{"id":19806,"date":"2014-04-15T15:01:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T07:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/?p=19806"},"modified":"2023-09-13T16:36:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T08:36:09","slug":"dashboard-widgets-desktop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Use Dashboard Widgets on Mac Desktop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Dashboard is a feature on your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/100-free-useful-applications-for-mac-part-i\/\">Mac<\/a> that allows you to add handy single-function widgets like calendars, calculators, and reminders. Normally, these widgets are confined to their own separate space, requiring you to switch to that space to access them.<\/p>\n<p>Wouldn\u2019t it be convenient if you could access these widgets directly from your desktop? Good news \u2013 you can! And all it takes is a quick tweak using the <strong>Terminal<\/strong> application on your Mac.<\/p>\n<h2>How to Place Widgets on Your Desktop<\/h2>\n<p>Start by opening the <strong>Terminal<\/strong> application. You can easily find it by using Spotlight. Just press <span class=\"key\">CMD<\/span> + <span class=\"key\">Space<\/span>, type in <strong>Terminal<\/strong>, and hit <span class=\"key\">Enter<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p>Once Terminal is open, enter the following command and press <span class=\"key\">Enter<\/span>:<\/p>\n<pre><code>defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES && killall Dock<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>Next, navigate to <strong>Applications &gt; System Preferences &gt; Mission Control<\/strong> and ensure that the option <strong>Show Dashboard as a Space<\/strong> is unchecked.<\/p>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\/mission-control.jpg\" alt=\"Mission Control settings on Mac\" height=\"414\" width=\"500\"><\/figure>\n<p>With these steps completed, you can now move widgets to your desktop. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Activate your Dashboard by pressing <span class=\"key\">Fn<\/span> + <span class=\"key\">F12<\/span>.<\/li>\n<li>Click and hold the widget you wish to move.<\/li>\n<li>Press <span class=\"key\">Fn<\/span> + <span class=\"key\">F12<\/span> again to return to your desktop, then release the widget.<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>To revert the widgets back to their original space, simply click and hold the widget, then use the shortcut again.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\/desktop-widgets.jpg\" alt=\"Widgets on Mac desktop\" height=\"281\" width=\"500\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> If you added a widget after executing the Terminal command, it should appear on your desktop. For widgets that were already open, you\u2019ll need to enter the following command in Terminal:<\/p>\n<pre><code>killall Dock<\/code><\/pre>\n<p>If you ever wish to disable this feature, simply enter the following command in Terminal:<\/p>\n<pre><code>defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode NO && killall Dock<\/code><\/pre>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dashboard is a feature on your Mac that allows you to add handy single-function widgets like calendars, calculators, and reminders. Normally, these widgets are confined to their own separate space, requiring you to switch to that space to access them. Wouldn\u2019t it be convenient if you could access these widgets directly from your desktop? Good&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3397],"tags":[3933,1962,211],"topic":[4521],"class_list":["entry-content","is-maxi"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.8 (Yoast SEO v27.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Use Dashboard Widgets On Your Mac Desktop<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dashboard is a feature on your Mac that allows you to add handy single-function widgets like calendars, calculators, and reminders. Normally, these\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Use Dashboard Widgets on Mac Desktop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dashboard is a feature on your Mac that allows you to add handy single-function widgets like calendars, calculators, and reminders. Normally, these\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hongkiat.com\/blog\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hongkiatcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-04-15T07:01:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-13T08:36:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/assets.hongkiat.com\/uploads\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\/mission-control.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Azwan Jamaluddin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@hongkiat\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Azwan Jamaluddin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Azwan Jamaluddin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0a7f570ffc63a1e63670ee6afaa6153d\"},\"headline\":\"How to Use Dashboard Widgets on Mac Desktop\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-15T07:01:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-13T08:36:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":259,\"commentCount\":3,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/mission-control.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"macOS\",\"rr\",\"widgets\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Desktop\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/\",\"name\":\"Use Dashboard Widgets On Your Mac Desktop\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.hongkiat.com\\\/blog\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/assets.hongkiat.com\\\/uploads\\\/dashboard-widgets-desktop\\\/mission-control.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-04-15T07:01:10+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-13T08:36:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"Dashboard is a feature on your Mac that allows you to add handy single-function widgets like calendars, calculators, and reminders. 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