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What is the point of Stage Manager when we have Spaces?

Apple Knowledge Navigator

Apple Knowledge Navigator

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Original poster
Mar 28, 2010
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I might be missing something here; I just don't understand what the benefit of Stage Manager is when Spaces offers similar benefits.

Stage Manager puts app windows into 'clusters' that can be switched on the fly using a menu on the left (which, I should point out, hurts to look at).

But Spaces already does this, and I imagine for most people it's probably more effective. We can already setup multiple 'desktop' screens where app windows can be organised as the user wishes. If the user doesn't have multiple monitors then it can still be used, you can set a specific wallpaper for each Space, you can use trackpad gestures to switch between Spaces and it doesn't require the left side of the screen to be a holding area for the said app clusters.

The only advantage I can think of is that there's synergy between iPadOS and macOS, but that just highlights why converging the two operating systems isn't smart. The System Settings UI redesign is a prime example.

Thoughts?
 
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I guess it was developed for iPad first and then integrated into macOS. You're right, it's basically the top bar in mission control moved to the left part of the screen. I personally never use spaces, but think that I will use stage manager quite a bit. It seems like a better version of spaces.
 
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When you have more than 2 desktops, you have to swipe multiple times to get there and it's annoying to go back and forth.
The other option is to go to Mission Control and then click on the desktop you want to go in, but it's still a lot more steps than just switching groups on the Stage Manager.

But you can disable it if doesn't benefit to your workflow. Personally I'd sacrifice some screen real estate for the convenience of quickly switching between groups.
 
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I don't see myself using this at all on my Macs ... but I can absolutely see using it on my iPad when I upgrade it (still using a pre-M1 iPad Pro).
 
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cmChimera said:
As a person who always has too many windows open, even mission control can become overwhelming. I will say, it would help a lot if Apple just put persistent labels on windows in mission control, so you didn't have to guess.
Click to expand...
That's why I have mine set up so they don't always reshuffle when you swipe between them.
 
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MarineBand5524 said:
That's why I have mine set up so they don't always reshuffle when you swipe between them.
Click to expand...
I see that option for Spaces, but not Mission Control. So when windows move around, they end up in different spots than before when invoking mission control. The bigger problem though is when there are multiple windows of similar looking things. Have 4 or 5 Pages or Word Documents? PDFs? Finder Windows? Good luck figuring out which is which from a glance.
 
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cmChimera said:
I see that option for Spaces, but not Mission Control. So when windows move around, they end up in different spots than before when invoking mission control. The bigger problem though is when there are multiple windows of similar looking things. Have 4 or 5 Pages or Word Documents? PDFs? Finder Windows? Good luck figuring out which is which from a glance.
Click to expand...
I believe it works hand in hand, but when you have those many similar things open I get what you mean.
 
cmChimera said:
I see that option for Spaces, but not Mission Control. So when windows move around, they end up in different spots than before when invoking mission control. The bigger problem though is when there are multiple windows of similar looking things. Have 4 or 5 Pages or Word Documents? PDFs? Finder Windows? Good luck figuring out which is which from a glance.
Click to expand...
apple.stackexchange.com

How to show application windows only for current Space in Exposé, and not aggregated from all Spaces

I just started using Spaces in 10.14 (I know I'm a little late to) and was excited at first until I encountered this scenario: When I am in a Space and do Exposé to "Show me ALL Application Windo...
apple.stackexchange.com apple.stackexchange.com
Apple just needs to fix this and the problem would be solved.
 
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cmChimera said:
As a person who always has too many windows open, even mission control can become overwhelming. I will say, it would help a lot if Apple just put persistent labels on windows in mission control, so you didn't have to guess.
Click to expand...
FWIW, I just learned earlier this year, embarrassingly, that you can also hit ctrl-<downarrow> to get a Mission Control of whatever app you're currently using without having to see the windows of all the apps you're using. I use this quite frequently and find it highly convenient.
 
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elptdbi3lYI said:
It would show just the 5 windows of Pages on a grid without moving them around, meanwhile you would still have to shuffle through stage manager to find the one you're looking for.
Click to expand...
My issue with mission control is that it doesn’t label windows, which makes it difficult when there multiple windows of applications that look similar.
eoblaed said:
FWIW, I just learned earlier this year, embarrassingly, that you can also hit ctrl-<downarrow> to get a Mission Control of whatever app you're currently using without having to see the windows of all the apps you're using. I use this quite frequently and I find it highly convenient.
Click to expand...
I sometimes use this! It’s useful when when bouncing to different windows of the same app. I just frequently have to bounce around lots of apps which then I have to use mission control.
 
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matt_and_187_like_this said:
I guess it was developed for iPad first and then integrated into macOS. You're right, it's basically the top bar in mission control moved to the left part of the screen. I personally never use spaces, but think that I will use stage manager quite a bit. It seems like a better version of spaces.
Click to expand...
I agree. Always hated Spaces. This looks more useable. At least as an alternate for people who don’t want Spaces.
 
eoblaed said:
FWIW, I just learned earlier this year, embarrassingly, that you can also hit ctrl-<downarrow> to get a Mission Control of whatever app you're currently using without having to see the windows of all the apps you're using. I use this quite frequently and I find it highly convenient.
Click to expand...
I forget whether it's default behaviour or not, but for me ... 4-finger swipe up shows all the apps currently in my Space (with a list of desktops/spaces across the top) and 4-finger swipe down shows me all the windows of my current app.

Also, I have mission control as a top-left hot corner which is similar to the 4-finger swipe up except it shows thumbnail content for each Space (same as doing the 4-finger swipe then moving the cursor to the top of the screen).
 
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Tagbert said:
This looks more useable. At least as an alternate for people who don’t want Spaces.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I admit that Stage Manager does appear to make more sense on a Mac because of the free nature of the windows. On iPad there are several limitations; windows can only be resized to set ratios, can only be places on certain areas of the display, and the empty area behind the windows (which on a Mac would be the desktop) is effectively empty and therefore useless.

But I still think they could have incorporated this into the Dock somehow, perhaps using the 'right' area where minimised apps go. Perhaps a setting that could change the behaviour of this area to go from minimised apps to the Stage Manager 'clusters'? That way you're not wasting a section of the left side of the screen.
 
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Apple Knowledge Navigator said:
Interesting. I admit that Stage Manager does appear to make more sense on a Mac because of the free nature of the windows. On iPad there are several limitations; windows can only be resized to set ratios, can only be places on certain areas of the display, and the empty area behind the windows (which on a Mac would be the desktop) is effectively empty and therefore useless.

But I still think they could have incorporated this into the Dock somehow, perhaps using the 'right' area where minimised apps go. Perhaps a setting that could change the behaviour of this area to go from minimised apps to the Stage Manager 'clusters'? That way you're not wasting a section of the left side of the screen.
Click to expand...

I've been using it for the past few days on Mac and it's quite good actually. In practice it doesn't waste space as the left panel autohides if you place windows over it and reappears when you mouse to the left of the screen, there's also the option to hide at all times.
 
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