How to Create and Use Multiple Desktop Spaces on Mac in Mission Control

Working on a cluttered Mac desktop crowded with dozens of overlapping windows can quickly undermine focus and productivity. While minimising windows to the Dock or using Stage Manager helps, power users and professionals often require separate dedicated workspaces—such as keeping full-screen coding editors on one display, communication tools like Slack and Mail on another, and research browsers on a third.

macOS achieves this through Spaces, a virtual desktop management system integrated directly into Mission Control. By creating multiple Desktop Spaces, you can partition your projects into clean visual areas, assign specific apps to dedicated desktops, and swipe effortlessly between them. In this guide, we walk through how to create and manage Desktop Spaces in macOS, navigate them using gestures and keyboard shortcuts, and stop macOS from automatically rearranging your desktops.

Understanding Mission Control and Desktop Spaces

A “Space” in macOS is an independent virtual desktop that hosts its own set of open application windows. Unlike physical monitor setups, you can add up to 16 virtual Desktop Spaces to a single Mac screen. Mission Control acts as the bird’s-eye visual manager, displaying a Spaces Bar across the top of your screen showing live thumbnail previews of every active desktop, full-screen application, and Split View pair.

How to Create New Desktop Spaces on Mac

To establish a new virtual workspace:

1. Launch Mission Control using one of the following methods:
   • Swipe up with three (or four) fingers on your Multi-Touch trackpad.
   • Press the Mission Control key (represented by three small rectangles, usually F3) on your Apple keyboard.
   • Press Control + Up Arrow.
2. Move your mouse pointer to the Spaces Bar at the very top edge of your screen. The bar will expand into small preview thumbnails labelled Desktop 1, Desktop 2, etc.
3. Move your cursor to the far-right corner of the Spaces Bar and click the plus (+) icon.
4. A new workspace labelled Desktop [Number] will immediately appear in the bar.
5. Click the new thumbnail to jump straight into your pristine, empty desktop.

Switching Between Spaces Using Trackpad Gestures and Shortcuts

Transitioning between desktops during active work is fluid and instantaneous:

• Trackpad Gesture: Swipe horizontally with three (or four) fingers to the left or right to glide smoothly between adjacent Spaces.
• Magic Mouse: Swipe left or right with two fingers across the smooth top surface of your Magic Mouse.
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Press Control + Left Arrow or Control + Right Arrow to switch sequentially.
• Direct Jump: Press Control + [Number] (e.g. Control + 2 to jump straight to Desktop 2). If this shortcut is unassigned on your Mac, enable it via System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Mission Control.

Assigning Specific Apps to Specific Desktop Spaces

One of the most potent features of macOS Spaces is app pinning. You can force an app to always open and reside on a designated Desktop Space, ensuring your workspace organisation remains permanent even after system reboots:

1. Ensure the application is currently running.
2. Locate the app’s icon in your Dock.
3. Right-click (or Control-click) the Dock icon.
4. Hover over the Options submenu.
5. Under the Assign To heading, choose from three behaviours:
   • This Desktop: Locks the application strictly to your current active Desktop Space. Whenever you launch or click the app, macOS will automatically switch you to this desktop.
   • All Desktops: Floats the application window across every Space (ideal for floating calculator pads, sticky notes, or audio players).
   • None (Default): The app opens in whichever Space is active at the moment you click it.

Moving Windows and Apps Between Spaces

You can easily redistribute open applications across your virtual desktops:

Method 1: Dragging in Mission Control

1. Open Mission Control (Control + Up Arrow or swipe up with three fingers).
2. Click and hold any application window on the main screen.
3. Drag the window up into the Spaces Bar and drop it onto your desired Desktop thumbnail.

Method 2: Dragging Across Screen Edges

1. Click and hold the title bar of any window on your active desktop.
2. Drag the window firmly against the left or right physical edge of your screen and hold it there for half a second.
3. macOS will transition smoothly into the neighbouring Space, bringing the window with you. Release your mouse button to place it.

Stopping macOS from Automatically Rearranging Spaces

By default, macOS dynamically reorders your Desktop Spaces based on the most recently used application. While well-intentioned, this dynamic shuffling causes spatial disorientation because Desktop 2 suddenly becomes Desktop 1. To freeze your desktop order permanently:

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Select Desktop & Dock in the left sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the Mission Control section on the right.
4. Untick or toggle off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use.

Your Desktop numbers and spatial positions will now remain permanently fixed where you place them.

How to Close and Delete Desktop Spaces

When a project wraps up and you no longer need an extra workspace:

1. Open Mission Control.
2. Move your pointer up to the Spaces Bar at the top.
3. Hover your mouse cursor over the thumbnail of the Space you want to delete.
4. A small white cross (X) button will appear in the top-left corner of the thumbnail.
5. Click the X button.

Any open application windows situated inside that Space will automatically migrate into the adjacent active desktop, ensuring zero data loss.

Managing Spaces Across Multiple External Displays

When connecting external monitors to your MacBook or Mac desktop, macOS allows each physical display to maintain its own independent set of Spaces. In System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Mission Control, ensure Displays have separate Spaces is enabled. This lets you swipe through spaces on your laptop screen without altering or disrupting the workspaces currently visible on your external monitor.