Why is big sur hiding my windows?

Hi Peter Galvin,

It's interesting that this behavior doesn't happen on your iMac, so let's isolate a little more.

• If you put your laptop to sleep overnight from the Apple (  ) menu in the upper left corner > Sleep and don't close the lid, do the windows stay where you expect them to?

• To test if something is causing this in your user account, create a new administrative user, and test to see if this happens there. This link explains how to set up a new user: Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac - Apple Support

Let us know what happens.

Hi Peter Galvin,

Thanks for reaching out here in the Apple Support Communities. We see that you have a question about apps being minimized when you close your Mac, and not being shown in the spaces you've created.

We're glad to help.

When you close your Mac, are these apps in full screen mode? If they are, does the minimization behavior change if they are not in full screen when closing your laptop?

Just to be sure everything is set up correctly, check this to see that the settings are correct:

Work in multiple spaces on Mac - Apple Support

Take Care.

I have what is maybe a similar problem. I see this with every app on my MacBook, after upgrading to Big Sur. For example, I've seen it with Notepad, Excel, Outlook, Messages, Slack, etc.

When I haven't been using an app for a while, its windows just disappear. For example, suppose an hour ago, I was editing an Excel file, and then I haven't used it in a while (I haven't checked the amount of time), but have been doing other things. When I click on Excel in the Dock, the menu bar opens, but none of the windows are visible. The only way I can find the windows is by setting Mission Control to a hotcorner and then, once all my windows display, dragging the window up to an existing space (and note that I don't typically use spaces, so this is really just a representation of my desktop & my external monitor), and then the app window opens in full screen.

I've not used Mission Control or Spaces in the past, but now I'm wondering if I need to change one of the preferences? I notice that they're all checked:

• Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use
• When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application
• Group windows by application
• Displays have separate Spaces

Any suggestions? This is crazy making!!

I have a very similar problem. I have an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020). Updated the OS to Big Sur and find when my Mac goes to sleep and I need to wake up by entering my password, certain apps appear to be open but are completely hidden, even if I click on the app icon in the dock - they still do not appear. I have to force close then reopen the app and place back into my spaces.

I have this same issue- the apps all hidden, and i can see them in mission control mode, they are running, but when i select them the desktop wallpaper shows- and the apps can't bee seen unless i force close the app, or do something like open a new window from something like the browser. Is this a bug in Big Sur?? My only fix for this is a full restart- which is very annoying.

Not even the killall Dock command in terminal helps, app's stay hidden. Anyone at Apple have a fix?

Similar issue for me. When I minimize a window, I used to be able to click on the application in the dock and the window would spring up. Now only the toolbar appears and I have to go under "Window" and click the one I want to get it to spring up.

Safari and Music are both affected by the problem. MS Outlook less so (works sometimes).