Tired of your various Mac apps winding up in the wrong virtual desktop? I know the feeling.
In addition to assigning shortcuts to menu items and specific application actions, a common desire that crops up with many Mac users is to actually launch a file or application with a dedicated shortcut. These 'global shortcuts' work from anywhere in the system and are very useful when assigned to your most used apps and files. In Apple School Manager, sign in with an account that has the role of Administrator, Site Manager, or Device Enrollment Manager. Click Devices in the sidebar, search for a device in the Search field, then select the device from the list. See How to search. After you’ve searched for the devices, select the total number of devices at the top of the list, then click. A very low technology but quite direct solution is to assign keystrokes to each desktop (Preferences - keyboard - shortcuts - Mission Control: allows you to assign ^1 to Desktop 1 and so on). Then write your desired Desktop Names on a small stickie note (a physical one!) and stick it near the number keys. Right-click on the apps icon in the Dock; Navigate to Options, and then from the “Assign To” sub-menu select one of the three choices: All Desktops – the app will appear on all Desktops, without causing a switch; This Desktop – Desktop-specific, this will cause Desktops to switch when the app is selected; None – the default setting. You can display the title you assign to photos, metadata (information about each photo, such as its filename), and badges that identify whether the photo has been edited, had keywords added, and more. In the Photos app on your Mac, choose View Metadata metadata name.
Now select the app you want to create a shortcut for. Drag the app and drop it on the desktop. The shortcut icon is now created. You can follow this action to create shortcut icons for other apps as well. If you use Mission Control, you can assign an app to a specific desktop so when you launch it it automatically appears on that desktop instead of the current desktop. You can also assign an app to appear on all desktops, which is handy for note-taking and other tasks.
Well, good news. You can, in fact, assign an app to a specific desktop in Mission Control—perfect for keeping your programs in their proper “spaces,” particularly when you’re booting up your Mac.
Before we begin, something to keep in mind: this trick applies only to apps running in standard “windowed” mode. Programs running in “full screen” (a handy new feature in Mac OS X “Lion”) automatically get assigned to their own desktops.
Just select “This Desktop” to pin an app to a specific Mission Control desktop.
So, ready to start “pinning” your apps to specific desktops? Here we go…
- First, navigate to the desktop where you’d like a particular program to call home. If, for example, you want iPhone to sit in Desktop 2, launch Mission Control, then click on Desktop 2 from the overhead Mission Control view (or create a second desktop if there isn’t one already).
- Launch the app you want to assign to the desktop—again, let’s use iPhoto as our example.
- Go down to the Mac desktop dock at the bottom of the screen, find the icon for iPhoto, and right-click it.
- In the menu that appears, select Options, then select “This Desktop” under the “Assign to” heading.
Now, let’s test. Go ahead and close the app you just assigned to a desktop, navigate to Desktop 1 in Mission Control, then launch the app again—and when you do, it should launch in the desktop you assigned it to.
Also, if the app you’ve pinned to a desktop opens automatically when you start up your Mac, the app will now launch in its assigned window.
OK, but what if you want to “unpin” an app from a desktop? Just right-click its icon in the dock, select Options, then select “None” under “Assign to.”
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Do you need many windows and applications open when working with your Mac? In this tutorial, we show you how to use several desktops in macOS to use several spaces and organise better.
Tutorial Use Multiple Desktops on a Mac
Here is a step-by-step process to use multiple desktops on your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. Follow the steps below to start the process.
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Step 1: Create a desktop
To create and work with more than one desktop in Mac the first thing to do is to access Mission Control from the F3 key or through the System Preferences> Mission Control menu. Next, you will see at the top of the screen the macOS Spaces bar, where you can find the thumbnails that represent the different desktops and the programs that are running in full screen or in Split View.
To add a new space to your Mac, click the + icon in the upper right corner and you’ll see a new thumbnail displayed. If you only have one desktop and you do not have apps open to full screen, its default name will be Desktop 2.
Step 2: Assign a different background
To work more comfortably with several desktops on Mac and know at a glance which one you are in, it is best to assign a different background image to each of the spaces you use.
To do this, go to the new desktop by clicking on the corresponding thumbnail, and then go to System Preferences> Desktop and Screen Saver. Now, select the photo you would like to use for the new background between the Apple images or your own photos. You also have the possibility to choose a solid colour in the corresponding option.
Step 3: Move between the desks
Now that you have multiple desktops on your Mac, it is important that you learn to move quickly between them to make better use of your work time and not delay too much each time you want to move from one to the other.
Apart from Mission Control, you also have other quicker ways to move between spaces. One of them is with the trackpad or the magic mouse. In the first case, slide three or four fingers to the left or to the right, depending on the direction in which the particular desktop is located. In the case of the magic mouse, use only two fingers to perform the movement.
You can also move between spaces quickly with the keyboard. Press the Control key and then the left or right arrow and you will go from one desktop to another in a moment.
How To Assign App To A Desktop On Mac Os
Step 4: Pass windows and folders from one desktop to another
If you want to pass or move a window or a folder from one desktop to another we have different formulas to perform this action. One of the simplest operations is to press F3 to open Mission Control and drag the contents to the desired desktop. You can also do this by holding the mouse on the window and touching the Control key and the left or right arrow.
In the case of folders, so that they can move without problems make sure that the ordering of the desktop is not automatic. To do this, click with the mouse on the space and select Sort by> Nothing.
Step 5: Assign applications to desktops
How To Assign App To A Desktop On Macbook Air
Once you have your desktops created and customised, to use applications in each of them all you have to do is place yourself in the space where you want to work and open the program through the Dock or the Applications folder.
When you open the app, you have the possibility to assign it to the different desktops using the quick menu, which is displayed by clicking the Dock icon with the right mouse button. Then, place the cursor over the Options heading and select the specific space in the Assign To section.
Step 6: Remove desktops that you do not use
In case you no longer use one of the desktops you have created, removing it is the easiest thing that we can do in seconds of time. To do this, open the Spaces bar with the F3 key, place the mouse cursor over the space you would like to delete and you will see that an X appears in the upper left corner of the desktop. Click on it and the selected space will be erased at the moment.
Assign App To Desktop Mac
This is how we can use multiple desktops in our MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. I hope this article helps you to use your Mac efficiently.
How To Assign App To A Desktop On Mac Computer
If you have any queries regarding any of the above steps, let us know through the comment section below. We will get back to you to solve all your queries as soon as possible.
If you are already using this method, share your experiences with our readers through comments below.
How many desktops (spaces) do you use in your Mac for efficient work?