How to switch between desktops on a Mac

Apple's instructions are the same on macOS 14 Sonoma, macOS 15 Sequoia, macOS 26 Tahoe and macOS 27, except where a note below says otherwise. Everything here is built in; there's nothing to install.

What a desktop is

A desktop is a separate screen for your windows, and Apple's guides also call it a space: Work in multiple spaces describes them as “additional desktops, called spaces”. The two words mean the same thing. When you're on a desktop, you see only the windows on it, apart from apps you've set to appear on every desktop. You make extra desktops in Mission Control, up to 16, and macOS numbers them Desktop 1, Desktop 2 and so on. Apple's guide doesn't describe a way to rename them.

An app in full screen, or two apps side by side in Split View, also get a space of their own. That's why ⌃→ can land you in a full-screen app: it sits in the same row as your desktops. Moving between full-screen apps on purpose is covered in how to switch between full-screen apps. With more than one display and Displays have separate Spaces turned on, in System Settings › Desktop & Dock under Mission Control, each display has a set of desktops of its own.

Move left and right

Apple's guide gives one pair of keys for this: hold Control and press the Right or Left arrow. Each press moves one space, in the order the Spaces bar in Mission Control shows them, full-screen apps included.

⌘Tab can change desktops too. By default, when you switch to an app, macOS takes you to a desktop that has open windows for it. If that's what keeps moving you, why your Mac keeps switching desktops covers the setting behind it.

Jump to a desktop by number

macOS has a shortcut for each desktop, but they're off until you turn them on, and the list shows one only for each desktop you've made. Add the desktops first (see below).

1. Open Keyboard Shortcuts

   Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Keyboard in the sidebar, then click Keyboard Shortcuts.

2. Choose Mission Control

   Click Mission Control in the list of categories. If you don't see the desktop shortcuts, click the arrow next to the Mission Control row to show them. If Switch to Desktop 2 still isn't there, add desktops in Mission Control first.

3. Turn on the ones you want

   Select the checkbox next to Switch to Desktop 1, Switch to Desktop 2 and so on.

4. Press the keys

   ⌃1 goes to Desktop 1, ⌃2 to Desktop 2, and so on up to ⌃9. Desktop 10 uses ⌃0, and Desktops 11 to 16 use ⌃⌥1 to ⌃⌥6.

To use other keys, double-click a shortcut and press the keys you want. Apple's keyboard shortcuts guide explains turning shortcuts on and changing them in the Mission Control category, but doesn't list these ones: the names and keys above are as macOS 26 Tahoe sets them.

With a trackpad or mouse

• Trackpad: swipe left or right with three or four fingers. Which one is set by Swipe between full-screen applications in System Settings › Trackpad › More Gestures; despite the name, it moves between desktops too.
• Magic Mouse: swipe left or right with two fingers. Double-tap with two fingers to open Mission Control.
• Any mouse: set a hot corner to Mission Control in System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Hot Corners, then move the pointer into that corner and click a desktop along the top.

Apple's Multi-Touch gestures page notes that some versions of macOS use three fingers instead of four, so check the demo for each gesture in Trackpad settings. Apple's guides for macOS 14 and 15 also describe showing your spaces in the Touch Bar, on a Mac that has one; the guides for macOS 26 and 27 don't.

From Mission Control

Mission Control is the way to see every desktop before you pick one. Press ⌃↑ or the Mission Control key, or swipe up on the trackpad. Your desktops, full-screen apps and Split View pairs appear as thumbnails in the Spaces bar along the top: move the pointer to the top edge of the screen, then click the one you want. On macOS 15 and later you can also open Mission Control by dragging a window to the top of the screen.

With two displays, Mission Control on the second display shows only the windows and spaces on that display. A full tour is in how to use Mission Control.

Add, remove and reorder desktops

• Add one: open Mission Control and click the Add button in the Spaces bar. You can have up to 16.
• Remove one: in Mission Control, move the pointer to the top edge, hold it over the desktop and click the Delete button that appears. Any windows on it move to another desktop; nothing closes.
• Leave full screen from here: hold the pointer over a full-screen app's thumbnail and click its Exit button.
• Keep them in order: macOS reorders desktops by how recently you used them while Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use is on, in System Settings › Desktop & Dock under Mission Control. Turn it off and Desktop 3 stays third.

Apple suggests one more trick to tell desktops apart: give each its own wallpaper. Assign System Settings to All Desktops first (next section), then change the wallpaper on each desktop.

Assign an app to a desktop

Once you have two or more desktops, you can give an app a home. Control-click its icon in the Dock (open the app first if it isn't there), choose Options, then pick one under Assign To:

• All Desktops: the app opens in every space.
• This Desktop: it opens only in the current space. In full screen, it still gets a space of its own.
• Desktop on Display and a number: it opens in the current space on that display.
• None: it opens in whichever space you're using.

This works per app, not per window. To move one window to a different desktop, see how to move a window to another desktop.

When the shortcuts stop working

Apple documents the first four checks; the last two follow from how desktops work:

• Check they're turned on. In Keyboard Shortcuts › Mission Control, the checkboxes next to Move left a space, Move right a space and each Switch to Desktop shortcut you use must be selected. Apple's guide uses those checkboxes to turn shortcuts off, so one may have been cleared.
• Look for a clash. If you give a shortcut keys that another command or app already uses, Apple says the new one won't work. Change one of the two; finding a shortcut conflict shows how.
• Restore the defaults. Click Restore Defaults at the bottom left of Keyboard Shortcuts to put every shortcut back to its original keys.
• Reopen your apps. After you change a shortcut, Apple says to quit and reopen the apps you're using for it to take effect.
• Check the desktop exists. ⌃→ does nothing on your last space, and ⌃4 does nothing if you have three desktops.
• Landing on the wrong desktop? If ⌃2 doesn't show the desktop you expect, macOS may have reordered them; see the setting under Add, remove and reorder desktops.

With Flick

Often you switch desktops to reach one window. Flick, the window switcher we make, skips the desktop step: hold ⌥ and tap Tab, and the windows on every desktop and display are in one list, full-screen apps included. Tap to the window you want, or type part of its app's name or title, and let go. Flick switches to that window's desktop and brings it forward.

A row for a window on a desktop you can't see carries an Another Desktop icon; Flick doesn't say which number. It doesn't add, remove or reorder desktops, and it doesn't move windows between them. If you'd rather it listed only what's on the desktop you're on, turn on Show only the active Space in Flick's Settings › General. The free version switches between your 5 most recent windows, wherever they are; a license unlocks every window.

How Flick handles desktops and full-screen apps