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How do I delete Mac Dashboard widgets?

On my iMac running Mac OS X i downloaded some widgets for the dashboard but i dont like 4 of them i wondered if you know how to delets them not just disable them?


Dave's Answer:

It's not as easy as it could be to delete widgets in Dashboard, I admit, but it's doable, at least for those widgets you have downloaded.

First up, you need to get Dashboard running, which you can do easily by pressing f12 on your keyboard. It zooms into view and on the lower left there's a "+" button:

Mac OS X: Dashboard Control

Once you've clicked on that, a strip appears on the bottom with all the widgets shown. That's not what you're interested in, however! Instead, notice that just to the left of the now-rotated "X" button is another button labeled "Manage Widgets...", as shown here:

Mac OS X: Dashboard Control: Manage Widgets

Click on that and you'll see a new Dashboard widget ooze into visibility:

Mac OS X: Dashboard Widget Manager

Now, scroll down to find the first of the four widgets you want to delete and you should see a small red circle adjacent, as appears adjacent to the Breakout game in my screenshot.

Click on it and, surprise, you can actually delete the widget entirely:

Mac OS X: Dashboard Control: Delete Widget

If you're ready to eliminate the widget completely from your Dashboard environment and Macintosh, simply click on "OK" and *poof*, it's gone!

While we're talking about it, also note the link "More Widgets..." and make sure you spend a few minutes clicking on it and checking out the extensive library Apple has assembled. There's lots of great stuff to dig up.


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Categorized: Mac OS X Help   (Article 7147, Written by )
Tagged: dashboard, dashboard widgets, mac os x
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Reader Comments To Date: 23

jonathan said, on December 21, 2007 10:57 AM:

My dashboard is displaying three copies of the weather widget. How can I delete the extra ones and just keep one?

tenny said, on June 4, 2008 4:17 AM:

thanks.... i finally get the chance to delete all the junks on my dashboard... and i also find out there are more stuffs on the dashboard.... cool... :)

kareem said, on July 20, 2008 3:12 AM:

How i can connet Hot spot shield in my apple mac pro ?
When i am try to connect its showing "Waiting for server"
It was connected with my macpro. Pls advise me

John said, on November 21, 2008 10:44 PM:

I needed to remove a widget and your advise was perfectly worded and I followed it and was sucessful

thanks

LEONIDAS said, on March 29, 2009 8:26 AM:

Thanks Dave for your useful information!

However, you did not tell us what we can do to remove the Mac Dashboards widgets that were pre-installed and not downloaded from us... Thank you in advance for your answer!

Laura Hernandez said, on May 14, 2009 7:00 PM:

Great great help!!!! Thank you!!

Kendra said, on June 3, 2009 10:43 AM:

Thanks for the information!! It was a great help.

ashim said, on June 17, 2009 10:05 PM:

hi dave,

could u please help me this dash board problem,

i run the dashboard in my macbook, but could not exit. And it is taking lotta time to work in other program as well since the mac book is running. and the voice message is running whenever i use other programmes as well, could u please advice how to uninstall dashboard or quit dashboard
thanks

The Dark Lord said, on June 20, 2009 1:18 AM:

Great help Dude, thanks, this resolved my trouble here.

TDL

Kenneth said, on October 10, 2009 10:01 AM:

This explanation did not work for me at all. Even the widgets I just downloaded don't have the delete button next to them. Perhaps this explanation is specific to a particular version of OS X? I'm running 10.4.11.

bob said, on November 8, 2009 2:46 PM:

yo dave i NEED HELP

i opened a video in my dash board and i cant get rid of it because it is invisible. CAN YOU HELP ME!!!

Grubby said, on January 7, 2010 5:18 PM:

thanks man that helped heaps

danielle said, on January 13, 2010 9:59 AM:

Thanks! Very helpful. You're a star.

Jessica Lee said, on February 2, 2010 7:55 PM:

Thanks Dave! Your explanation is great, I followed it and did sort my problem on dashboard!

Keep it up Doc.!

Jessica

vlad said, on March 5, 2010 9:26 AM:

thnx helped so much!!! this game would always annoy me by making that stupid sound

dmac said, on August 26, 2010 2:32 PM:

THE BEST AND FASTEST WAY IS HIT OR "OPTION" KEY ON
KEYBOARD. THEN AN X WILL APPEAR. CLICK THE X AND SAY BYE BYE UNWANTED WIDGET

ksa said, on November 27, 2010 5:07 PM:

My Hotspot Shield on my MAC has stopped working completely. I open it and all I get is Waiting for Server. Because I am in Saudi arabia I can not download anything but the Hotspot Shield on cnet.com. Any help with getting this working or getting a newer version that works its appreciated. Please contact me on my e-mial


from.ksa@hotmail.com

Tish said, on February 21, 2011 8:40 AM:

Thank you so much. Your instructions were very easy to follow and accomplished exactly what I wanted!

JONATHAN COMTOIS said, on September 17, 2011 8:53 PM:

i opened a video in dashboard and now i cannot find it to delete it. what do i do? thx.

Romy Faylona said, on April 29, 2012 7:18 AM:

Yes a very helpful information for managing and deleting widgets. Thank you.

Chuck said, on August 28, 2012 7:00 PM:

How can I remove the TunesText widget? I am running OSX 10.8.1.

Thanks

darren n said, on May 15, 2013 1:41 PM:

Im getting some kind of screen shot open when i press f12 for my widgets. How do i get rid of this? When i press edit the only thing i can do is change the border of the box! Help please

Dave Taylor said, on May 15, 2013 4:42 PM:

That's curious, Darren. Sounds like you've installed some sort of additional screen capture app and assigned it to the key sequence that matches the F12 key. Hmm... if you take the screen cap, does it then display in a specific application? Or look in your System Preferences along the very bottom to see what additional apps have been installed?

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











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