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How to run Dashboard Widgets on your OS X Desktop


Mac

This tutorial will walk you through the steps required to move one or more of your Dashboard Widgets from the Dashboard, to your Desktop.

  1. Start by opening a Terminal and enter the following commands:

    defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES
    killall Dock

    2. terminal with commands

  2. Launch the Dashboard by hitting the F12 key
  3. Click on the widget you want to move to your Desktop, and while holding the mouse button down, click F12 again
  4. Now you can move the widget around on your desktop to the location of your choice. The widget will remain above all other windows, so place it in a location where that behavior is desirable.

    5. a dashboard widget on the desktop

  5. If you want to move the widget back to your Dashboard, simply click it and hold the mouse button down, click F12 and “release” it back to the Dashboard

Posted in Mac.

9 comments

By Ross McKillop – June 26, 2008

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9 Responses

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  1. Y says

    I followed the steps, but it didn’t work… My mac is Intel, OS V. 10.4.11. Any suggestions? Thanks!

    July 7, 2008, 9:16 am
  2. Don says

    I tried the same thing but get this in the terminal screen:

    MacBook:~…..$ defaults write com.apple.dashboard.devmode YES
    2008-09-16 06:15:45.817 defaults[1901:10b]
    Rep argument is not a dictionary
    Defaults have not been changed.

    Running 10.5.5

    September 16, 2008, 2:17 am
  3. Ross McKillop says

    Don -

    I just tried again and got the nearly identical error message as you (actually exactly the same except my “number” was “[2490:10b] “.

    It worked in 10.5.4 (or .3) – I would have been running one of those two when I wrote this. I’ll research it a bit and see if I can figure out the new command.

    September 16, 2008, 2:23 am
  4. Don says

    Ross-

    I found the correct string

    defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

    There is no . between dashboard and devmode. I put that in, killed the dock and it works perfectly now.

    I found it here:

    http://piyusharyan.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/terminal-commands-part-1/

    September 16, 2008, 5:47 pm
  5. Ross McKillop says

    Thanks Don! – I updated this post

    September 16, 2008, 6:26 pm
  6. Don says

    Yes, it was correct in your screen shot. If I had paid attention…..
    :)

    September 16, 2008, 6:57 pm
  7. Ari says

    Now that I can put widgets on my desktop (Intel Macbook Pro), can I minimize them or have them recede to the background?

    April 6, 2009, 4:19 pm
  8. Landolite says

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    December 9, 2009, 5:46 pm

Continuing the Discussion

  1. OS 10.5 - How to make Dashboard widget appears on the desktop screen? - Mac-Forums.com linked to this post on February 1, 2009

    [...] I misunderstood at first – maybe this will help – How to run Dashboard Widgets on your OS X Desktop – Simple Help Note the comments below Cheers Hugh __________________ A little knowledge is a dangerous [...]



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