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Why does OS X have both a "Hide" and a "Minimize" feature? This seems somewhat redundant to me, and also introduces some inconsistency when I am trying to find an arbitrary window. If it's hidden, I need to activate the application and use the "Windows" menu to bring it up; if the window is minimized, it appears in the dock.

What are some scenarios in which you'd use these two features differently?

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4 Answers

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"Minimize" minimizes the program to the dock where you can see a thumbnail of the program's window.

"Hide" hides the window without adding the program's thumbnail to the dock.

I will minimize a program if I need to get it out of the way for a few moments while I'll hide a program if I need it out of the way for an extended period of time. Most of the time I will hide icons.

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When I hide my app, it still appears in the dock. Why? – Daniel Cukier Oct 6 '09 at 16:50
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It appears in the Dock, but only the icon appears. If you minimize it, there's also a small icon representing the window on the right side, next to the Trash. – alex Oct 6 '09 at 17:12
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You can set Snow Leopard to combine the two options as a minimize to item setting on the dock. – Rich Bradshaw Oct 6 '09 at 17:12
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Minimize minimizes a single window. Hide hides the entire application. – Chealion Oct 6 '09 at 21:04
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The dock shows you running APPLICATIONS, and then shows or lists the applications windows when you click or click and hold, respectively. It is NOT a window list, like in Windows XP. I think it's much more logical. Also, interestingly, Windows 7 seems to be attempting to copy this idea. – Lee B Oct 6 '09 at 22:29
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up vote 5 down vote

Hiding will remove the application from view (while still being visible in the application switcher and dock).

Minimizing will minimize a single window to the dock, not the entire application.

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up vote 2 down vote

"Minimize minimizes a single window. Hide hides the entire application."

i.e., Hide makes the app's minimized windows disappear, too.

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up vote 2 down vote

Copying the answer @Rich Bradshaw gave in the comments to an official answer, since it's exactly what I was looking for.

You can set Snow Leopard to combine the two options as a minimize to item setting on the dock.

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For the record, this option is available in the "Dock" System Preferences applet, labeled "Minimize windows into application icon". – seh Dec 25 '10 at 19:37
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