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LOVE stage manager

T

triton100

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 15, 2010
818
1,341
The moon
I’m a bit late to the party with Ventura as I have to be very careful updates don’t tank my key software apps. Have finally updated and so far it’s been rock solid for me.

Stage manager is amazing. Everything is so much more organised and clearer to view and access. Everything feels snappier on the MacBook Pro m1. Feels like a whole new level of OS with just stage manger alone and more pleasurable to use. I usually have many apps and files open and can become unwieldy sometimes losing focus of how to get to things but SM has helped with this a lot. Good job apple.
 
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On my iMac, I find it very useful in some situations but less so in others and will sometimes turn it off. I do like to set a couple of stages of apps each built around different usages and be able to rotate between those stages. I do have troubles, and this is probably down to me, if I want to add a new app to a stage or switch an app from one stage to another, particularly if I need to do it very quickly e..g during a phone call. So, I am on a learning curve but it has promise.
 
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Most of the time, on either Ventura or iPad, Stage Manager Window Groups are superior to Split View. There's more flexibility about window placement. And of course you can have more than just 2. And creating and modifying them is much easier.

For example when iPad is in Portrait orientation Split View boundary remains vertical usually too narrow for both windows. Now they can be arranged one above the other. And with an external monitor possibilities are even greater.

And I love the way it looks on Ventura when Desktop items are hidden. I also hide Recents on both platforms. I use Mission Control gesture (4 finger swipe up) to switch contexts most of the time.

All of it seems more fluid, focussed, and transparent to me than using Spaces for everything.

And my 12.9" iPad Pro is too large most of the time for reading text laden books (lines of text have too many words), and it's nice to be able to resize the window and have the 'unused' part of the screen blurred so it's not distracting. I used to use Split View for this but this is a whole lot nicer aesthetically.
 
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It's good to hear a word from someone that just likes it. It doesn't suit me on Ventura, but I've found it interesting and kind of cool on the iPad. It feels like it's part of a larger story still to be completed, even when taking into account the past portion of the story which some staff have already fleshed out.

I think the main thing for Apple customers to celebrate is that it's all optional – you can turn it all on or turn it all off. ("Choice is good.") And Apple tends to avoid options and switches until the need for one exceeds a pretty high threshold.
 
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Starfia said:
It's good to hear a word from someone that just likes it. It doesn't suit me on Ventura, but I've found it interesting and kind of cool on the iPad. It feels like it's part of a larger story still to be completed, even when taking into account the past portion of the story which some staff have already fleshed out.

I think the main thing for Apple customers to celebrate is that it's all optional – you can turn it all on or turn it all off. ("Choice is good.") And Apple tends to avoid options and switches until the need for one exceeds a pretty high threshold.
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It was my experience on iPad - when I finally was able to try out External Monitor support - that got me take another at it again on Ventura, months after I'd dismissed it. Somehow it didn't click the first time.
 
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tarsins said:
I really can't get on with it. If I just want to use the calculator to add-up some stuff I'm looking at on the web then when I click on Calculator in the dock, the browser disappears.
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That's by design. I understand why you don't like it. I also don't use it. I enabled it again on my MacBook Pro and grouped my twitter app (Spring for Twitter still works) with the Mail.app. I was after that in Safari and wanted to bring up the Twitter app. What did Stage Manager do? It brought the mail.app too up front, hiding Safari. I think I need more flexibility and don't mind if many windows clutter my desktop. Using Exposè is better for me.
I understand the value though of Stage Manager, especially for specific workflows, where two or more apps must be displayed at the same time. I rarely have such workflows, but it's good to know that macOS has this feature. 99% of the time though I just keep Stage Manager disabled.
 
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triton100 said:
I’m a bit late to the party with Ventura as I have to be very careful updates don’t tank my key software apps. Have finally updated and so far it’s been rock solid for me.

Stage manager is amazing. Everything is so much more organised and clearer to view and access. Everything feels snappier on the MacBook Pro m1. Feels like a whole new level of OS with just stage manger alone and more pleasurable to use. I usually have many apps and files open and can become unwieldy sometimes losing focus of how to get to things but SM has helped with this a lot. Good job apple.
Click to expand...
I’m also in the loving stage manager camp. I’ve tried and tried using multiple desktops in the past but always struggled to adapt. But stage manager just works for me with a single 5k2k monitor setup and absolutely speeds up my workflow. That said, I don’t enjoy using it nearly as much when working off the 14” MBP screen when undocked. I tend to revert back to working with a single app/window at a time.
 
I find it buggy, so I don't use it. Sometimes, but rarely, the little icons disappear on the window tiles. Also, dragging a window from one monitor to another causes some strange grouping behavior; if one window is open a monitor and another window is dragged to that monitor, they sometimes form a group of two applications that focus as a single entity.

For example, if I have Preview open on one monitor and I drag my open Safari window to that monitor, those two apps open and close as a group. However if I do that with News or Mail instead of Safari, that doesn't happen.
 
svenmany said:
I find it buggy, so I don't use it. Sometimes, but rarely, the little icons disappear on the window tiles. Also, dragging a window from one monitor to another causes some strange grouping behavior; if one window is open a monitor and another window is dragged to that monitor, they sometimes form a group of two applications that focus as a single entity.

For example, if I have Preview open on one monitor and I drag my open Safari window to that monitor, those two apps open and close as a group. However if I do that with News or Mail instead of Safari, that doesn't happen.
Click to expand...
Yes I’ve noticed all of these things but am expecting them to be fixed soon. I’m willing to live with them until then as the overall workflow is just amazing.
 
aperfectcircle said:
I’m also in the loving stage manager camp. I’ve tried and tried using multiple desktops in the past but always struggled to adapt. But stage manager just works for me with a single 5k2k monitor setup and absolutely speeds up my workflow. That said, I don’t enjoy using it nearly as much when working off the 14” MBP screen when undocked. I tend to revert back to working with a single app/window at a time.
Click to expand...
I only use it on my 16inch I rarely use my xdr display and I have no problem. In fact it feels like it becomes even more useful on smaller screens, I guess because of the fact that it helps tidy up and organise things on such a small screen. Perhaps 14 inch is too small though and 16 is the sweet spot. Also if they had an option to make the app icons larger that might help people on smaller screens to quickly identify which is which. Stage manager as been a game changer for my work flow. It’s so good
 
triton100 said:
Yes I’ve noticed all of these things but am expecting them to be fixed soon. I’m willing to live with them until then as the overall workflow is just amazing.
Click to expand...

I'd like to like it. I think it might help me focus more rather than getting distracted by other applications that I can glance at. I might try harder and see what I think after a while.

Another issue I have is really about large window situations. When a window is large (I keep my Microsoft Remote Desktop session large), the icons on the left are hidden. You have to hover over them to get them to expose. That makes it hard to remember which applications are on that monitor. Also, hovering can be a challenge when your mouse can too easily move to the next monitor over.

But, I'm going to try!!
 
tarsins said:
I really can't get on with it. If I just want to use the calculator to add-up some stuff I'm looking at on the web then when I click on Calculator in the dock, the browser disappears.
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That’s a good point. That’s one thing that bugs me. They need to have some option where you press a key and it stops that from happening for the period of you holding the key down or something like that
 
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VitoBotta said:
I just turned it on. How do I switch between windows of the same app? Still with cmd+` or is there a fancier way with stage manager?
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You have to go into the app itself and then all the windows appear again. Not sure you can cycle through them as you’re suggesting
 
svenmany said:
I'd like to like it. I think it might help me focus more rather than getting distracted by other applications that I can glance at. I might try harder and see what I think after a while.

Another issue I have is really about large window situations. When a window is large (I keep my Microsoft Remote Desktop session large), the icons on the left are hidden. You have to hover over them to get them to expose. That makes it hard to remember which applications are on that monitor. Also, hovering can be a challenge when your mouse can too easily move to the next monitor over.

But, I'm going to try!!
Click to expand...
Sure it takes a bit of getting used to in terms of the usability but that’s like any user interface. Good luck 👍🏼
 
Enjoying it! I'm looking forward to Apple fixing the bugs, but I'm still going to try to use.

Another bug I had is that I opened a new app on one monitor and it caused the focused app on another monitor to collapse.

One fringe use case that stage manager doesn't support is when I'm sharing screens. If I want to focus on a single app, then the screen sharing app allows that. But, if I'm sharing my entire screen, the intention is to look at windows from more than one app simultaneously. It's not really about my work focus, but about communicating information to someone else. But, the really nice thing is there's a button in control center that allows me to easily toggle Stage Manager on and off. Ventura's System Settings app is too slow on my 2018 computer, so it would be aggravating to have to use it for quickly toggling Stage Manager.

I appreciate this thread and how it motivated me to work with Stage Manager.
 
At first indifferent but after a few times using I do really like it now. Actually really prefer it even if there are some tweaks and refinements to usability that are needed.

One issue though that is a deal killer and has stopped me from being able to use it though is that in Photoshop you can’t cycle through document windows with “Command + ~”. Works fine and as expected in other apps with stage manager on but in Photoshop only works with it off. Since I’ve been using “Command + ~” with Photoshop for years it’s not something I’m going to change workflow wise. Having to turn the feature on and off also isnt exactly ideal and disrupts workflow equally as much.

Hoping this issue get fixed soon as I do like the feature and its organization, focus, clarity, and context etc…. it provides to the workspace.
 
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dsaponaro said:
At first indifferent but after a few times using I do really like it now. Actually really prefer it even if there are some tweaks and refinements to usability that are needed.

One issue though that is a deal killer and has stopped me from being able to use it though is that in Photoshop you can’t cycle through document windows with “Command + ~”. Works fine and as expected in other apps with stage manager on but in Photoshop only works with it off. Since I’ve been using “Command + ~” with Photoshop for years it’s not something I’m going to change workflow wise. Having to turn the feature on and off also isnt exactly ideal and disrupts workflow equally as much.

Hoping this issue get fixed soon as I do like the feature and its organization, focus, clarity, and context etc…. it provides to the workspace.
Click to expand...
Photoshop fails to behave like a real Mac app in several ways: won't run full screen, just 'maximized' (which is not the same thing), and (I have two displays) will often open dialogs on the 'other' display instead of the one it is running on, and usually not where I can see it. Have to go poking around for it.
 
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martens said:
Photoshop fails to behave like a real Mac app in several ways: won't run full screen, just 'maximized' (which is not the same thing), and (I have two displays) will often open dialogs on the 'other' display instead of the one it is running on, and usually not where I can see it. Have to go poking around for it.
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Yeah, Im not a fan of its maximizing instead of full screen either.

I believe the dialogue issue you mention may correlate with what screen you have set for the main monitor where you have the menu bar assigned in the arrangement section of display preferences? Most of my dialogues pop up there at least initially before repositioning etc…. But honestly it’s just easier to be sure I’m running PS on my main display instead of any others.
 
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