When Apple announced macOS Ventura at WWDC 2022 in June, the most visible update was Stage Manager, a new window management feature.
Like some of the other window management features that macOS offers, Stage Manager lets you clear the apps running on your desktop. It’s a handy little feature for those who value organization and find comfort in order, and it’s sure to be appreciated once it’s released to all users this fall.
However, the announcement caused controversy among Mac users. Some find the feature confusing, especially when it’s added alongside (rather than replacing) any of the other window management features macOS offers like Mission Control, Spaces, and Split View. For me, however, Stage Manager is the window management feature that supersedes the need for any other.
Stage Manager makes your Mac look the way a Mac desktop should look
We’ve all seen the pictures Apple uses in marketing macOS in its keynotes and on its website. The apps running on the desktop are perfectly organized, with nice proportions, sizes and overlap in the few apps running on the screen.
Stage Manager, like a fake friend, tells you what you want to hear: “You’re perfect, and so is your desktop.”
However, we all know that the desktop that Apple shows us is not real.
It’s like viewing a staged apartment or home; it’s beautiful, but real homes don’t usually look like that. Once we start doing real work on our Macs, apps quickly pile up everywhere and it starts to look more like a darling’s desktop than anything else.
Mail running in Stage Manager on macOS Ventura (Image: Joe Wituschek/iMore)
As much as I’ve always tried to keep a tidy desktop, it was a process that required too much work—minimizing apps, spreading them across multiple desktops, and even using split view—all in the name of trying to juggle performance and aesthetics at the same time.
Fortunately, macOS Ventura’s Stage Manager is here to take what was previously impossible and make it a reality. It can take a messy desktop and organize it in a way that’s visually soothing, tricking you into believing you’re a lot more organized than you really are. It’s a farce, of course – chaos at work is inevitable – but Stage Manager, like a fake friend, tells you what you want to hear: “You’re perfect, and so is your desktop.”
Stage Manager is application stacks
Do you remember Stacks? Probably not, but Apple welcomed the feature when it first launched with Mac OS X Leopard. It organizes files into a folder in your dock. Then came Desktop Stacks with macOS High Sierra, which took all the files sitting on your desktop and organized them into neat little stacks organized by type, date, or Finder tags.
Desktop Stacks solved a big problem for many users who ended up with dozens, if not hundreds, of files on their desktop. Finding a single file required someone who was actually a speed runner at Where’s Waldo or some serious help from Spotlight, Apple’s built-in search functionality. Apple put some smarts into organizing the desktop to at least make it easier to get into the field of the file you’re trying to hunt down without having to do anything. It also brought a lot more peace to your desktop and made it look more put together rather than a lunatic’s computer.
(Image credit: Joe Wituschek/iMore)
When I think of Stage Manager, I can’t help but make the comparison and think of the feature as just Desktop Stacks, but for apps. And that’s not bad.
Applications, just like files, can quickly clutter up our desktop. Apple’s other window management features, while offering a performance boost, never solve the appearance problem. I could use multiple desktops, but that just meant things would look like garbage on two desktops instead of one.
Stage Manager solves this visual problem while keeping things organized in a way that makes a lot of sense. Because I can group applications into their own stacks, I can organize my workflow in ways that allow me to bring up the group of applications that I know are related and that I need at the same time or for the same function. This allows me to keep my entire workflow at a glance instead of being buried under a mountain of other apps.
Can I still use multiple desktops, app shortcuts, and split view? Sure. But I find myself using them less and less.
This has been my favorite new Mac feature in years
I’m trying to think of another Mac feature that won my heart like Stage Manager. Having a clutter-free desktop brings a sense of focus and calm to my digital world that I had to give up on my laptop… forever.
If I really thought about it, I’d have to say that the only other “feature” that brings me Stage Manager-level joy is when Apple redesigned macOS with Big Sur a few years ago. It’s certainly not perfect (I’m looking at you, Mac notifications with your little close button), but the Mac has needed a visual overhaul for years. The update made the Mac feel fresh and new, like getting a brand new computer without having to pay for it. Of course, if you want a brand new computer AND want to pay for it, you can check out our list of the best MacBooks of 2022.
But of course, Big Sur is an entire version of the operating system, not a separate feature, so Stage Manager kind of stands on its own. My only complaint is that my work computer still needs to run macOS Monterey, so I’m without my favorite feature for eight hours a day. At the end of the workday, however, I return to desktop bliss.
Add Comment