Head-Scratching MacBook Air Desktop Behavior

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Level 4

1,397 points

Head-Scratching MacBook Air Desktop Behavior

I just discovered that when I triple-swipe left or right on my wife's MacBook Air's desktop (running High Sierra), that a new desktop window slides into place. Other than a different desktop picture, the two desktops appear to be identical, with the "Desktop Info" being the same for both... Triple-swipe the other direction, and the expected desktop slides into view...

It reminded me of "fast user switching," but that function is not on. She's the only user on her system (no other user accounts).

I went through all her preferences, and they all match the preferences on my MacBook Pro (our systems are identical, OS X system-wise). My MacBook Pro doesn't exhibit the "triple-swipe-to-different-desktop" behavior...

I don't find any similar behavior when I Google the issue...

It's not really a problem, but now I'm curious why her MacBook Air is doing what it's doing...

Any thoughts?

TIA

Bamboozled-Bob

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jan 28, 2020 1:32 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

KiltedTim

Level 10

225,300 points

Jan 29, 2020 11:16 AM in response to Bob Gold

You're describing "Spaces".

I use it all the time. Very useful.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/work-in-multiple-spaces-mh14112/mac

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Answer 2

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Jan 28, 2020 3:20 PM in response to Bob Gold

Could it possibly be...

Swipe between full-screen apps

Swipe left or right with four fingers3 to move between desktops and full-screen apps.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204895

In Sys Prefs>Mission Control, are any of the 1st three options checked?

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Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,253 points

Jan 29, 2020 8:25 AM in response to Bob Gold

Does 4 finger swipe do the same as 3 finger swipe on yours?

Could you be using three fingers & a thumb???

Show desktop

Spread your thumb and three fingers apart to show your desktop.

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Answer 4

Bob Gold Author

Level 4

1,397 points

Jan 29, 2020 10:29 AM in response to BDAqua

The 4 finger swipe doesn't do anything on her MacBook Air on her desktop. With a program open, four-finger swipe scrolls up and down, while selecting emails (in Mail). In browser it causes scrolling up/down/left/right, similar to two-finger swiping. I'm aware that Apple states that three and four finger swiping differ from ,model to model, and they don't seem to specify which model does what...

The "show desktop" with thumb and three fingers spread works, as advertised. Spreading takes me to the desktop. "closing" takes me back to whatever program I was running, or, eventually to the Launchpad...

I've been through all the Apple Support pages, and am still coming up blank... I'll keep "putzing" around, and if I stumble across a reason for this desktop "slide" I'll post what I find...

Thanks again for your thoughts!

Bob

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Answer 5

Bob Gold Author

Level 4

1,397 points

Jan 29, 2020 3:09 PM in response to KiltedTim

KiltedTim,

Ding, Ding, Ding!!!

Somehow, sometime in a galaxy a long time ago, and far, far away, she must have inadvertently created another desktop space. We don't use spaces, so it was a total surprise when we discovered the extra space-desktop...

Thanks for solving for me!

Bob

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Answer 6

Bob Gold Author

Level 4

1,397 points

Jan 28, 2020 11:01 PM in response to BDAqua

BD,

Thx for your thoughts...

Sys Prefs>Mission Control: Yes two of the three first options are checked. However, unchecking them does not change the three-finger-swipe desktop behavior...

Bob

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