Fullscreen Emacs in OSX

Question

Is there any way of using Emacs in fullscreen mode in OSX.

I'm currently using Emacs from http://emacsforosx.com/

Edit: This question is not relevant anymore since the release of Emacs version 24.4. Please see the accepted answer.

Solution 1

This feature is present in Emacs 24.4. From the NEWS file:

Changes in Emacs 24.4 on Non-Free Operating Systems

...

Improved fullscreen support on Mac OS X.

Both native (>= OSX 10.7) and "old style" fullscreen are supported. Customize `ns-use-native-fullscreen' to change style. For >= 10.7 native is the default.

And:

New commands toggle-frame-fullscreen and toggle-frame-maximized, bound to <f11> and M-<f10>, respectively.

Solution 2

The build of Emacs distributed via http://emacsforosx.com doesn't include the fullscreen option.

If you use the Homebrew package manager, you can install Emacs with fullscreen support via

brew install emacs --cocoa

You'll then want to link Homebrew's Emacs.app to one in your /Applications directory:

ln -s `brew --prefix`/Cellar/emacs/23.2/Emacs.app /Applications/Emacs.app

Now you'll be able to use fullscreen mode via ns-toggle-fullscreen.

Solution 3

If you want to keep your version of GNU Emacs, here are two possible tested approaches.

From Amit's Thoughts: Emacs: full screen on Mac OS X for GNU (Cocoa/Nextstep) Emacs 23 :

I'm using a patched version of maxframe.el, and this function from the EmacsWiki page:

(defvar maxframe-maximized-p nil "maxframe is in fullscreen mode")
(defun toggle-maxframe ()
  "Toggle maximized frame"
  (interactive)
  (setq maxframe-maximized-p (not maxframe-maximized-p))
  (cond (maxframe-maximized-p (maximize-frame))
        (t (restore-frame))))
(define-key global-map [(alt return)] 'toggle-maxframe)

Unfortunately this doesn't hide the menubar or titlebar.

Another article recommends :

If you want to make GNU Emacs fullscreen, there are three things you should do:

1. Disable tool bar
   This can be accomplished executing (inside Emacs) (tool-bar-mode -1)
2. Disable menu bar
   This can be done executing (menu-bar-mode -1)
3. Go to full screen mode
   You have to execute (set-frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen 'fullboth)

If you want to disable always tool bar and menu bar, like me, and you want to be able to go to full screen with a keystroke (F11, for example), add this to your .emacs:

;; F11 = Full Screen
(defun toggle-fullscreen (&optional f)
  (interactive)
  (let ((current-value (frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen)))
    (set-frame-parameter nil 'fullscreen
      (if (equal 'fullboth current-value)
        (if (boundp 'old-fullscreen) old-fullscreen nil)
        (progn (setq old-fullscreen current-value)
          'fullboth)))))
(global-set-key [f11] 'toggle-fullscreen)

;; Disable tool-bar
(tool-bar-mode -1)

;; Disable Menu Bar
(menu-bar-mode -1)

Solution 4

I've successfully done this in the past using these set of commands:

True fullscreen for the Cocoa build in Emacs 23

This fork has patches for true fullscreen and it works wonderfully.

git clone git://github.com/typester/emacs.git
cd emacs
./configure --with-ns
make bootstrap
make install
mv nextstep/Emacs.app /Applications

Then, you can simply set a global key and use it:

(global-set-key (kbd "M-RET") 'ns-toggle-fullscreen)

M-RET translates to Alt+Return. You might need to install git in advance...

Alternatively, you can find some old binaries here including the patch so that you only have to set the global key; although I would really advise against downloading someone else's binaries, they're old and can't be trusted...

---

If you have/install homebrew, you can compile a March 2012 version that enables fullscreen support:

brew install https://gist.github.com/raw/1946398/e7bbb52a4fe3ae0060e65df3d4a7462730ddc822/emacs.rb --force --HEAD --cocoa --use-git-head

I found this in EmacsWiki: Full Screen - Mac OS X - Patching the binary.

Solution 5

If you run emacs in a terminal, get the new version of iTerm, it has a "Full Screen" mode.

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Comments

[Billjk]

Well, if you just acess emacs in terminal, you can make the terminal window full screen.

[qazwsx]

This seems to give maximized screen, not full screen, if you know what I mean.

[Tamara Wijsman]

Your 2nd article is not specific to Mac OS X and was written by a Debian developer, it includes focus bug.

[Tamara Wijsman]

@harrymc: Luckily I came across here, because you made a typo behind my name. The focus bug is in a function called by your script, and thus can't be fixed in the script itself.

[Ryan McGeary]

As the original author of maxframe.el, I fully support this answer.

[Aaron Jensen]

fwiw, this answer is no longer applicable to emacs 24+, see superuser.com/a/599029/78325 for a more recent answer.

[kjhughes]

Thanks. toggle-frame-fullscreen helped exit fullscreen state in separate desktop where nothing else obvious would -- no close window icon on the created desktop, for example.