Chapter 8. Managing Windows
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## Chapter 8. Managing Windows

If you run an application and open several other windows, your screen quickly becomes cluttered with windows. You need to know how to organize windows into desks, move and shrink windows, change the way windows overlap, and close and quit from windows when you're finished using them.

This chapter contains:

- “Organizing Windows Into Desks”

- “Opening Fewer Windows”

- “Resizing Windows”

- “Minimizing Windows”

- “Moving Windows”

- “Raising and Lowering Windows”

- “Closing Windows”

## Organizing Windows Into Desks

If your screen becomes cluttered with windows, consider creating a separate desk on which to place certain windows. For example, if you spend a portion of your day using 3D modeling software, and a portion of your day typing and mailing reports, you might want to create a desk for each task. One desk displays the windows that you use to build 3D models. The other desk displays the windows that you use to write reports and send them to coworkers using electronic mail.

To create a new desk, use the Desks Overview window. To open it, click the words Desks Overview now, or choose “Desks Overview” from the Desktop toolchest.

## Opening Fewer Windows

One way to conserve screen space is to open fewer windows.

- Place commonly used icons on the desktop so you can access them easily. See “Placing Frequently Used Icons on the Desktop.”

- Open one Directory View window inside of another using one of these techniques:

  - Choose “as List” from the View menu on a Directory View window. Icons in the window are organized in a list; an arrow appears next to folder icons. Click the arrow and the contents of that directory are listed underneath the folder icon.

  - Locate the icon for the directory you want to open. Drag the icon and place it in the drop pocket in the upper left corner of the window. The window changes to display the contents of that directory.

  - Use the icon finder at the top of the Directory View window. See “Opening a Directory Using the Icon Finder” for details.

## Resizing Windows

You can resize windows to help you manage screen space on your desktop. Figure 8-1 shows a window and the areas of the border that you use to make the window narrower, shorter, taller, or wider.

Figure 8-1. Resizing a window using the border.

1. Place the cursor within the window border.

   Place it within a horizontal border to change the height of the window; place it within a vertical border to change the width of the border; place it within a corner border to change both the width and the height.

2. Press and hold the left mouse button.

   The cursor changes into one of the eight resize cursors, depending on the border in which you placed the cursor.

3. Resize the window by dragging the mouse.

   When you start to move the border, an outline of the window appears showing the new size of the window.

4. Release the left mouse button when the window is the size you want.

## Minimizing Windows

You can turn a window into a small square so that it uses very little screen space. This is called stowing or minimizing a window. Applications continue to run in windows that have been minimized.

To minimize a window:

1. Place the cursor over the Minimize button, as shown in Figure 8-2.

   You don't need to place the cursor on the small button; place it anywhere within the button's outer border.

   Figure 8-2. Clicking the minimize button.

2. Click the left mouse button.

   The window becomes a small square.

3. Restore the window to its original size by clicking the small square.

You can also minimize a window using the “Minimize” command on the Window menu.

## Moving Windows

When you work with many different windows, frequently you need to move a window to a different place on the screen.

Some windows have a border at the top of the window called a title bar. Other windows do not have title bars. These windows are called borderless windows.

### Moving a Window With a Title Bar

To move a window with a title bar:

1. Place the cursor within the title bar; then press and hold down the left mouse button.

2. Move the window by dragging the mouse.

   When you start to move the window, the cursor changes into a cross arrow and an outline of the window appears. See “Changing the Appearance of a Moving Window” to learn how to change this setting.

3. Place the window by releasing the left mouse button.

### Moving a Borderless Window

To move a borderless window:

1. Place the cursor inside the window; then press and hold the `<Alt>` key and the right mouse button.

   The window menu appears.

2. Choose “Move.”

   An outline of the window appears. See “Changing the Appearance of a Moving Window” to learn how to change this setting.

3. Drag the mouse to move the window.

4. Click the left mouse button to place the window.

## Raising and Lowering Windows

If windows are lying on top of each other on your screen, and the window you want is hidden, you can raise the window to the top of the stack, or lower the windows that are covering it to the bottom of the stack.

To raise a window, place the cursor inside the title bar or within the window border and click the left mouse button. The window pops to the top.

If the title bar or window border is not visible, you can lower other windows to the bottom of the stack to expose the window you want.

To lower a window:

1. Place the cursor over the Window menu button.

   The Window Menu button is located in the upper left corner of the title bar.

2. Press the left mouse button and choose “Lower” from the menu.

   The window jumps to the bottom of the stack and exposes the windows that were beneath it.

## Closing Windows

When you're finished working in a window, you can make it disappear in one of several ways.

- Place the cursor over the Window menu button; then double-click the left mouse button. The Window menu button appears on the window frame, in the upper left corner of the window.

- If an application has a Close or Quit button, click that. If an application has a “Close,” “Quit,” or “Exit” command on one of its menus, choose that.

| Note: When you close a window, you stop whatever process (application) is running in that window, and the window disappears. When you quit from a window, you stop whatever process (application) is running in that window, and you stop any other processes associated with that window.

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Chapter 7. Using Desks |  | Chapter 9. Sharing and Protecting Work