Mission Control on a Mac: everything it does

Mission Control is the bird's eye view of everything open on your Mac. It is the first tool most people reach for when windows get out of hand.

Opening it

• Swipe up with three or four fingers on the trackpad.
• Press ⌃ ↑, or the Mission Control key (F3 on many keyboards).
• Double tap the mouse surface with two fingers on a Magic Mouse.
• Set a hot corner in Desktop & Dock settings.

What you can do inside it

• Click a window to bring it forward.
• Hover a window and press Space to preview it larger.
• Drag a window to a Space at the top to move it there.
• Click the plus at the top right to add a Space.

Settings worth a look

In Desktop & Dock: Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use reorders your desktops behind your back; turn it off if you rely on their order. Group windows by application stacks windows of the same app together.

What it cannot do

Mission Control shows the mess; it does not tidy it. Close it and every window is exactly where it was, overlapping. If you open it twenty times a day, the problem is the layout underneath. ClutterFreeMac keeps windows side by side so the one you want is a key or swipe away, and Mission Control still works on top of it.