Use VoiceOver to navigate the desktop on Mac
At the top of the screen is the menu bar, covered in lesson 5, and at the bottom is the Dock, covered in lesson 4. In between is what’s called the desktop. The desktop is where you do your work.
The desktop holds icons for many items, such as folders, documents, and image files.
Note: VO represents the VoiceOver modifier.
To move the cursor to the desktop: Press VO-Shift-D.
To move between items on the desktop: Press the Arrow keys.
To quickly move to an item on the desktop: Type the first letter of the item. For example, if you have a file named “travel plans” on the desktop, type “t” to the first item on the screen beginning with the letter t.
To open an item selected on the desktop: Press Command + O.
Note: Folders will open in a new Finder window.
Change the desktop picture
You can choose a different macOS desktop picture; dynamic ones that automatically change throughout the day, or use one of your own photos.
Change the desktop appearance
You can choose a light or dark appearance for the menu bar, desktop picture, Dock, and built-in apps in System Setting / Apperance.
Use notifications on the desktop
Notifications appear in the top-right corner of the desktop to let you know about upcoming events, incoming emails or messages, and more.
You can ask for a reminder, reply to a message, and more, right from the notification. You can customize how and when notifications appear.
To pause them when you need to concentrate on a task, turn on a Focus.
Organize files on the desktop
If you like to keep files handy on the desktop, you can use stacks to neatly group files by type or other criteria along one side of the desktop—whenever you add a file to the desktop, it automatically goes into a stack.
Find a window on the desktop
If your desktop is covered by open windows, you can use Mission Control to move them aside to get to the desktop, or to show a simple view of everything that’s open on the desktop, you can also use the CMD + Tab key combination to open the App Switcher to quickly move to another app and it's windows.
Use multiple desktops
You can create additional desktop spaces to organize tasks on specific desktops. For example, you can manage email on one desktop while focusing on a project using another desktop, and easily switch between the two. You can even customize each desktop to suit the task you’re working on.
Work in multiple spaces on Mac
If the desktop on your Mac gets cluttered with open app windows, you can use Mission Control to create additional desktops, called spaces, to organize the windows. When you work in a space, only the windows that are in that space are shown.
Create a space
On your Mac, enter Mission Control.
If you’re working with apps in full screen or Split View, their thumbnails are shown in the Spaces bar.
In the Spaces bar, click the Add button .
You can create up to 16 spaces.
When you’re done, click the thumbnail for a space to open it.
Tip: Make your spaces unique by assigning a different desktop picture to each one. First assign the picture to all desktops in System Settings / Desktop and Dock, then change the desktop picture in each space.
Move between spaces
On your Mac, do any of the following:
On a trackpad, swipe left or right with three or four fingers. On a Magic Mouse, swipe with two fingers.
Press the Control + Right or Left arrow key.
Enter Mission Control, move the pointer to the top edge of the screen, then click a space in the Spaces bar.
If your Mac has a Touch Bar, you can set an option in Keyboard settings to show spaces in the Touch Bar. Then just tap a space in the Touch Bar to open the space.
Move an app window from one space to another
On your Mac, do any of the following:
Drag the app window you want to move to the edge of the screen. After a moment, the window moves to the next space.
Go to the space that has the window you want to move, enter Mission Control, then drag the window up to the space you want to use.
If you drag the window onto a full screen app in the Spaces bar, you can use the apps in Split View.
Assign apps to spaces
If you use two or more spaces, you can assign an app (or System Settings) to a specific space so it always opens in that space.
On your Mac, Control-click an app’s icon in the Dock.
You may need to first open the app to show its icon in the Dock.
In the shortcut menu that appears, choose Options, then choose one of the following:
- All Desktops: The app opens in every space.
- This Desktop: The app opens only in the current space. If you use the app full screen, it appears in its own space.
- Desktop on Display [number]: The app opens in the current space on a specific display (if more than one display is available).
- None: The app opens in whichever space you’re using at the time.
By default, when switching to an app, the desktop automatically switches to a space that has open windows for the app. For example, if you create a new TextEdit document in Desktop 3, but TextEdit windows are already open in Desktop 2, your new document opens in Desktop 2.
To change this setting, choose Apple menu / System Settings, click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar, go to Mission Control on the right, then turn “When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application” on or off.
Delete a space
On your Mac, enter Mission Control, then move the cursor to the delete button.
In the Spaces bar, move the pointer over the space you want to delete, then click the Delete button that appears.
If the space contains open windows, they are moved to another space.