Comments on: Dashboard widgets on your desktop, plus other tricks & shortcuts

By: tesar

tesar — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 08:07:17 +0000

***
For OS X Lion, just got to the System Preferences ~ Mission Control ~ turn off the “Show Dashboard as a space” button.. Then, just follow the instructions above and all works great..
Do anyone know how to make the widgets located at the behind of any other apps? My widgets still stay on top an sometimes it’s disturbing.

By: BRIAN CARD

BRIAN CARD — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 18:17:57 +0000

how you do this in lion, thanks

By: tibike

tibike — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 15:15:01 +0000

it works for me… but it is always in front, if i open the
safari or anything else, it is still in front…. is there any
solution to send backward?

By: Switched to a 'new' Used Mac Recently

Switched to a 'new' Used Mac Recently — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:10:45 +0000

Thanks so much for this; I FINALLY got you tip to work with Tiger 10.4.11 on a PPC imac — only from reading your tips. My widgets that I wish to keep on the desktop kept disappearing when I would click the widget in the dashboard, drag it to the desktop while holding the mouse down, then I would press F12, but it wouldn’t stay on the desktop. It did not work for me. (a version of how to keep widgets on the desktop found elsewhere).

for others still using Tiger, This is exactly what I did in 10.4.11:

All I had to do was enter BOTH terminal commands above sequentially:
defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
killall Dock

and then:
1. Click & hold the widget while still IN the dashboard; keep holding it with the mouse; [While holding the mouse pointer on the widget in the dashboard;]

2. Press, then release F12, and VOILA! The dashboard disappears and the widget is now on the desktop. You can also now release the mouse).

3. Repeat step for each widget you want to keep on the desktop.

If you decide you don’t want to keep that widget on the desktop, click the widget with the mouse/hold the mouse over the widget & press the Option (alt) button: the ‘close’ X in the circle at the top left corner of the widget will appear and you can click it to close the unwanted widget.

Again, thanks!

By: Jake P

Jake P — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 16:20:09 +0000

I have done this .. the problem is that there is no way to get any of the widgets to stay on the desktop. They are always on top. I have the plug-in for my Mac “Afloat” (which I suggest you get! (It’s free, don’t worry), but because the widgets aren’t Apps, I can’t tell them to stay on the desktop .. URG!
Also, I’m experienceing what Bill was talking about .. them then showing up in Dashboard greyed out. But it’s fine. It’s nothing important, just an accidental duplicate of the Google Search widget.
So what I’m trying to say is:
anybody know how to keep them behind windows (at the least on a “normal level” (there is pinned to desktop, normal, and afloat – on top of everything) .. and if it can happen tell me HOW PLEASEEE!!!!!!!

By: Jenni

Jenni — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:52:29 +0000

My toolbar at the top of the screen is permanently there now. Is there a way to lose that? Or am I stuck as long as I want the widgets to show?

By: Ant

Ant — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 06:26:41 +0000

Bill,
I haven’t come across your particular issues, but I would imagine this is why Apple hasn’t enabled this feature by default. It might be buggy for some folks – unfortunately you appear to be in that group. Is anybody else experiencing the same thing?

By: Bill

Bill — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:44:20 +0000

I tried it and am having some problems. The widgets will move to the desktop OK but when I move them back to the Dashboard, they appear there but SOMETIMES they are grayed out and cannot be manipulated, though they can be deleted. Other times when I try to move one to the desktop it disappears from the Dashboard but does not appear on the desktop. When I run “killall Dock” and everything re-starts, all the missing ones appear on the desktop in seemingly random locations.

Any thoughts ?

By: nicker

nicker — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 08:13:24 +0000

working form me now, thnx.

but they are always on top. Thats too bad.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 02:08:04 +0000

You don’t actually have to log out and in before it takes effect, you just have to restart Dashboard. You can also do this in the terminal by typing:

killall Dock

Be sure to remember the capital letter! The dock will close and restart, as will Dashboard and you’ll be good to go.

By: Ant

Ant — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 02:30:09 +0000

nicker,

Thanks for letting me know it didn’t work for you – it’s my fault! I forgot to mention that the command in Terminal won’t take effect until you log out and then back in again. Try that and you should have better luck. Sorry about leaving that important tidbit out.

By: Meg

Meg — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:08:35 +0000

Oooh thats really cool! I should do that with the calculator since I use that like all the time, ha ha.

By: nicker

nicker — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:46:27 +0000

It doesnt work for me….