Apple changed the way the green button works in OS X.
Starting with OS X Yosemite, Apple changed the way the green button works, in the upper left hand corner of open windows. That button causes apps to open in full window mode, instead of zooming. If you miss the old behavior, it's only a button press away.
The menu bar of open windows in OS X contains three buttons in the upper left hand corner: A red button, a yellow button and a green button. Clicking the red button causes the window to close. clicking the yellow button causes the window to minimize (the window will shrink into the Dock). Beginning with OS X Yosemite, clicking the green button invokes full screen mode.
This isn't the way it used to work. Before Yosemite was released, clicking that green button would "zoom" the window to its full size instead. You can still do that by double-clicking the window menu bar.
If you'd like to restore the old behavior, you can. Here's how.
How to restore zoom control in OS X
- Hold down the option key on the keyboard.
- Position the cursor over the green button.
- Click the green button.
You should notice that the green button changes slightly when you position the cursor over it with the option key held down. Instead of seeing two diagonal arrows, you'll see a plus sign. That's how you know you're holding down the option key.
Reader comments
How to restore old-style zoom control in OS X
Thats not really a "restore". A restore would make it default to zoom and not fullscreen.
Exactly right. I wish Apple didn't do this because my mother keeps clicking it accidentally and then is baffled, every time, when the dock and menu bar vanish.
That's a great tip. I prefer Better Snap though as you can get the window to actually maximize or dock to a side: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bettersnaptool/id417375580?mt=12&at=10l3...
That's what I use too. It's so great. I wish OS X had native features like that.
Thanks Peter -- that is a great tip! I've been missing the old zoom function!
BetterTouchTool also lets you make the pre-Yosemite maximize behavior the default for the green button:
http://osxdaily.com/2015/03/11/change-the-green-button-maximize-behavior...
I had created a systemwide keyboard shortcut, something like CRTL+CMD+Z or something like that that would point to the "Zoom" command in the Menu Bar. Then these idiots put two "Zoom" commands in Photos, in two different submenus, so it doesn't "maximize" the window, it enables zoom on the photo. I hate Photos.app, it is a very inconsistent experience.
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Thanks for the tip! :)
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Duh! When I first saw this I thought "Lemme guess, it has something to do with the 'option' key." As an old Mac hand, that's the default approach.
El Capitan has a nifty variant on this. If you hold down the 'command' key instead, it works just like Windows and wants to snap the window to one side of the screen or the other...
If you want you old "Save As..." back again, guess what? Hold down the 'option' key!!
"The menu bar of open windows in OS X contains three buttons in the upper left hand corner." ?!?
Considering in Mac OS X windows do not have menu bars, and this is because Mac OS X has a fixed menu bar at the top of the screen, I thought it important to point out the buttons being referred to are in fact on the left side of a windows title bar.
I think of "maximizing" a window, not zooming it. I think of "zoom" as making what is in the window larger or smaller.
A double click on the window's title bar does the same, BTW. I think that's easier, since it doesn't need the keyboard.
Oh sorry, that's in the article already. :)