Dashboard in Catalina?

[Vlad Soare]

Can you have a monthly view of the calendar displayed in the Notification Center? I added the calendar to the Today view, but it only shows today's events. And if I click on it, it opens the Calendar app - which kind of defeats the purpose, since I can open the app myself in the first place, skipping the Notification Center.
I'd love to see a monthly view there. How do you do that?

 

[joelovesapple]

I don't get why people are so butthurt about this. You can check the weather, timezones and use a calculator in Notification Centre. Also there are lots of choices for other functions in the Mac App Store and the web.

 

[stephankrasner]

Apple killed dashboard without creating any new mini apps to replace the widgets. This is very frustrating. I'm sure y'all have known for months, but I am having a mini freakout today. That was a core part of my workflow.

Any suggestions for replacement apps that I can add to the top of the finder?

 

[MacManiac76]

The only option would be to see if there are any substitutes that can be added to Notification Center. What are the Widgets you are looking to replace? Even Dashboard on Mojave has been rendered almost useless. Most of the Widget data has been neutered, such as the Weather Widget that I used daily. Not happy about it myself either, but moved on.

 

[stephankrasner]

The only option would be to see if there are any substitutes that can be added to Notification Center. What are the Widgets you are looking to replace? Even Dashboard on Mojave has been rendered almost useless. Most of the Widget data has been neutered, such as the Weather Widget that I used daily. Not happy about it myself either, but moved on.

It was getting worse and worse, but I did use it. I primarily used the Calculator, Converter, Dictionary, Clock, and Weather. All of these were used daily.

I actually don't mind switching to a finder bar solution, it's just jarring and it's probably going to cost some $$$ too.

I'm considering Calcbot for the converter and calculator but there is no menu bar option. I have Fantasical, but it doesn't have a dropdown menu unless you leave the full app open. Looks like there are some translator apps that have menu bar operation and a dictionary built in, but require a subscription.

 

[MacManiac76]

Calculator and Weather can be added to Notification Center. Some conversions and calculations can be done via Spotlight. Not sure how think there is going to be a Finder solution unless I am misunderstanding what you mean. If you mean the Menu bar at the top of the screen, there will probably be some solutions.

 

[casperes1996]

Apple killed dashboard without creating any new mini apps to replace the widgets. This is very frustrating. I'm sure y'all have known for months, but I am having a mini freakout today. That was a core part of my workflow.

Any suggestions for replacement apps that I can add to the top of the finder?

I was sad as well, but I was prepared. It was clear it was going away for a long time even if we didn't know it'd be in Catalina specifically before the beta program. And even then had a bit of hope it'd be in the final release. I've also seen some widgets stop working on Mojave, like Weather.

Anyways, top of Finder? You mean the Menu Bar, right?
Hard to come with alternatives without knowing which widgets you used

 

[konqerror]

I primarily used the Calculator, Converter, Dictionary, Clock, and Weather. All of these were used daily.

A lot of these functions are available through Spotlight, like calculations, weather, dictionary lookup. Just cmd-space. I see why Apple is doing it this way, it's common with iOS, and it's the new free-text search paradigm.

 

[Fishrrman]

I believe there is something called "Amnesty" that will allow dashboard widgets to run in Catalina.
I haven't installed it myself.
Staying away from Catalina for now -- still too many 32 bit applications that I like -- no intentions of "moving on" any time soon.

 

[steve62388]

It was getting worse and worse, but I did use it. I primarily used the Calculator, Converter, Dictionary, Clock, and Weather. All of these were used daily.

I actually don't mind switching to a finder bar solution, it's just jarring and it's probably going to cost some $$$ too.

I'm considering Calcbot for the converter and calculator but there is no menu bar option. I have Fantasical, but it doesn't have a dropdown menu unless you leave the full app open. Looks like there are some translator apps that have menu bar operation and a dictionary built in, but require a subscription.

There is a dictionary built into macOS which you can access from anywhere.

Look up words on Mac

On your Mac, look up words while working in apps or browsing web pages.

support.apple.com

 

[Valdaquendë]

A Real Tragedy
The omission of the dashboard and the elimination of widgets is, in my view, a real tragedy. I've read a number of posts contending that it is no big deal; I disagree. In my dashboard, I had:

• Weather widgets (6 of them) for places that friends, family or colleagues were
• Clock widgets so I didn't call them at inappropriate times
• 2 calculators (one left on 'basic'; the other in 'scientific' mode)
• Countdown timers for up to four project events
• Dictionary
• Thesaurus
• An excellent unit converter (this one really hurts as I can find no really good unit converter for the notification center)
• Language translation widget
• Webserver control widget
• Checkbook entry widget
• Calendar event entry widget
• and more.

Many of the widgets were better than anything currently offered for the notification center. The current weather tool shows you the weather for up to 6 hours (instead of the old one's 24) and forecasts for the next 5 days instead of 10. The only unit converter I can find (Euler) knows nothing about centimeters or millimeters, much less that bountiful number of other unit conversions that the Unit Converter offered. And the vast majority of the other useful Dashboard widgets aren't even available in Notifications versions.

And all were accessible with one keystroke. No need to open apps, no need to use desktop space; all of them at my fingertips in less than a second, easy to use and gone in another keystroke. There are those who argue that items in the Finder's menubar can replace this functioanlity; with respect, I disagree. Including system items like the clock, Time Machine, Sound, Bluetooth, etc., I have 20 such items in my menubar now; they are a pain to mouse to, you have to treat each one differently and every now and then one or more of them disappear, since the menubar was never intended to house that many.

It's a real shame that Apple decided to pull this functionality; the dashboard and its widgets used almost nothing in the way of system resources and provided serious functionality for those who cared to use it.

 

[MIKX]

Me too, my kids & friends are spread out all over the world. I need the Weather.widget.

Apple no longer listens to us.

Hopefully kkono ( applause ! ) will once more get Weather.widget working again at least for Mojave.

 

[adrianlondon]

Apple removed the Dashboard and have (along with developers) abandoned the Notification Centre. So now we have nothing.

 

[Playfoot]

A Real Tragedy
The omission of the dashboard and the elimination of widgets is, in my view, a real tragedy. I've read a number of posts contending that it is no big deal; I disagree. In my dashboard, I had:

• Weather widgets (6 of them) for places that friends, family or colleagues were
• Clock widgets so I didn't call them at inappropriate times
• 2 calculators (one left on 'basic'; the other in 'scientific' mode)
• Countdown timers for up to four project events
• Dictionary
• Thesaurus
• An excellent unit converter (this one really hurts as I can find no really good unit converter for the notification center)
• Language translation widget
• Webserver control widget
• Checkbook entry widget
• Calendar event entry widget
• and more.

Many of the widgets were better than anything currently offered for the notification center. The current weather tool shows you the weather for up to 6 hours (instead of the old one's 24) and forecasts for the next 5 days instead of 10. The only unit converter I can find (Euler) knows nothing about centimeters or millimeters, much less that bountiful number of other unit conversions that the Unit Converter offered. And the vast majority of the other useful Dashboard widgets aren't even available in Notifications versions.

And all were accessible with one keystroke. No need to open apps, no need to use desktop space; all of them at my fingertips in less than a second, easy to use and gone in another keystroke. There are those who argue that items in the Finder's menubar can replace this functioanlity; with respect, I disagree. Including system items like the clock, Time Machine, Sound, Bluetooth, etc., I have 20 such items in my menubar now; they are a pain to mouse to, you have to treat each one differently and every now and then one or more of them disappear, since the menubar was never intended to house that many.

It's a real shame that Apple decided to pull this functionality; the dashboard and its widgets used almost nothing in the way of system resources and provided serious functionality for those who cared to use it.

I could not agree more......I use the dashboard daily. It is a fabulous tool for easy quick visual review. And also for quick tasks. Like you I keep clocks set to various time zones, timers, calculators, converters etc.

All of this was accessed with a mere swipe.

In addition to decreased customer service, and reduced quality control, Apple seems to be reducing the functionality of its OS.

I am happy to look at alternatives: but what allows for all of this with a swipe, and all immediately displayed? I hope someone here has suggestions.....

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I could not agree more......I use the dashboard daily. It is a fabulous tool for easy quick visual review. And also for quick tasks. Like you I keep clocks set to various time zones, timers, calculators, converters etc.

All of this was accessed with a mere swipe.

But you can do that in the Notification Center. If you have a Magic Trackpad you employ a two finger swipe from the right edge to the center. That pulls out the NC blade.

You can add different cities in the Weather widget, I have several in the Widget. There is a calculator as well. I follow the Formula 1 series and my time zone widget has 6 time zones I'm interested in so I know when the races will start outside of the US. I stopped using Dashboard when I could do the things I needed to in Notification Center. It became redundant for me.

The only thing I used it for was the Dictionary and Thesaurus, which was later solved by putting the App in my Dock

 

[loby]

But you can do that in the Notification Center. If you have a Magic Trackpad you employ a two finger swipe from the right edge to the center. That pulls out the NC blade.

You can add different cities in the Weather widget, I have several in the Widget. There is a calculator as well. I follow the Formula 1 series and my time zone widget has 6 time zones I'm interested in so I know when the races will start outside of the US. I stopped using Dashboard when I could do the things I needed to in Notification Center. It became redundant for me.

The only thing I used it for was the Dictionary and Thesaurus, which was later solved by putting the App in my Dock

Used Dashboard for many years and was not a fan when Apple discontinued it...but...I have a MacBook pro 2018 and replaced the Siri icon (don't like talking to my computer) on the touch bar with the Notification button and it works similar to dashboard but without the over lay on the screen. Just a right slide-in instead and got use to it.

It is not a bad replacement once you get use to it. Just make a keyboard shortcut if you don"t have a touch bar and your set with close to the same functionality.

 

[Vlad Soare]

The only thing I used it for was the Dictionary and Thesaurus, which was later solved by putting the App in my Dock

The dictionary is even easier than that. Just force click on any word on the screen, in any application, and the definition will pop up.

 

[LizKat]

Well I stuck some world clocks into notifications, but I don't feel being able to do that is enough of a sop to those of us who really liked Dashboard and the fun and utility of some of the widgets. Neither is it enough to just make Sticky Notes a regular application. I really liked being able to raise the equivalent of a whole extra space at will with a swipe or a single keystroke, and having stuff arranged on it however I found both pleasing and useful.

Sure I knew Dashboard was going away w/ Catalina, but I think Apple should bring it back and make it even more useful. So, "think different again" and bring back widgets will be my feedback to them.

btw if you liked Dashboard too and haven't sent feedback, well....

https://www.apple.com/feedback/​