How to stop your Mac changing the order of your desktops
If your desktops keep swapping places, one setting is to blame. Where to turn it off, and two related settings that make Spaces feel unpredictable.
Turn off System Settings, Desktop & Dock, Mission Control, Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use. Your desktops stay in the order you made them.
With it on, macOS moves the desktop you used most recently next to the one you are on. It sounds helpful, but it means ⌃ → takes you somewhere different each time.
Two more settings that move things
- When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application. With it on, ⌘ Tab can whisk you to another desktop. See why the Mac switches desktop.
- Group windows by application changes how Mission Control lays out windows, not the desktops themselves, but it makes windows look like they moved.
Fewer desktops to rearrange
Many people add desktops just to make room for more windows. ClutterFreeMac makes room on one desktop instead: windows sit in columns on a strip that runs past the edge of the screen, in an order that only changes when you move them.
Questions
Why do my desktops keep changing order on my Mac?
Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use is on. Turn it off in System Settings, Desktop & Dock, Mission Control.
Read next
- Guide
Spaces on a Mac: using multiple desktops well
How to add desktops, move windows between them, switch with keys and gestures, and the habits that make Spaces useful instead of another place to lose things.
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Why your Mac jumps to another desktop when you switch apps
⌘ Tab sends you flying to another Space because of one Mission Control setting. How to turn it off, and what changes when you do.
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How to keep a window on every desktop on a Mac
Make an app follow you to every Space with Assign To All Desktops. How to set it, which apps it suits, and why it applies to the app rather than one window.
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