Spaces, useful or not?

[svanstrom]

I absolutely rely on spaces to have different sets of windows/apps going in different constellations, based on what I'm doing at the time; but most other people that I see using a Mac, especially on MacBooks, don't seem to use spaces at all.

What are your experiences with spaces?

Work in multiple spaces on Mac

On your Mac, if the desktop becomes cluttered with open app windows, use Spaces to organize the windows into additional desktops.

support.apple.com

 

[Janeilfen]

Thumbs up for spaces.

 

[Tenkaykev]

I only discovered Spaces recently and have set up a second desktop with a different background picture. I sort of expected that a new space would give me a pristine desktop, but I notice that all the desktop folders in one space also appear in the second space. I opened Safari in 'Space One" and then moved to "Space two" thinking I could open a fresh instance of Safari there. when I click on the Safari icon in the dock it just takes me back to the open Safari window in Space one.
I'd sort of hoped that Spaces would be similar to working on two Laptops, with each space able to have its own individual apps running, and separate instances of each app in each space if required, if you see what I mean.
My Wife will be starting an online course later in the year and it would be ideal if her academic work could live on its own separate desktop space.
It's possible, even likely that I'm misunderstanding Spaces and the limitations of it.

 

[throAU]

I have like 5 of them on my macbook air, plus i make use of full-screen apps a lot.

 

[niklinna]

Spaces is marginally okay with a single display. With multiple displays, it's a pile of hot garbage. Or maybe macos's handling of multiple displays is just hot garbage with or without Spaces. I can never seem to get my documents to open on the display I want. Cmd+N => Window opens on seemingly random display. Drag document to Dock icon => doc opens on seemingly random display, usually not the one I dragged to. It's confusing and frustrating.

 

[Gregg2]

I've used Spaces for years. It was more valuable to me in the past. Now I don't do as much on the computer, so it's more of a habit than a need.

 

[adrianlondon]

I use them all the time. I have Mail open full-screen (well, filling the screen leaving the menu and dock visible, which I have on the left of the screen as I'm a rebel) on one space, and Firefox on another, and then most of my docked apps are set to open in my third space, and I have a forth ready for use as well.

Four-finger swipe between them (or ctrl-x) works well, and I get good use out of my 14" screen.

 

[Corefile]

I use fullscreen for things requiring focus but find more than four desktops becomes unmanageable in my mind. So I generally max at three full screen apps and one space for everything else. Note that this is on a laptop. I don't use fullscreen on any large display as that seems pointless to me for what I do.

 

[blufrog]

I tend to use full screen and tabs rather than spaces. I like the idea of it though. As @Tenkaykev said, they need to operate as independent workspaces for it to work properly. I remember the cube desktop on Linux way back when it was new, and it was totally neat. Sure, it only gave you 6 workspaces, but they were all seperate so a window opened on one was different from a window opened on another.

It would be cool if each workspace was virtualized and isolated from the main desktop.

 

[AppleFan.]

I typically use 2-3 spaces. one for when I'm working on something, another one for personal stuff like chats and entertainment. Sometimes I'll have another one (or more) for full screen app(s)

 

[zevrix]

I couldn't find any use for them. When spaces were introduced - some 18 years ago? - it sounded exciting. However, when I tried to use them, they only created more hassle than they solved - for my particular habits, that is. I always need all apps to be available to me at the same time without having to switch between different spaces constantly. Again, I can totally understand that many users can find them extremely useful.

 

[Ben J.]

Spaces has been central to how I've been using my mac since it became available. In recent years, it's basically been setup like this:

Space 1: My main desktop. Most basic apps that I don't need fullscreen (messages, notes, finder, utilities, etc, etc) are set to open here. I also use a small tool called 'Quitter' which lets me set many of those apps to quit or hide after a set time of inactivity, so after I've been using a different space for a while, when I go back to my my 'main desktop' it will most often be empty and tidy.

Space 2: My browser in fullscreen, with a few standard tabs; news, google mail inbox, often used forums, etc. Basic browsing essentially.

Space 3: My browser in fullscreen with a few tabs of streaming feeds of sports, news etc. My "TV", basically.

Space 4: most often used for Adobe Lightroom, Avid Pro Tools, and similar 'big' apps.

This is just a basic starting point, of course, I rearrange and customize spaces all the time, and move quickly between them with a two-finger swipe. But I find if I let the number of spaces grow, it quickly loses its practicality.

Option-rightarrow/leftarrow: takes me to the next space/previous space.
In fullscreen browser spaces; cmd-2-3-4... moves between tabs. A two-finger tap on the magic mouse takes me to 'mission control' (F3) to rearrange spaces.

I have two displays, cmd-F1 switches between each display with its own spaces, and both displays 'mirrored'. It's also very easy to drag one space from one display to the other.

I love Spaces.

 

[mfram]

I only discovered Spaces recently and have set up a second desktop with a different background picture. I sort of expected that a new space would give me a pristine desktop, but I notice that all the desktop folders in one space also appear in the second space. I opened Safari in 'Space One" and then moved to "Space two" thinking I could open a fresh instance of Safari there. when I click on the Safari icon in the dock it just takes me back to the open Safari window in Space one.
I'd sort of hoped that Spaces would be similar to working on two Laptops, with each space able to have its own individual apps running, and separate instances of each app in each space if required, if you see what I mean.
My Wife will be starting an online course later in the year and it would be ideal if her academic work could live on its own separate desktop space.
It's possible, even likely that I'm misunderstanding Spaces and the limitations of it.

What you're describing is separate user logins with the "Switch user" functionality. You may certainly do this. Each user has their own home directory and has separate instances of applications running separate from other users.

Spaces is multiple desktops for one user. You can put different windows on each desktop which is how I use it. Safari is in Desktop 3 for me. Mail is Desktop 2. Terminal windows in Desktop 1. Then you use the three-finger gesture on the trackpad, moving left and right, to move between the desktops. Or three-finger swipe up allows you to see an overview of all desktops and allows you to move windows to different desktops.

You can have separate Safari windows on different spaces if you want. Ask Safari to create a New Window. Then use the three-finger swipe up to open the overview. Then move the second window to another desktop.

 

[theorist9]

Back when I was writing my thesis on a single monitor, I found it invaluable. Now that I'm running three monitors, and don't need to keep as many apps open simultaneously, I no longer need it.

So you would think my feelings about it now would be neutral, since I no longer use it.

If only that were the case!

See, back when it was introduced (as multiple desktops) you could turn it on and off, i.e., make it so it wouldn't activate. Today, however, you can't do that.

So at least once/week I will accidentally, while moving things around on my screen, send an app to a new Space by pushing the window up too high (but won't realize I've done that in the moment).

Then, when I click on that app, the document I'm working on, if it exists in a different Space, will be ripped away from me as my view changes to the new Space! I asked Apple Support if there is any way to turn Spaces off so that it wouldn't inadvertently activate, and they said no, even though I have every single option for Spaces turned off in System Preferences.

So I'm annoyed that Apple, in its continued misguided effort to take control away from the user, has removed the ability to turn this feature off entirely.

 

[conmee]

I primarily use Spaces functionality to swipe between 3-4 Linux and Win11ARM virtual machines.