interface of your Mac. Try it out and see if you like it. Second, what I mean is that the three buttons don't do anything you can't do in the Menu Bar. For instance, in the Menu Bar if you choose File, Close, it will close the window just like the Red button. Window, Minimize is the Yellow button. View, Enter Full Screen is the Green Button. So you never have to use these three buttons and you can still get all of the functionality.
How do a change the autohide function for the ( green yellow red ) buttons in fullscreen?
If you want those visible, don't use Full Screen. Just enlarge the window to fit the entire screen.
Ok, I see can do this on another desktop. Thank You.
When the app is on full screen .. how to minimize it to dock ?
You can't. You would simply switch to another space instead.
when in full screen mode - how do i keep the red, yellow and green buttons visible? I hate that it keeps disappearing!
System Settings, Desktop & Dock, set "Automatically hide and show the menu bar" to NOT hide it in full screen mode.
@@macmost my setting is already that - thats just for the top menu bar thats got the date time etc. But what about when in full screen mode and the red yellow buttons disappear?
@@NaufalNugroho-pt4hk Ah, I see. If you don't want them to go away, don't take the app into full screen mode, but instead just make the window the full size of the screen. But what is your reason for not wanting them to go away in the first place? They appear when you move the pointer up there. So they are just as available as before.
@@macmost yes this is true, i think its something that i just have to live with and use screen size option rather than the full screen mode. The animation of hide and non hide just gets in the way sometimes haha. Id rather it just be there always hehe. Thanks anyway man!
there are no colored buttons and can't minimize the screen ?
I bought a brand new Macbook Air (MacOS Monterey 12.2.1). I don't see much of those functionalities you are describing. Also how come my new MacBook Air does not have the red, yellow, and green buttons. All gray. I come from a Microsoft Surface experience. I am a bit disappointed with MacBook. It makes simple overly complicated especially when switching windows and apps.
Which app are you using when you see the gray? Try opening a normal Finder window and look.
In one of my apps, the red button has disappeared. I have no idea why. The app works perfectly well, but there is no red button in any of its windows. It's been like this for over a year, so not related to Big Sur. Any ideas?
Which app?
@@macmost third party, it's called Stata
@@crazyj484 you’d have to ask that developer about it then.
I can't seem to find the answer to my question, which is how do I make the Red, Yellow and Green buttons be red, yellow and green. They are gray on my new mac and I miss seeing the colors. Any help with this mystery is welcome!
Are they always gray, even when they are active? They are usually only gray when they can't be used in a situation. Otherwise, have you changed something in System Preferences/Settings, Accessibility, Display to remove colors?
@@macmost Thank you for your reply. They are always gray. I never changed anything, they were gray when I got my new Mac. I checked Accessibility, Display but am not sure which item to activate. Any thoughts?
@@courthousegallery In Accessibility, check Color Filters and see if you have that turned on. Then in System Preferences, General (In Ventura it is System Settings, Appearance) check to see which Accent Color you have selected.
@@macmost Somehow I lost our conversation, but your last suggestion-to enable the color filters and to change the accent color in the general settings-worked. Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Gary...is there a way to minimize the window from the dock in mac ...just like minimizing the window from the windows taskbar?
No. But what's your use case there? If the window is not minimized, then it is easy to do so (or better yet, hide it). Why would you want to do it in a more difficult way?
@@macmost you meant to say it's easier to minimize the window by clicking on the yellow minimize symbol rather than from dock? I am a bit confused ...thanks
@@pkk2009 Yes. Or the keyboard shortcut. Of course in most situations you would hide the app, not minimize the window -- a quick Command+h.
@@macmost It's nice to navigate without relying on the keyboard, the dock icons are bigger than the minimise icon, and it feels intuitive to hide applications in the same way that you open them, this can be done in a slightly more annoying way by holding Option while clicking the dock icon to hide the app, though I feel like this should be a default behaviour or at least an option in System Preferences.
Very helpful videos. Have you ever seen this problem? When I click "full screen" with the green button, the screen scales fine on the right side, but cuts off the left side. This is particularly problematic if I select full-screen on a CZcams video, because the left side of the video is cut off. Weird, huh? I suspect it has something to do with using an external monitor because the scaling is perfect for the TCL TV I'm using. It's like it's not going back to build-in display default when I disconnect from the external monitor.
Try changing the Display resolution in System Preferences. Even if it is right, change it to something else and then back again.
@@macmost Hi Thanks. No difference, I'm afraid. It still stretches to belong the border (which is a little wider than it should be) on the left side.
@@rabbitscooter Not sure what could be wrong then. Try the Genius Bar so someone can have a firsthand look.
@@macmost Thanks. I suspect now that it's a hardware issue, and human error. The edge of the laptop was banged a couple of weeks. Everything seemed fine until the problem I mentioned. Now a stripe has appeared and I can see very small marks on the screen. so I'm just an unlucky idiot. But thanks anyway :)
is there any way to change window button behavior?
What are you trying to do, exactly?
@@macmost in red button i want quit instead of close,
in green- want maximize not full screen
possible via any software or somehow?
@@MrJoker-ze6bb No, not really possible. Just use Command+q to quit and double-click on the title bar for maximize (or Option+double-click any corner to force-maximize). Sounds like you are used to Windows and you just meed to get used to macOS now.
I can only click on the right mouse to close the red button instead of the left click button. Cannot use left click? Why. ???
That's odd. Do you have an Apple mouse? Did you check your System Preferences, Mouse settings carefully?
@@macmost Using Apple mouse,System Preferences and mouse settings all fine.
@@michaelchia9150 OK. So the next step is to try a different mouse if you have one. Does it happen then? How about in Safe mode? With another user account? Oh, and do you have any system extensions that deal with the pointer or mouse? If so, try disabling them to test.
@@macmost Thanks for your replied. Change mouse still the same. Have to press opt, com ,esc in order to force quit. Nothing can be done.
@@michaelchia9150 How about my other suggestions? Safe mode? Other account? System extensions? If none of those work, make an appointment at the Genius Bar.
Can Anyone tell why these buttons are on the left or the windows on the right
MacOS has had the close window button on the left since 1984. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_1
@@macmost Sir just need to know the basic reason why Steve jobs add these buttons on left instead of right
@@AhsanIshtiaque I don't know of any source that reveals this. Probably the way it was at Xerox when they invented the basic idea of a windowed interface in the 70s
@@macmost Thank you buddy.
I tried to discover this fact then i will definitely share with you ❣️
USELESS! I lost th ebuttons and wanted to know how to get tham back!
Lost them? Perhaps you entered full screen mode? Move your pointer to the top of the screen.
This shit is ridiculous theyre so worried about providing training wheels for everything they make things so unintuitive its not even worth using. God forbid a close button actually closes the app the idiots that willingly spend 3X more than the hardware should cost might lose their work. This is what happens when you let a hipster in a turtle neck decide what you're aloud to do or what software you can run on your overpriced fisher price hardware.
Why you always promote your patreon in all your video, enough
Not sure how to respond to that. It is just part of running a business. If I don't tell people about my Patreon campaign, I can't expect people to know about it. This is my job, it is how I make my living, pay my bills.
ummm so basically the RED button is just useless what is it's function if it doesn't quit??? If I wanted to make a new document, you have to click on the file button anyway weather or not you hit the red button. It's basically WASTED real estate. It's no wonders windows is a better ok. It just takes more steps to quit when it should be the function of the RED button that is USELESS. What a joke. Same goes if you want your mac to display a calendar. Shouldn't you just click the time to bring up a calendar oh no.... not on mac, it brings up another useless window.... oh now you want to create a shortcut? How fun this will be, say you wanted to create a shortcut for like the command line terminal .... for fun, lets say your working in linux or whatever and you just want access to it instead of taking 15 steps trying to find it, you know like any normal user and put on the desktop... OH NO... Not on a mac... On a PC you can right click any file and say make short cut to desktop... NOPE on mac you gotta go into the dreaded finder, then click on utilities, as you won't find it in the apps where you would think it should be.... then you got to right click on that after find the file, and say may an alies ... Now it's asking you for your password, because that's TABOO! then you got to drag that out to your Desktop. What a nightmare. Oh you want to watch a movie on your mac book air on your TV? Well, you can't just close the lid, no you need to have power on for that to happen unless you download some virius program to hack apples BS thinking .... No wonder people stick with PC. It's just much better .... I haven't yet found a REASON or FEATURE of why PC that the mac has done... Thanks for the videos. I Came to pretty much ask why the red button didn't quit the app... now I know why. USELESS
Should be renamed to the "W, T, and F" buttons. No one needs an educational video to explain what the Windows buttons do.
Please can someone tell me why the green button “fit to left or right” doesn’t work with Adobe products?? How frustrating when I want to have illustrator and another app side by side .. it works well with other apps but is disabled for Adobe products
It doesn't work because that is the way Adobe built their apps. Send them feedback to let them know what you'd like.