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

[zhenya]

I'm a huge user of Spaces - I always have a minimum of 3 at any given time and have come to prefer one large monitor with spaces over multiple monitor setups.

I'm still getting used to Stage Manager but while I see it as having some overlap with Spaces functionality, for me it works best as a complement. My Spaces typically have enough windows open that there is a lot of triggering of Mission Control to find what I need. I love Mission Control - it's one of my favorite parts of MacOS (Windows has tried to copy it, but their implementation remains so slow that I don't find it a practical tool the way it is on the Mac). Stage Manager allows me to sub-divide my Spaces with apps that are often logically used together.

It remains to be seen whether I stick with it long-term, but despite some bugs, I hardly find it to be the dumpster fire the cynics make it out to be.

 

[zhenya]

Only one open window on the screen in any given time unless it was grouped with other(s). This "feature" alone makes the whole thing almost useless. F.e. I see some numbers in browser and want to calculate - I open calculator and oops - the browser window disappears. I can't be bothered to group windows just to calculate some numbers or make a note using some data from other window.

I mean, this is pretty much Stage Manager's entire point. And the behavior is really no different than it is with Spaces. If your Calculator app is open in a different Space than the numbers you want to reference, you have to manually move the Calculator.

 

[madat42]

I hadn't bothered with learning or activating Stage Manager at first because of all the hate I was seeing. Now it's on and I have Slack, Teams, and Messenger grouped. It feels faster than Spaces and less of a disruption for what I want to do. Exactly what I needed.

 

[No5tromo]

I've been using stage manager for about 3 days now and I gotta say it has exceeded my expectations. Windows management was the one thing that drove me crazy in macOS and stage manager has definitely improved things. Clicking on an empty area of the desktop to reveal the whole desktop along with the 6 recent sets of apps is just divine, it finally feels like a desktop OS rather than a cluttered mess.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

I mean, this is pretty much Stage Manager's entire point.

According to Apple's guide: "The app you're currently using is in the center of the screen. The other apps you're using appear as thumbnails on the side." Ok, it's as you said, I didn't know that. But anyway, I hardly can see how this feature can be useful for many. It's just that Apple made it seem like it would be some big thing, I imagined something like MC 2, new universal window manager.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

I've been using stage manager for about 3 days now and I gotta say it has exceeded my expectations. Windows management was the one thing that drove me crazy in macOS and stage manager has definitely improved things. Clicking on an empty area of the desktop to reveal the whole desktop along with the 6 recent sets of apps is just divine, it finally feels like a desktop OS rather than a cluttered mess.

It would be good if not the main feature and purpose of the SM: focusing only on one window in any given time. I mean we are not back in the MS DOS days. To have 2+ windows on the screen one needs to group them first. It's not like this is universal windows manager that definitely shouldn't require additional actions just to have several windows on screen simultaneously other than opening them.

 

[No5tromo]

It would be good if not the main feature and purpose of the SM: focusing only on one window in any given time. I mean we are not back in the MS DOS days. To have 2+ windows on the screen one needs to group them first. It's not like this is universal windows manager that definitely shouldn't require additional actions just to have several windows on screen simultaneously other than opening them.

When working I am very particular in the way I want to group my windows or keep sh*t out of my way so the way this works is great for me although quite similar to mission control (but IMO implemented much better). If you try to think that instead of stacking windows on top of each other they just moved them to the left side it might help in getting used to it otherwise just stick to traditional windows management (ugh) maybe with the help of an app like magnet (or the free equivalent whose name I can't recall)

 

[rehkram]

Stage Manager on a Mac is a solution in search of a problem. I'll just leave it turned off at this point.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

Ok, after some using of it, I must say it's very convenient in combination with Mission Control when you need to open and check lots of videos and pictures simultaneously and switch between them. With SM on, all "minimised" windows still are visible in Mission Control and you conveniently can choose a video or picture to bring back from those sent out of the screen (i.e. "minimised")

 

[topmounter]

I'm still trying to figure out how to or whether I can use Stage Manager effectively, but I'd say Apple still has a lot of opportunity to better integrate Stage Manager, Spaces, Mission Control and Full Screen mode. I may be missing the point of Stage Manager entirely since I tend to have multiple windows organized in each Space using Moom rather than having windows stacked one atop the other, but two ideas have come to mind since I've been getting familiar with Stage Manager:

1. Gesture and Keyboard Shortcut support. A three or four finger swipe up / swipe down gesture to cycle through Stage Manager... Stages (assuming that's the right word)... would allow you to gesture right / left across Spaces and up / down through the 'Stages' within each Space.
2. A way to disable Stage Manager on a specific Space would be helpful as well so you could interact with the Desktop and apps normally in that Space... with the option of course to use Mission Control to move any apps over to a Space with Stage Manager enabled if so desired.

 

[jgbr]

Yes but some apps in spaces at full screen do not work, outlook for example if you have to drag and drop something into it gets all very messy. I think the two will work in concert but now with many options to and 3rd party solutions to window management it feels like a rework of the whole lot is needed including launchpad and mission control.