Set up ClutterFreeMac in a minute.

1. Install

1. Open the download from your receipt email or the page you saw after checkout.
2. Drag ClutterFreeMac into the Applications folder.
3. Open it from Applications or Spotlight. It is notarized by Apple, so it opens like any other app.

2. Turn on two permissions

ClutterFreeMac arranges windows, so macOS asks you to allow that once. The welcome window then asks for smooth switching, so moving between screens slides under your fingers like Spaces. Each step takes you straight to the right place:

1. Click Open System Settings in the welcome window.
2. In Privacy & Security > Accessibility, turn on the switch next to ClutterFreeMac. The welcome moves on by itself.
3. Click Open System Settings again. In Privacy & Security > Screen & System Audio Recording, turn on the switch next to ClutterFreeMac.
4. When macOS offers to quit and reopen it, choose Quit & Reopen. The welcome picks up where you left off.

Only the first switch is required. Choose Not Now at the second and the windows glide on their own instead; you can turn it on later from the menu bar. Pictures of your windows stay in memory and are never saved or sent.

3. Learn four keys

Or swipe sideways with three fingers on the trackpad, point at the bottom of the screen for the strip dock, or click the arrows at the screen edges. Every shortcut is listed, and can be changed, in Settings > Shortcuts. The full list.

If three finger swipes switch between full screen apps instead, open Settings > Mac Setup: it shows the one Trackpad setting to change, or choose four fingers in Settings > Navigation.

4. Arrange it, and save it

Open Settings > Arrange. Your strip is drawn as tiles: drag apps into order, drop one onto another to stack them, drag a column's right edge to change its width. Type a name like Writing and click Save layout. Switch to it any time from Layouts in the menu bar.

5. Make it yours

• Settings > Layout: widths to cycle through, gaps, centre mode, focus ring colour and dimming.
• Settings > Navigation: the strip dock (auto-hide, always or off, and its size), edge arrows, swipe with three or four fingers, focus follows the pointer.
• Settings > Apps: apps that always float, open full width, or keep the start or end of the strip.
• Settings > Displays: leave a display out.
• Settings > Automation: links, a Terminal command and Raycast commands for every action and layout.

Uninstall

Quit ClutterFreeMac from its menu bar icon, then drag it from Applications to the Bin. Your windows stay exactly where they are.