Spaces: How to use Apple’s mostly ignored macOS Mojave productivity feature

“While you’re exploring the new Finder and trying out Dark Mode, take a turn into the Mac’s less heralded but potentially much more useful virtual desktop Spaces,” William Gallagher writes for AppleInsider.

“If you use Spaces on your Mac then you probably love this feature so much that you can’t imagine not having it,” Gallagher writes. “More likely, though, you’ve vaguely heard of it and not looked to see whether it could be of use to you.”

“Even Apple seems to have forgotten this feature as it received no updates at all for macOS Mojave — at least no visible ones — and unfortunately it has call to be updated. Right now certain elements feel oddly unfinished and others are downright confusing,” Gallagher writes. “Yet when you know what this feature is supposed to do and you know how to work around its oddities, Spaces can be a boon.”

Tons more, including many screenshots, in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Who wouldn’t love another desktop or two or three or sixteen?

Seriously, though, we’ve found that two Spaces, maybe three at the most, to be ideal. How about you? Do you even use Spaces? If so, how many Spaces do you have on your Mac?

24 Comments

  1. I love spaces, but it was here long before Mojave. I have a MacOS desktop, an Ubuntu Linux Desktop, and a Windows Desktop. Using Parallels I even pop one up here and there for Android to test crap.

    I have a space for Safari, one for Chrome, and one for Firefox.

    The 32GB of RAM on this MacBook Pro comes in handy!

  2. Ignored by who? How do they know???

    My main space has Safari and banking software.
    Next space is Mail, Contacts
    Then Roon (or Audirvana or Tidal desktop)
    If running Parallels it is last.

    Messages and some other apps appear in all.

    Years ago I used an app that allowed for stacking so I could also swipe up and down. Still available with different name

    https://totalspaces.binaryage.com

  3. A perfect use for Spaces is when I’m uploading a video to YouTube. I can put a Safari browser in it’s own space so that I don’t accidentally close it while I’m working on other things. Sometimes I put my audio editing software in the same space. Quite handy!

    1. I do use spaces. Great idea though.
      It would also be great if you could name spaces that had multiple apps open.
      Sometimes a pain if you want to drag and drop from one app to another.

  4. Spaces, definitely one of the best elements of MacOS. On both my laptop & desktop I have 16 spaces with different desktop pics, and choose which one to use depending on mood. Some apps, though, I confine to a single space, some to any space, and some to every space. However, without being able to put my finger on it, it does feel unfinished in some way. But, then again, that’s in the nature of the feature.
    One improvement I would love to see, as I often have several full-screen spaces of a single app going at any one time, would be a way of easily merging just some, but not all the open windows into a single multi-tabbed screen. I know that sounds complicated, but it’s not really.

  5. I use Spaces to a limited extent. My leading usage is when I put Quicken 2007 in one Space and Safari in another. I use Safari to support the bill paying and reconciliation process (connecting to Banks and Credit Cards) without getting in the way of Quicken.

    One shortcoming I have found with Spaces is that it won’t hold a full-screen app and permit you to move to another Space for other work. For example, I play Command and Conquer which takes over the whole screen. I’d like to put that in a Space and then move to another Space to do other things (read email, e.g.), but that’s not supported.

    1. Not sure I understand your problem. You can turn any open window into a separate full-screen space, leaving the other windows available in the original space. Full screen spaces are in addition to 16 possible desktop spaces.

  6. Sorry.. but I hate Spaces badly.. at least in every previous iteration.. you move slightly and woops! your desktop is gone and you have to swipe to bring it back.. annoying as fuck.

  7. I have 5 to 6 spaces all the time. I like to have individual applications in each space. I work a lot in 3D and web in which you have to have two or three apps to accomplish a given task. My iMac currently has 40GB of RAM and I am thinking of upgrading it to 64GB. So spaces to house all those apps is essential for a fluid workflow.

  8. I use spaces on Mavericks and like it.

    Wish there was a way to add a docklet icon that showed the different spaces. Or a way to add spaces windows to the menu bar.

    Does anybody know if there are 3rd party apps that do the same thing as Spaces for OSX?

  9. Does anyone know how to fix how Spaces works with multiple monitors? For example, I often have three Excel files open, one on each monitor. If I switch to Mail on the primary monitor to write an email and try to switch back to Excel using Command-Tab, it won’t switch back to the Excel file on the primary monitor. This one flaw makes Spaces so irritating for my workflow.

  10. How do I use Spaces in Mojave ?
    I have been using them for years since Mac SO 10.6.8 and I can’t see how I get them on 10.14. (I have refused to update and very happily used my mac for years, now having to update in general due to physical failures in the computer)
    Anyone ?
    Setting this new mac up is a proper nightmare !! So many pointless changes to the system and so much lack respect for older software that’s been bought and should work on mac os for ever, irrespective of what version of mac os. Shocking amount of profiteering from Apple these days. They’ve forgotten how Jobs got them so successful in the first place. Grrrrrrr !!!!! Only about 20% of my applications work !!

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