Desktop changes by itself (location of background and applications)

Question

Desktop changes by itself (location of background and applications)

Ever since Monterey the desktop backgrounds change around with screensaver kicking in. Same with the desktops that I left apps in. I make each desktop have a background and then place specific apps like Thunderbird in a specific desktop. When I come back after a screen save kicks in they are moved around.

Coming from Linux and then FreeBSD I never had anything like this happen with the same setup.

I have a MAC Mini M1 with 16G RAM. Two monitors via HDMI and USB. I use five desktops per monitor a total of 10.

Occasionally they are where I left them.

Mac mini, macOS 12.1

Posted on Feb 2, 2022 12:06 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

73,254 points

Feb 3, 2022 10:08 AM in response to Kirian-Senior

Go to System Preferences->Mission Control and make sure that

"Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use" is NOT checked.

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Answer 2

jdo_apple

Community Specialist

Feb 3, 2022 9:39 AM in response to Kirian-Senior

Hey Kirian-Senior,

We see that you're experiencing issues with your desktop screensaver and apps. We'd like to help you get pointed to the right direction!

We understand your concern, and would encourage you to submit this valuable feedback to Apple directly. You can use the link here to get started: Product Feedback

Additionally, if you have any other questions around this, you can also reach out to Apple Support team here: Contact Apple for support and service

We hope in the near future, these features are improved for better user experience.

Cheers!

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Answer 3

Feb 4, 2022 6:26 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Well, so much for that. The background did change and so did the applications after overnight "sleeping".

I went back and checked that Automatically rearrange... is off and it is.

One symptom is that they tend to move to the monitor hooked up to the HDMI port. I'm going to start checking the exact details on how they move which might be useful to someone.

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Answer 4

Feb 3, 2022 10:14 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks!! I was really unimpressed with how poorly it handled the desktop and was getting really fed up with constantly correcting the layout! Haha, I'm happy, thanks!

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Desktop changes by itself (location of background and applications)

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