I found this discussed (see link) but nobody has an answer (which is scary)
Why is big sur hiding my windows? - Apple Community
Every 5 minutes or so all the windows on my desktop disappear to the top and side (see attached image). Clicking on any icon in the dock brings them back but how do I stop this? I never use mission control, there are no keys assigned to it, nor mouse hotspots, etc. it just happens by itself
iMac 27″, macOS 10.15
You seem to have covered all the areas where it can be enabled. I have never seen it do you go to desktop view on any of my Macs.
Do you have a third-party mouse with its own controlling software? That may have a function to show the desktop.
That doesn’t sound like the problem you describe. Your apps are not minimizing, Mission Control is showing the Desktop.
There are several ways to "Show Desktop":
My guess is that you may unwittingly be doing a gesture in the trackpad that triggers this.
How about a hot corner?
Where I typed "mouse hotspots", I meant the corners to where you move a mouse...as noted, I don't have any (I checked) and anyhow this is happening by itself --- I don't have to touch a mouse or trackpad etc.
There were various references to Mission Control on that discussion and my sense is that when they talked about "Minimize" they were talking about the same behaviour I've seen, i.e.
Anyhow, I'm going to try and just kill off mission control complete and see if that fixes the problem
Look - I really appreciate the willingness to help but you gotta look at my initial post where it says (in part), "it just happens by itself"
There's no trackpad (and those gestures are disabled), just an old wired mouse --- there are no hot corners --- I can be at the other side of the room -- nobody is touching the mouse.
Now, that said, one other factor that I just discovered from my wife --- this is only happening when she is watching a movie via a browser (Firefox). It does not happen if you just have email, a browser (no movies) or other applications open.
When I next have access to that computer, I will try with Safari rather than Firefox just to see if that makes a difference.
There were various references to Mission Control on that discussion and my sense is that when they talked about "Minimize" they were talking about the same behaviour I've seen, i.e.
The three references to Mission Control were to find the Minimized windows. That thread is about missing Minimized windows, not the Show Desktop function of Mission Control. Minimizing a window and showing the Desktop are not the same thing in the slightest.
Please refer to the link below that I mentioned above - this issue has been reported and discussed but there was never an answer.
Why is big sur hiding my windows? - Apple Community
Then I stand corrected that that other topic doesn't apply.
Nevertheless, the issue I describe is happening.
Why are my windows hiding automatically?
