Copyright: Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Matrox Graphics Inc.
Citation: Copyright (c) 2000-2001 Matrox Graphics Inc.


 Matrox MultiDesk

Use Matrox MultiDesk software to create and manage more than one Windows desktop. This can help you organize many programs at a time.

When you switch desktops, programs are shown or hidden depending on what desktops they're associated with. Hidden programs don't appear anywhere on your current Windows desktop and they don't appear on your Windows taskbar. To show a hidden program, you can use MultiDesk controls to switch to the desktop the program is associated with.

With MultiDesk controls, you can also define new desktops, change settings for existing desktops, and change MultiDesk settings for each program currently in use. You can access MultiDesk controls through the taskbar menu, the program window, or keyboard shortcuts.

•	PowerDesk -- If the MultiDesk icon ( [image] ) doesn't appear on your Windows taskbar, you can enable MultiDesk through the Matrox QuickDesk menu on your Windows taskbar. To enable MultiDesk, click Matrox QuickDesk ( [image] ) · Matrox MultiDesk · Use Matrox MultiDesk.

•	PowerDesk-HF -- If the MultiDesk icon ( [image] ) doesn't appear on your Windows taskbar, you can enable MultiDesk through Matrox PowerDesk-HF. To enable MultiDesk, access Desktop Management in the Matrox PowerDesk software and select Matrox MultiDesk. To access PowerDesk, click its icon ( [image] ) on your Windows taskbar. To see the PowerDesk icon in Windows XP, you may need to click the Show hidden icons button ( [image] ) on your Windows taskbar. For more information on how to use Matrox PowerDesk, see the online help.

If the MultiDesk icon appears on your Windows taskbar, you can pause your mouse pointer over this icon to see a tooltip identifying what desktop you're currently using. Click the icon to see the MultiDesk menu. Then you can click Manage Desktops to access the desktop manager.

Note: Certain programs may not be detected by Matrox MultiDesk (for example, Microsoft Visual C++). These programs will be accessible on all desktops.

See also...

•	Matrox MultiDesk menu

•	Desktop manager


Using this guide
Matrox MultiDesk

Using this guide

This guide assumes you're familiar with basic functions like click, right-click, and double-click, and that you're familiar with the basics of the operating system you're using. Also, we use the following conventions:

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•	Arrows (" · ") to separate ordered directions. For example, "click OK · Close · OK" is the same as "click OK, then click Close, then click OK".

•	Green for cross-references. If you're viewing online, click green text to jump to what is being referenced.


Matrox MultiDesk

OK

Click this to apply changes and close the dialog box.


Matrox MultiDesk

Cancel

Click this to close the dialog box without making changes.


Matrox MultiDesk

Apply

Click this to apply changes without closing the dialog box.


Matrox MultiDesk

No help topic is associated with this item.


Matrox MultiDesk menu
Matrox MultiDesk

Matrox MultiDesk menu

Use the Matrox MultiDesk menu to access MultiDesk features. To access this menu, click the Matrox MultiDesk icon ( [image] ) on your Windows taskbar.

The top part of the menu contains the names of desktops defined with Matrox MultiDesk. The name in bold is the name of the current desktop. To switch to a different desktop, double-click a different desktop name in the menu.


Programs, Matrox MultiDesk menu
Matrox MultiDesk · Matrox MultiDesk menu

Programs

Click this to show a list of programs currently running. The list includes programs associated with all existing desktops.

To show a program, double-click its name in the list. The desktop associated with this program will become the current desktop (if it's not already).

To control whether you want to make a program accessible on all desktops, click the icon next to the program name ( [image] ).

See also...

•	Show only on this desktop


Manage Desktops
Matrox MultiDesk · Matrox MultiDesk menu

Manage Desktops

Click this to use the desktop manager.

See also...

•	Desktop manager


Help, Matrox MultiDesk menu
Matrox MultiDesk · Matrox MultiDesk menu

Help

Click this for help with Matrox MultiDesk.

See also...

•	Make All Programs Accessible


Next Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Matrox MultiDesk menu

Next Desktop

Click this to use the next desktop in your desktop list.


Close Matrox MultiDesk
Matrox MultiDesk · Matrox MultiDesk menu

Close Matrox MultiDesk

Click this to close the Matrox MultiDesk program. When you close MultiDesk, all programs will become accessible and the appearance of the current desktop will be kept.

To re-open Matrox MultiDesk, use the Matrox QuickDesk menu on your Windows taskbar. Click Matrox QuickDesk ( [image] ) · Matrox MultiDesk · Use Matrox MultiDesk.


Desktop manager
Matrox MultiDesk

Desktop manager

Use the desktop manager to manage your Windows desktops.

The left side of the desktop manager window is your desktop list. It contains a list of your desktops. To show or hide a list of programs associated with a desktop, click the plus ("+") or minus ("-") symbol next to that desktop. If the name of the desktop appears in bold, that desktop is currently in use.

In the desktop list, you can drag programs from one desktop to another. (To do this, make sure you drag a program to a desktop name, not to another program name.)

 When a desktop is selected in the desktop list, the programs associated with that desktop appear on the right -- this is the program list. To change options for a particular program, click in the Switch Desktop when Program is Opened ( [image] ) column, the Show Only on This Desktop ( [image] ) column, or the Start automatically when desktop is first shown ( [image] ) column. When a program is selected in the desktop list, the area on the right shows various options for that program.

To view a menu of the most frequently used commands for each item, right-click a selected desktop or program. For example, to add a new desktop, right-click in the desktop list, then click New.

See also...

•	Show only on this desktop

•	Switch desktop when program is opened

•	Start automatically when desktop is first shown


Desktop, Menu
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager

Desktop

Click this to see a menu for a selected desktop in the desktop manager.


Show, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Show

Click this to switch to the selected desktop.

This control is only available while a desktop is selected and if the selected desktop isn't already in use.


New, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

New

Click this to create a new desktop.


Rename, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Rename

Click this to rename a selected desktop.

This control is only available while a desktop is selected.


Delete, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Delete

Click this to delete a selected desktop from the desktop list.

This control is only available while a desktop is selected.

If a desktop with associated programs is deleted, those programs will be associated with the current desktop. If the deleted desktop is the current desktop, the previously used desktop will become the current desktop and the programs will be associated with that desktop.


Export
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Export

Click this to save the settings of a selected desktop to a Matrox MultiDesk Settings file (*.mds). The exported settings are the appearance settings, the background settings, and the MultiDesk settings of the programs on that desktop. You can then import MultiDesk desktop settings on any system running Matrox MultiDesk.

Note: A program with the default MultiDesk options (with only Show only on this desktop enabled) can't be part of an exported desktop. When one or more programs with this configuration are part of a desktop you want to export, you're prompted to have these settings changed or not to import settings for these programs.

See also...

•	Show only on this desktop

•	Import


Import
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Import

Click this to create a new desktop with the settings of a previously exported desktop. These settings are saved in a MultiDesk settings file (*.mds).

When you import a desktop, the Import Desktop dialog box appears. From this dialog box, you can select what program settings will be imported with the new desktop.

See also...

•	Export


Program list
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

Program list

This is the list of program settings for the new desktop. Each program has one of the following import statuses associated with it:

•	Undefined -- MultiDesk hasn't verified these settings yet.

•	Include -- The settings for the program are valid and will be imported with the new desktop.

•	Unresolved -- One or more MultiDesk settings for the program aren't valid with your system and the desktop can't be imported with these settings. Invalid settings have to be corrected or the program has to be excluded from the import. While the program is selected, the description text provides more information on what the invalid settings are and how you can fix them.

•	Modified -- The settings for the program have been modified and will be imported with the new desktop. The modifications made to these settings don't affect the MultiDesk settings of other programs.

•	Override -- The settings for the program have been modified and will be imported with the new desktop. The modifications made to these settings do affect the settings for the same program on another desktop in MultiDesk.

•	Exclude -- The settings for this program won't be imported with the desktop.

See also...

•	Description


Description
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

Description

While a program is selected, this lists any invalid settings and the settings that can or need to be changed. While no program is selected, this describes the steps needed to import the desktop.


Options
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

Options

These are the MultiDesk options that a selected program will have after the desktop is imported. To change the options for a selected program, enable or disable options as you would in MultiDesk, then click Update.

Note: Having only Show only on this desktop enabled isn't supported.

See also...

•	Show only on this desktop

•	Switch desktop when program is opened

•	Start automatically when desktop is first shown


If existing program settings are detected
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

If existing program settings are detected

Use this to specify what MultiDesk will do if a selected program on the imported desktop already has settings on another desktop.

•	Use imported settings instead of existing ones -- For the selected program, instead of using existing settings, imported settings will be used. The selected program will be associated with the desktop you're importing and deleted from the other desktop. When you select this option and then click on Update, the status of the selected program changes to Override.

•	Create another instance of the settings -- For the selected program, another program entry will be created on the desktop you're importing. This new program entry will use the settings in this dialog box. The existing program settings won't be overridden. When you select this option and then click on Update, the status of the selected program changes to Modified.

Note: Creating another instance of program settings may cause problems if settings on multiple desktops conflict with each other. For example, Switch desktop when program is first shown may be enabled for two instances of the same program on 2 different desktops. In this case, when the program is started, MultiDesk will switch to the first desktop associated with that program.

These controls are only available if settings for a selected program already exist on another desktop and if the status of a selected program is Unresolved.


Command line
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

Command line

Use this to specify the command line of a selected program. When the file specified in the command line can't be found, you need to specify a valid command line by typing it in or by clicking Browse. If a program can't be found, you can exclude the program from the import or you can force the use of the command line by enabling Use this command line.

Note: If you force the use of an invalid command line, this may result in an error if the program is started from MultiDesk.


Exclude Program
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

Exclude Program

Click this if you don't want to import a selected program as part of the new desktop. This doesn't affect the source file for the imported desktop. To re-include a program after you've excluded it, you need to cancel the import and then reimport the desktop.


Update
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Import

Update

Click this to update the settings of a selected program. When you update the settings of a program, its status is also updated.

This control is only available if the settings of a program have changed.


Select All Programs
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Select All Programs

Click this to select all programs on a selected desktop.

This control is only available while a desktop is selected.


Properties, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop

Properties

Click this to change settings for a selected desktop.

This control is only available while a desktop is selected.


Change Icon, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Properties

Change Icon

Click this to change the icon associated with a selected desktop. This icon is used in the desktop list and on the Matrox MultiDesk menu.


Hot key, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Properties

Hot key

Use this to define or change the keyboard shortcut for a selected desktop. You can then use this keyboard shortcut to switch to that desktop.

To define a keyboard shortcut, click in the edit box, then press a key or combination of keys (for example, [Ctrl]+[F10]).

"None" appears in this box if no keyboard shortcut has been pressed or if the keyboard shortcut pressed can't be used.


Appearance, Desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Desktop · Properties

Appearance

Use these controls to customize the appearance of a selected desktop.

•	Change Background -- Click this to change the background of the selected desktop.

•	Change Appearance -- Click this to change the way screen elements appear on the selected desktop.

If you click one of these controls and the selected desktop isn't the current desktop, Matrox MultiDesk will prompt you to make the selected desktop the current desktop.

These controls simply access existing Windows controls. For more information on these Windows controls, see Windows help.

Note: The appearance of your current desktop can be changed using only Windows controls (that is, without using Matrox MultiDesk). Matrox MultiDesk will save these changes with the current desktop.


Program, Menu
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager

Program

Click this to see a menu for a selected program in the desktop manager.


Show, Program
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Show

Click this to show a selected program. The desktop associated with this program will become the current desktop (if it's not already).

This control is only available while a program is selected.


Close, Program
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Close

Click this to close a selected program.

This control is only available while a program is selected.


Remove, Program
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Remove

Click this to remove a selected program from its associated desktop. If you remove a program while it's running, MultiDesk will also close the program.

This control is only available while a program is selected.


Cut, Program
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Cut

To move a program to another desktop, select a program in the desktop manager, click Program · Cut, select another desktop in the desktop list, then click Program · Paste.


Paste, Program
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Paste

To move a program to another desktop, select a program in the desktop manager, click Program · Cut, select another desktop in the desktop list, then click Program · Paste.


Show only on this desktop
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Show only on this desktop

Enable this to make a selected program accessible only from its associated desktop.

This control is only available while a program is selected.

You can also enable or disable this feature by clicking in the Show Only on This Desktop ( [image] ) column beside a selected program in the program list.

Note: A desktop must be selected to access the Show Only on This Desktop ( [image] ) column from the program list.


Switch desktop when program is opened
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Switch desktop when program is opened

If this is enabled and a selected program is restarted, the desktop switches to the desktop the program was using just before it was closed.

This control is only available while a program is selected.

You can also enable or disable this feature by clicking in the Switch Desktop when Program is Opened ( [image] ) column beside a selected program in the program list.

Note: A desktop must be selected to access the Switch Desktop when Program is Opened column from the program list.


Start automatically when desktop is first shown
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Program

Start automatically when desktop is first shown

If this is enabled, the selected program starts automatically when the desktop is shown for the first time.

This control is only available while a program is selected.

You can also enable or disable this feature by clicking in the Start Automatically when Desktop is First Shown ( [image] ) column beside a selected program in the program list.

Note: A desktop must be selected to access the Start Automatically when Desktop is First Shown ( [image] ) column from the program list.

Note: If a program doesn't start automatically when the desktop is first shown, this may be because Allow programs to start automatically is disabled.

See also...

•	Allow programs to start automatically


Options
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager

Options

Click this to see a menu for Matrox MultiDesk options.


Make All Programs Accessible
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options

Make All Programs Accessible

Click this to make all programs accessible. This disables the Show Only on This Desktop for all programs.

See also...

•	Show only on this desktop


Refresh, Options
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options

Refresh

Click this to update your desktop list.

You can update the titles of programs in the desktop list. The title of a program may change while a program is running, but your desktop list may not reflect the change until the list is updated. The title of a program may change, for example, when you open a new document with that program.


Preferences
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options

Preferences

Click this to change settings for Matrox MultiDesk.


Show icon on Windows taskbar
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options · Preferences

Show icon on Windows taskbar

Enable this to show the Matrox MultiDesk icon ( [image] ) on your Windows taskbar.

If this is disabled, you can use Matrox QuickDesk ( [image] ) to access MultiDesk controls.

Use icon of current desktop -- Enable this if you want the Matrox MultiDesk icon to be the icon of the current desktop (for example, [image] ). If your current desktop changes, the MultiDesk icon may change.

See also...

•	Change Icon


Double-click action for taskbar icon
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options · Preferences

Double-click action for taskbar icon

Use these controls to select what happens when you double-click the Matrox MultiDesk icon ( [image] ) on your Windows taskbar.

•	Open window to manage desktops -- Click this if your want to open the desktop manager when you double-click the Matrox MultiDesk icon on your Windows taskbar.

•	Switch to next desktop -- Click this if you want to cycle from one desktop to the next when you double-click the Matrox MultiDesk icon on your Windows taskbar.


Start Matrox MultiDesk when Windows restarts
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options · Preferences

Start Matrox MultiDesk when Windows restarts

Enable this to automatically start Matrox MultiDesk each time Windows starts.


Allow programs to start automatically
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options · Preferences

Allow programs to start automatically

Use this to determine if MultiDesk should allow programs to start automatically when a desktop is shown for the first time. Which programs should start automatically is determined by the Start automatically when desktop is first shown setting for that program. Enabling or disabling this option doesn't change individual program settings.

See also...

•	Start automatically when desktop is first shown


Hot key for desktop list
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Options · Preferences

Hot key for desktop list

Use this to define or change the keyboard shortcut for changing desktops.

If your keyboard shortcut includes a modifier key (for example, [Ctrl] or [Alt]), you can use this modifier key to visually select a desktop. For example, if your keyboard shortcut is [Ctrl]+[F10]: (1) Press [Ctrl]+[F10] without releasing [Ctrl]. (2) Press [F10] repeatedly to cycle through the desktop icons that you see on-screen. (3) Release [Ctrl] when the icon of the desktop you want is selected.

If your keyboard shortcut doesn't include a modifier key, each time you press this keyboard shortcut, you cycle to the next desktop in your desktop list.

To define a keyboard shortcut, click in the edit box, then press a key or combination of keys (for example, [Ctrl]+[F10]).

"None" appears in this box if no keyboard shortcut has been pressed or if the keyboard shortcut pressed can't be used.


Help, Menu
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager

Help

Click this to see a help menu.


MultiDesk Help
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Help

MultiDesk Help

Click this for help information.


About
Matrox MultiDesk · Desktop manager · Help

About

Click this for software information (for example, version information).