LOVE stage manager

[Bazza1]

Just moved to Ventura with a new Mac Mini (kept my 'old' Mac Air 2017 - with all its ports and on Monterey - for work travel), and have tried Stage Manager.
Problematic right off the bat as I have my Dock on the left side of my screen - taking advantage of width over depth on screen - which then sends the Stage Managed icons to the right side of the screen, obliterating useful icons I have there. Sure, I can turn off Desktop icons in Stage Manager - but then how does that help me access them at the same time? Should be able to place the Stage Manager icons wherever you like - or at least have the OS recognize where the Dock is and adjust placement accordingly. Trying to out-do Mission Control?

Unlike a real Stage Manager, it doesn't just work and make projects easier.

 

[zakarhino]

Haven't upgraded to Ventura yet because of the catastrophic stories I keep hearing but I really want to try Stage Manager. The feature didn't interest me at all during the keynote because I thought the same as many others: "What's the point, Spaces work fine"

Upon further reflection I believe Stage Manger is (or rather has the potential to be) the perfect companion to Spaces, not a replacement, because it elevates the macOS Space system from a one dimensional system to a two dimensional one. I know for sure it will either be too clunky or not quite meet my expectations in terms of usability but here's my thinking:

I currently use Spaces on a per-project/domain level. One space per project/domain. So one space might be everything to do with AI research, another one is everything I need for developing my website, another is everything I need to develop a project I'm working on, another is dedicated to research for a company, one is for media/music, one is for art, one is for finances, and so on and so on. Right now all of the windows in those spaces are just sitting there and I have to manually click on each window I need for a given task in the 'work pipeline' for that space.

Here's what my Spaces look like:

	Space 1 Dev project	Space 2 Website dev	Space 3 AI stuff	Space 4 Research stuff
App Windows in my space	VS Code Another VS code Chrome Dev tools Terminal for build Terminal for testing General purpose terminal for experiments Firefox Finder for project files Finder for test files Finder for documentation/screenshots Notion for docs Apple Notes for general jotting of notes Slack 1Password More stuff depending on what I'm doing at the time	Similar assortment of various app windows...	Similar assortment of various app windows...	Similar assortment of various app windows...

For example let's say I'm working on a developer project. When I'm coding I want to have VS Code, my build terminal, and a Finder window which has all of the project workfiles in it but when I switch to testing I want to have Chrome, the dev tools window, a finder window with other files for testing, 1Password, and whatever else. Now I want to perform a bit of research and lookup some documentation, so I want Notion, Apple Notes, Firefox, and ANOTHER separate Finder window open for storing docs. Finally I might switch to comms with Slack and notion to update people on what I'm doing.

So in a given space I might have 10+ windows (on an average good day) dedicated to one project and switching between them depending on my subtask (coding, testing, research, and comms as mentioned in the above paragraph) is clunky because it requires a lot of strategic window stacking and shifting in and out of Mission Control.

What I'm hoping Stage Manager brings is a second dimension to my Space system so I can group windows together in perfect positions based on context/task for that given project and switch between them whilst hiding the unnecessary windows for that subtask. I don't want to do this with separate spaces because that's too clunky for me and violates my intuition of "Spaces as project domains." With Stage Manager I'm hoping my workflow looks like the following:

	Space 1 Dev project	Space 2 Website dev	Space 3 AI stuff	Space 4 Research stuff
Coding stage manager context	VS Code Another VS code Terminal for build Docs from firefox/notion Finder for project files	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...
Testing stage manager context	Chrome Dev tools Terminal for testing Finder for test files 1Password	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...
Research stage manager context	Firefox Notion Apple notes Finder for docs/other stuff Anything else I use for research...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...
Comms stage manager context	Slack Notion Apple Notes Finder for screenshots/video recordings Anything else I need for comms...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...	Whatever contexts and windows I need for this Space project...

Obviously for different Spaces I want different stage manager modes, so for example a media Space I only need three contexts: "Music" which has Tidal and EQ, "YouTube" which has just youtube stuff open in Firefox, and "Movies" which has Infuse and my Finder window for movies or the TV app

Again I'm assuming Stage Manager won't give me that ideal setup but that's where I'm hoping Apple takes it.

 

[Ad47uk]

As a Mac newbie, like a 4 day newbie, I thought I would try this stage manager thing, It seems useful, but not so sure at the moment, but then everything on the MAc is new to me compared to Windows, so I have to get used to all of it.
Can it only hold four things at a time or am I missing something?

 

[Ben J.]

I guess I'm repeating myself but;
I used to have mostly full screen apps in my spaces, and a desktop quite cluttered with small apps and utilities. I now have fewer spaces, still in full screen mostly, and an uncluttered desktop with Stage manager on the left side (in auto hide) letting me see one app or app-group at a time. On the right side I have my very customized Dock, also in auto hide, with access to almost anything. Very neat.

 

[Ben J.]

As a Mac newbie, like a 4 day newbie, I thought I would try this stage manager thing, It seems useful, but not so sure at the moment, but then everything on the MAc is new to me compared to Windows, so I have to get used to all of it.
Can it only hold four things at a time or am I missing something?

Like with anything on mac, if you don't see any need or usefulness in it, forget it. And maybe another day you try it again and DO find it useful. You can turn SM off in system settings, and it has a menu bar item that lets you turn it on or off.

For me, it can hold up to six apps. Any more apps active, then it shows the six most recently used.

 

[svenmany]

I use it now and again because I find it visually pleasant and a change of pace. Maybe I don't find it otherwise useful because I've never used full-screen apps; probably because I rarely want to focus exclusively on one thing for long. Stage Manager seems to be an elegant alternative to the full screen experience; it's all about one app at a time usage.

In all honestly, if I were to be focusing on one app at a time, I would find Stage Manager a bit more comfortable than full screen apps using Mission Control. And more honesty: I wish they had just improved Mission Control, with respect to full screen apps and multiple spaces, to make it more comfortable, rather than introducing a completely independent approach.

 

[Ben J.]

I think most of the people who replied that they don't like it or use it in this thread haven't really made an effort. Their loss. Goodbye.

 

[Ad47uk]

Like with anything on mac, if you don't see any need or usefulness in it, forget it. And maybe another day you try it again and DO find it useful. You can turn SM off in system settings, and it has a menu bar item that lets you turn it on or off.

For me, it can hold up to six apps. Any more apps active, then it shows the six most recently used.

I know how to turn it off as I turned it on in the first place, I was looking around and saw it and wondered what it was. i still have it on, but still not sure if it is that useful.
I will try it for a while longer, the problem is sometimes it will come into view when the mouse pointer goes too far to the left

 

[Big Bad D]

I think most of the people who replied that they don't like it or use it in this thread haven't really made an effort. Their loss. Goodbye.

Goodbye to you too. I do not currently use stage manager and struggle to see how it fits into my typical usage. But I am interested to follow this thread to see if I am missing something useful. So instead of such a message and since you have such an attitude to non users, how about sharing what you think we're missing?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I think most of the people who replied that they don't like it or use it in this thread haven't really made an effort. Their loss. Goodbye.

Their loss? So you're implying that their opinions are invalid because they don't align with yours?

Also, what do you consider to be enough 'effort' to find a feature useful? How do you know what level of effort these people have put in?

 

[dmccloud]

I think most of the people who replied that they don't like it or use it in this thread haven't really made an effort. Their loss. Goodbye.

Instead of making broad generalizations about those people who don't like Stage Manager, why not try to understand that it does not fit into everyone's workflow or how they use their machines? Better yet, why not try to explain the benefits of Stage Manager to those of us who have tried the feature and chose not to continue using it?

 

[Ad47uk]

Ok, i have used stage manager for a couple of days or so, but it is getting annoying because if you have an app that goes right up to the left-hand side of the screen you move the mouse pointer over there for a reason then out pop stage manager.
It doesn't happen in full screen

 

[iamfredrik]

I have used stage manager since the end of last year and have really begun to dislike it. My biggest complaint is that it's to the left of the screen, I really dislike that, and I also dislike the window behavior it imposes. However, I would like to see some of its features incorporated into the dock. When minimizing windows into the dock, I would like them to be stacked, just like in stage manager. Clicking a window stack should then bring up the latest window, and click and hold should bring up a list of open windows, same ui as if you have a file folder in the dock where you can select to view it as a fan, grid or list.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I think you’ve hit the nail on the head - useful for smaller screens, less so for larger ones.