Show Desktop 0.2.0

Pick any shortcut you like.

• Record your own shortcut: right-click the menu bar icon → Keyboard Shortcut → Record Shortcut…, then press the keys you want. Any combination with ⌃, or ⌘ with ⇧ or ⌥, works, and so do function keys like F13 on their own.
• Won't break anything you rely on: shortcuts that would get in the way of typing (like ⌥E, which types an accent) or that macOS already uses (like ⇧⌘3 for screenshots) are refused.
• Clashes: when macOS reports that another app already has your shortcut, the Keyboard Shortcut menu says so.
• Function keys and arrows show up next to Show Desktop in the menu, like any other shortcut.
• The shortcut you picked in 0.1.0 carries over.

Still no internet access, no Accessibility permission and no Screen Recording permission. The recorder only reads the keys you press in its own window.

Install or update

1. Download Show-Desktop.zip below and unzip it.
2. Quit Show Desktop if it's running, then move the new Show Desktop into Applications, replacing the old one.
3. Open it and click its menu bar icon, or press your shortcut.

The first time you open it, macOS may say Apple couldn't verify it, because it isn't notarized yet. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. For the same reason, macOS may ask again whether Show Desktop can control Finder.

Runs on macOS 14 or later, on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.

SHA-256 of Show-Desktop.zip: 81cd0751fb9e2b33e17e54294ce374aed12ad1ce30eb9fd24f956c3c32d87802

What's next is on the roadmap. If Show Desktop saves you time, starring the repo helps other people find it.

Show Desktop 0.1.0

First release.

• Show the Desktop with one click on the menu bar icon, or with ⌃⇧D from any app.
• Put everything back with a second click: only the apps that were open, in the same order, with the one you were using in front. Apps you'd already hidden stay hidden.
• Finder windows are minimized too and restored afterwards. You can turn this off.
• Shortcut choices: ⌃⇧D, ⌃⌥D, ⌃⌥⌘H or none.
• Open at login, on by default and easy to turn off.
• Runs in the App Sandbox with no network or file access, and needs no Accessibility or Screen Recording permission.

Install: download Show-Desktop.zip below, unzip it, move Show Desktop to Applications and open it. It runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs with macOS 14 or later.

The first time you open it, macOS may say Apple couldn't verify it, because it isn't notarized yet. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. The code is all here if you'd like to check it or build it yourself.