Show desktop on Mac: the shortcut to minimize all windows

People search for two things here: “show desktop” and “minimize all windows”. They want the same result, every window out of the way, and they get it with the same keys.

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Show desktop doesn’t minimize anything

When you show the desktop, macOS slides every window to the edges of the screen. Nothing goes into the Dock and nothing closes. Press the same keys again and every window slides back exactly where it was.

That makes it the best “minimize all windows” there is on a Mac. It’s instant, it covers every app at once, and the way back is the same keypress.

You have four ways in:

• fn+F11, on most Mac keyboards
• fn+H, on recent versions of macOS
• Command+Mission Control, on keyboards with a Mission Control key
• On a trackpad, spread your thumb and three fingers apart. Pinch them back together to return.

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Minimize, hide, or show the desktop?

macOS has no single shortcut that minimizes every window of every app. What it has are four related moves, and they behave very differently once you want your windows back.

Shortcut	What it does	Getting the windows back
Command+M	Minimizes the front window into the Dock	Click it in the Dock, one by one
Option+Command+M	Minimizes every window of the front app	Click each one in the Dock
Command+H	Hides the front app	Command+Tab back to it
Option+Command+H	Hides every app except the one you’re in	Command+Tab to whichever app you need
fn+F11	Shows the desktop	Press it again

Look at the right-hand column. Minimizing is the only option where the way back is slow.

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Hide more, minimize less

A minimized window goes into the Dock. A hidden app gets out of your way and comes back with Command+Tab.

That difference adds up. Minimize ten windows over a morning and your Dock fills with thumbnails you have to click one by one. Hide ten apps and they’re all one Command+Tab away, windows intact.

So the Setup Kit’s habit is simple:

• Done looking at an app for now? Command+H.
• Want to focus on the one in front? Option+Command+H clears everything else.
• Need the desktop for a second? fn+F11, then again to come back.

With the mouse, the same trick works from the Dock: hold Option+Command and click the app you want, and every other app hides.

If you still minimize now and then, keep the Dock from filling up by tucking minimized windows into their app’s icon:

System Settings→Desktop & Dock→Minimize windows into application icon

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Stop wallpaper clicks from sweeping your windows away

Recent macOS versions can show the desktop when you click the wallpaper. Handy on purpose, maddening by accident: you click a sliver of background between two windows and everything flies to the edges.

If that has happened to you, limit it to Stage Manager:

System Settings→Desktop & Dock→Show Desktop

Choose Only in Stage Manager on Click. The keyboard and trackpad still work exactly as before.

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Show the desktop with a file in your hand

The best use of show desktop isn’t looking at your wallpaper. It’s grabbing a file that’s on the Desktop, or dropping one there for a second, while your app still fills the screen.

A shortcut can’t do that mid-drag, because your hand is busy holding the file. A hot corner can. Set the bottom-left corner to Desktop, drag the file into it, and the windows part while you’re still holding on. Hot corners on Mac has the setup.

Then keep the Desktop itself empty, so there’s never a pile to dig through. How to organize your Mac desktop explains how.

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The desktop is one keypress away. Your Dock doesn’t need to be a parking lot to get there.