Learn about the Dashboard and widgets in Mac OS X.
Products AffectedMac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, OS X Lion
Not everything you do on your Mac requires a heavy-duty application. For those smaller tasks, Mac OS X features Dashboard. Dashboard provides access to several fun and functional, mini applications called widgets.
Dashboard includes widgets for some of your Mac applications, such as Address Book and iCal, which allow you to access your contacts and view your iCal events, respectively, without having to switch over to the full application. You can add more widgets to Dashboard and even create your own widgets.
Working with DashboardOpen Dashboard:
In OS X Lion, swipe up with three fingers. This will open Mission Control; click the Dashboard.
Or, press the Dashboard key (F4). If your keyboard doesn't have a Dashboard key, press F12 (Fn-F12 on some keyboards).
You can also open Dashboard by clicking the Launchpad icon in the Dock, then clicking Dashboard.
In Mac OS X v10.6 and earlier, you can click the Dashboard icon in the Dock.
A default set of widgets appears. You can move the widgets anywhere you want by simply dragging them. Click and hold your mouse button on a widget and move your mouse—or finger, if you're using a trackpad.
To see all the widgets on your Mac, click the open (+) button in the lower-left corner of the screen.
The Widget Bar, which displays all widgets on your Mac, slides into view at the bottom of the screen. Click the arrow buttons on either side of the bar to display more widgets.
To add a widget to Dashboard, click an icon in the Widget Bar.
If you want to download more widgets, click the More Widgets button in the Manage Widgets widget to go to the Apple Dashboard download webpage.
To remove a widget from Dashboard, be sure that the Widget Bar is displayed, then click the unwanted widget's close button (the round, black button with a white X).
To close the Widget Bar, click the close button on the lower-left part of the screen right above the Widget Bar.
To use a widget, just select it. For example, if you click the Dictionary widget, type a word in its search field. If you click the Stickies widget, type a note or two. If you click the Tile Game widget, start playing.
Tip: You can change Dashboard back to its traditional interface in OS X Lion by opening Mission Control preferences in System Preferences and unchecking the "Show Dashboard as a space" option.
Customizing your Dashboard widgets
Some of your widgets will have an info (i) button you can click to view its settings. For example, you can change the region and city of the World Clock widget.
Open Dashboard as described above. Move the pointer over each widget. The widgets you can customize have a small info button (i) in one corner. Click the info (i) button to see the settings you can change. To exist Dashboard, swipe with three or four fingers to return to Mission Control and click the desktop in OS X Lion. If you pressed a key to open Dashboard, press it again.WidgetsHere's a closer look at the widgets you'll find preinstalled in Dashboard, and how to use them.
Many widgets feature user options on their backsides so you can select the information to display, such as the time in a chosen city in this World Clock widget
Widget Manager—This widget manages other widgets. Uncheck Widgets that you don't want to use anymore and it will hide and disable them. You can keep check of all your available widgets from here.
Address Book—This widget accesses contacts you in the Address Book application, enabling you to look up a person's email address, phone number, and mailing address quickly. Just start typing a name in the search field, or click the arrow buttons to step through all entries.
Calculator—This electronic version works just like its real-world counterpart, letting you add, subtract, multiply, and divide numbers without thought. You can enter numbers by clicking the buttons or pressing the numeric keys on your keyboard.
Dictionary—Get word definitions, synonyms, and antonyms for any English language word you type in the search field.
ESPN—For sports fans, this widget displays the latest scores and news for your favorite baseball, basketball, football, and hockey teams. Just click the "i" button in the upper-right corner and choose a sport from the pop-up menu. When finished, click "News" to view the latest news feeds from ESPN or "Scores" to see how well your team is faring.
Flight Tracker—View the flight paths of practically any upcoming or in-progress flight around the world. Just choose an airline, departure city, and arrival city from the pop-up menus (or enter the information in the fields), click Find Flights, select the flight in the results, and click Track Flight.
iCal—This widget allows you to view the current day and date in a small calendar, and will show any events you have added to iCal. You can also view days and dates in the future and past. Just click the up or down arrow buttons to jump through the calendar by month.
Movies—Heading out to enjoy a movie? Use this widget to look up information about the latest releases and find show times at local theaters. Not sure if you would enjoy the movie? Watch movie trailers right in Dashboard, then click to buy tickets.
Ski Report—Find out the current weather and snow conditions at popular skiing locations across the country and head for the hills. Just click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner and type the name of a resort to get the current conditions, including the new snowfall, base depth, and temperature.
Stickies—Just like the paper version but for your Mac. Just type notes right on the Stickies pad. To change the paper color and font, click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner. Then select a paper color, choose a font from the Font pop-up menu, choose a font size from the other pop-up menu, and click Done.
Stocks—This widget lets you track your favorite stocks (with up to a 20-minute delay). To enter a company, click the "i" button in the bottom-right corner, type the company's name or ticker symbol in the field, and click Done. To get an overview of your stock's performance, click the company symbol to view a graph that shows the highs and lows over a user-selectable timeframe.
Tile Game—The goal of the game is to rearrange all the tiles so that they form a picture. Click the widget to make it start scrambling the tiles. Click it again to make it stop. To rearrange tiles, click a tile that borders the empty space to move it in its place, and continue in this manner until you see the picture again.
Translation—For those times when you can't decipher a foreign language phrase, or you need to translate one of your own into another language, this widget comes in handy. Just choose the language that you want to translate from and to using the pop-up menus, and type the word or phrase in the text box below "Translate from."
Unit Converter—If you need to convert weights, measurements, temperatures, speeds, currency, volume, and other items, this widget will do the job. Just choose a unit category from the Convert pop-up menu, choose a unit that you want converted from the bottom-left pop-up menu, choose the unit that you want it converted to in the bottom-right pop-up menu, and enter a value in the left field to view the conversion to its right.
Weather—Be prepared wherever you may roam. The Weather widget displays the current weather conditions for the city of your choice in thermal terms (high, low, and current temperatures) and in current graphical conditions too. Click on the widget for a 5-day forecast. To change the city, click the "i" button; enter a city, state, or zip code; and click Done.
Web Clip—Perhaps you visit a part of a particular website often. You can turn it into a widget! In Safari, click the Web Clip icon and select the part of the page you want to turn into a widget. Click Add and Safari launches your brand-new widget in Dashboard. From there you can customize it with a selection of themes. Your new web clip widget is always live, acting just like the website it was clipped from.
World Clock—The World Clock widget displays the local time for many cities around the world. Open multiple windows to keep track of different time zones. To change the city, click the "i" button, choose a continent from the Continent pop-up menu, choose a city from the City pop-up menu, and click Done.
Additional InformationTip: Want to learn more about Dashboard? Check out the built-in Help guide on your Mac (in the Finder, choose Mac Help from the Help menu, and type dashboard in the search field).
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