My Mac desktop is usually cluttered with documents, downloads, and photo thumbnails. Not only does this make it hard to find exactly what I am looking for, but it also looks like crap. Moreover, everyone can see what’s on your desktop, and sometimes that may not be the most ideal of circumstances. If you want to quickly hide your desktop or avoid its cluttered appearance, Shade is a great solution.
Hide your Mac desktop with the click
Download Shade (iTunes link) from the Mac app store. Shade is a free application that uses a drop-down screen to hide the desktop with the click of a button. Once installed, open the application and you will see a small intro box and the Shade leaf icon will appear in your Mac toolbar.
Shade is very simple to use. Whenever you want to hide your desktop, simply click the Shade icon and the drop-down “shade” will immediately hide your messy desktop. Messy on the left – Shade on the right.
You can change the default Shade image by dragging any wallpaper or image right onto the Shade icon in the toolbar. This will change that default plant image to whatever you dragged to the icon. This process can repeated endlessly; just make sure to choose an image of appropriate desktop size.
It should be noted that any items downloaded or saved to your desktop will go to your regular desktop. No desktop items can be added or seen on your Shade. To remove the shade, click on the icon in the toolbar, and your regular desktop will be revealed.
Shade is a quick and easy way to avoid desktop clutter and hide desktop items without having to actually clean it up manually. Of course the only way to really clear your desktop is to remove items from it, but Shade is nice alternative.
