10.7: Mission Control with older keyboards

Oct 04, '11 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: llee

No matter what Mission Control key combination settings exist and what type of keyboard is in use, Esc activates the selected Desktop (Space) in Mission Control.

When using my MacBook Pro's internal keyboard, I can use F3 to activate Mission Control, select a Desktop with Control+left or right arrow, then press F3 again to activate the selected Desktop. Sometimes I use an older Apple Extended Keyboard which doesn't support that use of F3, so default settings allow me to use Control+up arrow to activate Mission Control.

In that situation I can leave the Control key down during the process of activating Mission Control and selecting a Desktop (requiring Control+left or right arrow), but I have to release and press it again to use the Control+up arrow shortcut to activate the selected Desktop.

Although I might have expected the Esc key to cancel the selection of a different Desktop in Mission Control and activate the Desktop previously in use, I discovered that it instead activates the selected Desktop as well, regardless of other Mission Control key combination settings.

[crarko adds: This is more confusing to read than it is to do. The main point is that the Escape key will activate the selected Space.]

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