How to use Mission Control on Mac without losing your place

Swipe up with three or four fingers on a trackpad, press the Mission Control key on an Apple keyboard, or press Control–Up Arrow. Your open windows spread out and the Spaces bar appears across the top of the screen.

Move the pointer to the top edge if the Spaces bar only shows small labels. The thumbnails expand so you can see each desktop and full-screen app before you choose one.

In Mission Control, move the pointer to the top-right corner and click the plus button. macOS creates a new desktop. Switch with Control–Left Arrow or Control–Right Arrow, or swipe sideways with three or four fingers.

Drag a window onto a desktop thumbnail to move it there. You can also drag a desktop thumbnail left or right to reorder the row. Put Spaces you visit together next to each other so switching takes fewer gestures.

A useful Space has a rule: client work, product build, admin, research or communication. A pile called ‘Desktop 6’ has no rule, so unrelated windows creep in and the Space stops helping.

Use one colour-coded wallpaper per job. The wallpaper is visible behind every gap, in Mission Control thumbnails and whenever you clear the windows. That gives your brain a faster cue than inspecting tabs or reading app titles.

Control-click System Settings in the Dock and assign it to All Desktops. Open Wallpaper settings, turn off Show on all Spaces, then choose an image while you are in the desktop you want to label. Repeat on the other desktops. Keep the display resolution in the filename so you can pick the right export when more than one monitor is connected.

SpaceStamp exports a separate, full-resolution PNG for each detected display. Put the project name in large type and use a distinct palette for each kind of work. Recognition matters more than decoration here.