The Mission Control Clutter
Mission Control is an essential macOS feature that allows you to see all open windows at a glance by swiping up with three fingers on the trackpad. By default, macOS attempts to organize this view by automatically grouping windows by their parent application. For example, if you have five different Safari windows open alongside two Word documents, Mission Control will visually stack the five Safari windows on top of each other. While this seems tidy, it completely defeats the purpose of Mission Control if you need to quickly locate one specific Safari window, as the stacked view obscures the contents of the windows underneath.
Scattering the Windows
To ensure every single open document is visible simultaneously and stop macOS from automatically stacking windows by application, you must disable the grouping feature within the Desktop & Dock settings.
Click the Apple logo in the top-left corner of the menu bar and select System Settings. Scroll down the left-hand navigation pane and click on Desktop & Dock. Scroll down the right-hand panel until you locate the Mission Control section. Look for a toggle switch labelled Group windows by application. Click this toggle to turn it Off. The effect is immediate. Activate Mission Control (swipe up with three or four fingers). Instead of seeing neat but unhelpful application stacks, every single window on your desktop will be scattered individually across the screen, allowing you to instantly identify and select the exact document you need based on its visual preview.