9/30/15

Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan - Where did my Widgets go?

El Capitan the new Macintosh OS was released today and there are a lot of things to like. Unfortunately there are also a few annoyances. Today I want to address Widgets. 


You remember those don't you? They are the mini-applications that sit on your Dashboard. Apple has a whole page devoted to them here.  They first appeared in Mac OS Tiger in 2005. You normally access them when using a key command or gesture (swipe left using 3 fingers). They appear on a secondary desktop.

Well Apple has decided they aren't important and has turned them off by default. If you are a Widget user, however infrequent, you can turn them back on in System preferences. Just open up preferences and navigate to "Mission Control"
Make sure "Dashboard" Is turned back on. I am used to having all my widgets on a separate space so that's the pick I made. Close up Preferences and you will have your Widgets back. 


Based on this change I can only suspect that Widgets may not be around much longer. But for now, you can have your El Capitan and Widgets too.
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44 comments:

  1. UnknownOctober 1, 2015 at 8:48 AM

    Whew. Thanks. For a minute there, I was regretting the upgrade!

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  2. Paul RippeyOctober 1, 2015 at 10:16 AM

    THANK YOU! I was getting freaked. There are two widgets I use all the time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. History BuffOctober 1, 2015 at 3:11 PM

    Thanks. I use them all the time.

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  4. Dark FrequenciesOctober 1, 2015 at 3:35 PM

    Thanks!!

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  5. Dark FrequenciesOctober 1, 2015 at 3:35 PM

    Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Always on timeOctober 1, 2015 at 6:09 PM

    Widgets are the thing I can honestly say I rely on most. Above and beyond everything else. I really don't know where i'd be if I didn't have all my widgets. I follow 10 people's weather, 7 city times, the satellite weather over the Pacific, various converters and calculators, my most watched stocks, and a whole bunch of sticky notes with odd information on them like shows and movies to watch, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 2, 2015 at 10:54 AM

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  8. KKringOctober 3, 2015 at 5:11 PM

    In case all of the people above forgot to mention it (trying to be funny) thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  9. StephOctober 4, 2015 at 1:30 PM

    Fantastic! Thank you. Can't live without my widgets :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownOctober 5, 2015 at 10:56 AM

    I freaked out for a moment when I could not find my widgets, thanks so much!! This was very helpful!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. eddyakkoOctober 5, 2015 at 12:04 PM

    Thanks so much - it’s not until some small thing like this disappears that you realise how important it is!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. awaraOctober 5, 2015 at 10:14 PM

    Woaaa, for a moment, I was cursin' at all saints living in and around SF. phew!

    ReplyDelete
  13. 尚榮童裝October 15, 2015 at 1:46 AM

    Thanks!!

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  14. raynOctober 19, 2015 at 6:46 PM

    You saved my arse... thank YOU!!!! As for apple... shame on them... we need to be notified of these changes. Shame.

    ReplyDelete
  15. mrslozzyoxOctober 26, 2015 at 6:46 AM

    Thank you! I had important info on stickies!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousOctober 29, 2015 at 5:42 AM

    Another thanks - keeping numbers up to show apple someone is actually still using this...

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  17. AnonymousOctober 30, 2015 at 1:26 PM

    Thanks, invaluable! And so is the dashboard / widgets, so Apple better not remove it as it's a useful info center that I refer to several times a day (duh!)

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousOctober 30, 2015 at 6:26 PM

    Thank You! When I first upgraded it I thought AI Lost my wide get some and all my passwords!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Michael CPOctober 31, 2015 at 3:40 PM

    In Mavericks I could open dashboard with a three fingered swipe but now I can't. Anyone know how to enable it?

    ReplyDelete
  20. Bruce CraigOctober 31, 2015 at 4:08 PM

    Michael - Since the dashboard is considered a "desktop" you can set up a 3-finger swipe in the System Preferences under "Track Pad." Select "More Gestures" and make sure "Swipe Between Full-Screen Apps" is checked.

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  21. Michael CPOctober 31, 2015 at 4:46 PM

    That worked, thanks Bruce!

    ReplyDelete
  22. UnknownNovember 2, 2015 at 10:06 AM

    Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. UnknownNovember 3, 2015 at 5:41 PM

    Thank you thank you thank you!!! I had a bunch of stickies on my dashboard that I needed and when I opened up Mission Control and everything was gone... I freaked! (PS- no more stickies.) Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  24. UnknownNovember 3, 2015 at 5:42 PM

    Thank you thank you thank you!!! I had a bunch of stickies on my dashboard that I needed and when I opened up Mission Control and everything was gone... I freaked! (PS- no more stickies.) Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  25. JulianNovember 4, 2015 at 10:36 PM

    wonder how we ask apple to not kill them?

    ReplyDelete
  26. decimal4November 7, 2015 at 12:03 PM

    How hard can it be to keep widgets? They are the secret sauce of OS/X. Small thing that people love. They are a secret door to an alternate lightweight app universe.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Señior SeamheadNovember 17, 2015 at 8:09 AM

    I upgraded to El Captain and I'm trying to get my Stock watchlist from the Dashboard to the desktop. The old method doesn't seem to be working. I did the terminal commands, but the F12 trick isn't working.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Papa94301November 24, 2015 at 3:28 PM

    Saved my day. I rely heavily on my widgets. Thank you for the instructions to reconstitute them.

    ReplyDelete
  29. Lady Ruth 54December 14, 2015 at 4:13 PM

    Thank you so much.

    ReplyDelete
  30. AnonymousDecember 15, 2015 at 2:53 PM

    thank you thank you thank you!
    I hope we don't lose widgets. I think of them as a page of my most used tools.

    ReplyDelete
  31. anonymousDecember 16, 2015 at 12:42 AM

    UH OH.
    WIDGETS BROKE, BLANK, BARE!

    I see them pop up, but they are all blank. Calculator, weather, clock, calendar...all EMPTY.

    Tried deleting & re-inserting....and restarting too but no luck.

    WHAT HAVE THEY DONE!? Are there replacements? Are they crazy!? (yes)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownFebruary 20, 2016 at 10:55 PM

      As usual Apple makes decisions for us.. They took away my dvd player (for newer machines), they took away colored icons in my side bar (but I did find an app for that at least for now), may of my favorite programs I still miss but they don't work on the upgraded systems, The print is so light on so many websites I cannot see them hardly. I have to increase the size every time I go to read an article. So I don't use widgets often but the yahoo ones are defunct and I'll remove them to make more disk space. I do use the dashboard ones pretty often, but not all work now. I really wish Apple would leave well enough alone. The preferences on my phone are so numerous and I don't know what they do or do not do. I have to figure them out by trial and error which sometimes just screws everything up. If I don't shut them off they use a lot of data unnecessarily. So sorry for the rant, but I get upset easily these days as computer and phone take up a lot of my day and it is getting more complicated and more time consuming.

      Delete
  32. UnknownDecember 17, 2015 at 10:30 AM

    Thank you for this! I get that every update can cause changes to workflow, but losing widgets would really sting.

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousDecember 30, 2015 at 8:38 PM

    Awesome this was a big help!

    ReplyDelete
  34. palmershireJanuary 24, 2016 at 9:25 AM

    Great post! Thanks so much! You're article has saved me a lot of time. Much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
  35. JovanFebruary 29, 2016 at 7:37 AM

    Thanks, I hope they will not mess with this one, it's really helpful to have it as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  36. CAMarch 21, 2016 at 5:20 AM

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  37. PieterApril 10, 2016 at 3:18 AM

    Thanks, great post, glad to have back a feature that I really like

    ReplyDelete
  38. GenoApril 25, 2016 at 5:18 AM

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  39. It'z ME DiCk!!May 16, 2016 at 9:22 AM

    So Happy to have my widgets and all the info I have on all my stickies back!!
    Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!

    ReplyDelete
  40. UnknownSeptember 14, 2016 at 10:15 AM

    I add my thanks as well; finally upgraded my OS and thought I lost all those important little bits I had put on virtual stickies. Ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  41. GegiOctober 25, 2016 at 2:00 PM

    I did you what you said and dashboard is back, BUT widgets are empty.... nothing appear there... any idea?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bruce CraigOctober 25, 2016 at 3:30 PM

      Gegi - (Non-Apple) Widgets are stored in your home directory in ~/Library/Widgets. The Apple Widgets are in the system Library folder found on your HD in /Library/Widgets. Make sure both contain data and do a reboot. If you can see the Widget dashboard anything in those directories should show up.

      Delete
  42. UnknownDecember 15, 2017 at 10:56 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

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