If you use a Mac for work, you have probably experienced the frustration of having dozens of overlapping windows cluttering your screen. You might have Safari, Mail, Finder, a text editor, and a messaging app all open at once, layered on top of each other with no clear organisation. Clicking between them means constantly hunting for the right window, resizing things manually, and losing your train of thought.
Apple introduced Stage Manager in macOS Ventura to solve exactly this problem. Stage Manager is a window management system that automatically organises your open applications into neat groups on the side of your screen, leaving only the app you are actively using in the centre. It is essentially a middle ground between the chaos of overlapping windows and the rigid structure of full-screen mode.
How Stage Manager Changes Window Management
When Stage Manager is active, your Mac’s desktop behaves differently. The application you are currently working in occupies the centre of the screen. All your other open applications are automatically pushed to a vertical strip of small thumbnail previews on the left side of the screen. These thumbnails update in real time, so you can see what is happening in each app at a glance.
Clicking on any thumbnail instantly brings that application to the centre, and the previous app slides back into the thumbnail strip. The transition is animated and smooth, making the experience feel natural rather than jarring.
The key advantage is focus. Instead of constantly being distracted by visible background windows, you only see what you are working on. Everything else is accessible but out of the way.
How to Enable Stage Manager on macOS
There are two ways to turn Stage Manager on or off:
Method 1: Using Control Centre
- Click the Control Centre icon in the top-right corner of the menu bar (it looks like two small toggle switches).
- Click Stage Manager to toggle it on. The icon will highlight to indicate it is active.
- Click it again to turn it off.
Method 2: Using System Settings
- Open System Settings (click the Apple menu in the top-left corner and select “System Settings”).
- In the sidebar, click Desktop & Dock.
- Scroll down to the Desktop & Stage Manager section.
- Toggle Stage Manager on or off.
When you first enable it, all your open windows will instantly rearrange. The currently focused app stays in the centre, and everything else slides to the left thumbnail strip.
Creating App Groups for Multi-Tasking
Stage Manager does not limit you to one application at a time. You can create groups of applications that appear together in the centre workspace. This is useful for tasks that require two or three apps side by side.
For example, if you are writing a report, you might want a word processor and a web browser visible at the same time. To create a group:
- Open the first application (for example, Pages).
- From the thumbnail strip on the left, drag the second application’s thumbnail into the centre workspace.
- Both applications are now grouped together and will appear as a single unit in the thumbnail strip.
When you click away to another app and then click back on this group, both Pages and Safari will reappear exactly as you arranged them.
To remove an app from a group, simply drag its window back to the thumbnail strip on the left.
Customising Stage Manager Behaviour
Stage Manager offers several customisation options through System Settings. Navigate to System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Stage Manager, then click the Customise button next to the toggle.
Recent Applications
By default, the thumbnail strip is always visible on the left side of the screen. You can choose to hide it so that thumbnails only appear when you move your mouse cursor to the left edge of the screen. This gives you more screen space when working with a single app.
Desktop Items
Stage Manager can either show or hide your desktop icons and files. If you choose to hide them, clicking on an empty area of the desktop will briefly reveal your files and folders. This keeps the desktop visually clean while still allowing access when needed.
Show Windows from an Application
You can choose whether Stage Manager shows all windows from an application at once, or only the most recent window. If you regularly work with multiple Finder windows or multiple browser windows, showing all windows at once ensures nothing gets hidden accidentally.
Stage Manager vs Mission Control
macOS already has Mission Control (triggered by swiping up with three or four fingers on the trackpad), which shows all open windows spread across the screen. Stage Manager and Mission Control solve different problems:
- Mission Control gives you a bird’s-eye view of everything and lets you switch quickly. It is a momentary overview — you activate it, choose a window, and it disappears.
- Stage Manager is a persistent organisational system. It changes how your desktop works full time, automatically managing window positions and visibility.
You can use both features simultaneously. Mission Control still works normally when Stage Manager is active, giving you an additional way to navigate your windows.
Stage Manager vs Full-Screen and Split View
macOS also supports Full-Screen mode (clicking the green button in the top-left corner of a window) and Split View (holding the green button and selecting a second app). These features are useful but rigid — they lock you into exactly one or two apps with no flexibility.
Stage Manager is more fluid. You can have any number of apps in a group, arrange them however you like within the centre workspace, and switch between groups instantly. It offers the focus benefits of full-screen mode with the flexibility of regular windowed mode.
When Stage Manager Is Most Useful
- Single-monitor setups: If you do not have a second monitor, Stage Manager is especially valuable because it maximises the usefulness of your limited screen space.
- Research and writing: Group your browser and word processor together for seamless reference work.
- Creative workflows: Group a design tool, a colour picker, and a file browser together.
- Communication management: Keep Slack, Mail, and Calendar in one group and switch to them as a set when needed.
- Presentations: Quickly switch between Keynote and Notes without fumbling through overlapping windows.
Known Limitations
- Stage Manager works best on Macs with Apple silicon (M1 chip or later). On older Intel Macs running macOS Ventura, it still functions but may feel slightly less responsive.
- Some users find the thumbnail strip takes up too much horizontal space on smaller screens (such as a 13-inch MacBook). Hiding the strip and using the hover-to-reveal option helps.
- Stage Manager groups are not persistent across restarts. If you shut down your Mac and reboot, you will need to recreate your groups.
- Not all applications behave perfectly with Stage Manager. Some older or poorly optimised apps may not resize correctly when dragged into a group.
Stage Manager is not a replacement for good window management habits, but it is a genuinely useful tool for anyone who regularly works with many applications at once. If you have tried it briefly and dismissed it, consider spending a full working day with it enabled — most users find it becomes second nature within a few hours.