Mission Control on a Mac: open it, use it, set it up

Mission Control is three things in one: an overview of your windows, the place where you add and arrange desktops (Apple calls them spaces), and the home of App Exposé and Show Desktop. The macOS details below come from Apple's guides for macOS 14, 15, 26 and 27 and a check on a Mac running macOS 26.2, all listed under Sources; where versions differ, the version is named.

Open it

Without the keyboard:

• Trackpad: swipe up with three fingers, or four if that's what System Settings › Trackpad › More Gestures › Mission Control is set to. Swipe down to leave.
• Magic Mouse: double-tap with two fingers. You can turn it on or off in System Settings › Mouse › More Gestures.
• Drag a window to the top of the screen: Apple's guides for macOS 15 and later describe this, with Drag windows to top of screen to enter Mission Control in Desktop & Dock settings to turn it on or off. Click the desktop to leave.
• A hot corner: set one to Mission Control in System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Hot Corners… (see hot corners on Mac).
• The app: Mission Control is also an app in your Applications folder, so you can open it from there or with Spotlight.

To leave, press the same keys again or swipe down. Click a window to leave and bring that window to the front.

What it shows

Every open window on your current desktop, arranged in a single layer so the one you need is easy to spot, with the Spaces bar across the top. On a second display, Mission Control shows only the windows and spaces on that display.

With Group windows by application turned on in Desktop & Dock settings, the windows are organized by app instead. Apple also suggests Mission Control for moving things between windows: copy something, open Mission Control, click the window you want, and paste.

The Spaces bar

The strip along the top shows each desktop you've created and each app in full screen or Split View as a thumbnail. Move the pointer to the top edge of the screen if it's collapsed, then click a thumbnail to go there. Apple's guide to spaces describes what you can do from it:

1. Add a desktop

   Click the Add button in the Spaces bar. You can have up to 16 spaces.

2. Move a window to it

   Drag a window from the middle of Mission Control onto a desktop's thumbnail. Drop it on a full-screen app's thumbnail instead to use the two apps in Split View.

3. Remove a desktop

   Hold the pointer over its thumbnail and click the Delete button that appears. Its windows move to another desktop. For a full-screen app, the button is Exit and takes the app out of full screen.

You don't need Mission Control to move between desktops: press ⌃← or ⌃→, or swipe left or right with three or four fingers. How to switch desktops on a Mac has the rest.

Its settings

Open System Settings › Desktop & Dock and scroll down to Mission Control (Apple's guide to these settings).

The same shortcuts are in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts… › Mission Control, along with Move left a space, Move right a space and the Switch to Desktop shortcuts. Apple's macOS 14 guide sends you to Desktop & Dock to change the Mission Control keys and its later guides to Keyboard settings; either place works.

Apple's guide for macOS 27 describes Mission Control the same way as its guides for macOS 15 and 26. The macOS 14 guide doesn't mention dragging a window to the top of the screen, and its Desktop & Dock settings have no switch for it; the switch first appears in Apple's macOS 15 guide.

App Exposé and Show Desktop

App Exposé is Mission Control for one app: press ⌃↓ to see all the open windows of the app you're using, or swipe down with three or four fingers if App Exposé is turned on in Trackpad settings. App Exposé on Mac covers it in full.

Show Desktop moves every window aside: press ⌘ with the Mission Control key, Fn-H or Fn-F11, or spread your thumb and three fingers apart on the trackpad. Do the same again, or pinch, to bring the windows back. See how to show the desktop.

What it doesn't show

• Windows on other desktops. Each desktop and full-screen app is a thumbnail in the Spaces bar; to see its windows, go there.
• Other displays' windows, when you open it on a second display: Apple says it shows only that display's windows and spaces.
• Minimized windows. They sit in the Dock, at the end near the Trash or inside the app's icon if Minimize windows into application icon is on.
• Names to search. There's no search field: you find a window by how it looks.

For every way to list what's open, see how to see all open windows on a Mac.

With Flick

Flick is a window switcher that does the opposite of Mission Control: it lists your windows rather than showing them. Hold ⌥ and tap Tab, and each window gets a row with its app icon, app name and window title, including windows on other desktops, in full screen and minimized. Type a few letters to find one, and let go to switch; picking a window on another desktop takes you there.

It shows no previews, so Mission Control is still the better tool when you need to see a window, or when you want to drag windows between desktops: Flick switches to windows but doesn't move them. The two share no keys, so you can use both. The free version switches between your 5 most recent windows; a license lists every window. The full comparison is in Flick vs Mission Control.

See how Flick lists every window