Stage Manager behaviour on multiple desktops

Hey there! Just wanted to bring you some good news. This issue has been fixed on macOS 13.2 that was just officially released an hour ago.

I've verified what I described in post above with the following settings..

• System preferences > desktop & dock > scroll down to "displays have separate spaces" and turn that on
• System preferences > desktop & dock > stage manager > turn on > customize > turn on "recent items"
• In dock, right-click on each app you plan to run. Select "options" > "assign to" > "none"

...and with the following actions taken:

• I launched notes, messages and safari on virtual desktop 1 and made sure none were full screen, and none of the windows were all the way to the left side of the monitor -- otherwise the app icons don't show (unless you're careful to click right at the left edge of the monitor, which is a hassle)
• I went to virtual desktop 2 and launched word, excel, and preview, same attention to window location
• I went to virtual desktop 3 and launched pages and keynote, same attention to window location

With settings and actions above -- and with more than one application running in each virtual desktop -- stage manager operates and auto-hides apps as I switch between them, and it does that on each virtual desktop.

The stage manager settings you build for a desktop apply only to THAT desktop.

If you use multiple desktops, with different sets of apps running on each desktop, then you have to set up stage manager for EACH desktop. If any app is assigned to "all desktops" it won't auto-hide in stage manager. When stage manager came along, I had all my apps set to "all desktops" and stage manager didn't appear to work at all. It's a strange app.

I love stage manager's "auto-hide" feature, but it locks you into the setup you build. My problem is I often copy/paste between random apps or I need to randomly group (and un-group) apps on my large monitor to see different things side by side and drag stuff from one visible app to another (an image from desktop or browser to messages, etc). Stage manager actually gets in the way of that kind of random work. I tried it for a week and the "auto-collapse / auto-hide" was often a blessing...but just as often a curse once I had to start doing random stuff.

I’ll check this on my monitor - I run about 5 virtual desktops on that monitor.

Are you running different apps on virtual desktop 2 than virtual desktop 1? And different apps on 3 than you are on 2?

If your system preferences desktop space settings are correct and your apps are set to “none” (when you right-click on app in dock and select options > assign to) then your apps will open ONLY on the virtual desktop they were originally opened on — resulting in different apps running in different virtual desktops.

In that scenario, once you have multiple apps running in any of your virtual desktops, and stage manager is turned on and set to show apps in sidebar, then the auto-hide should work.

I’ll double-check when I’m back at my desk.

You can't jam your app window right up against the LHS of the monitor or it doesn't work. Either leave a tiny amount of space you can click to make the auto-hidden apps visible, or leave enough space for the auto-hidden app thumbnails to be visible so you can easily mouse to them and click.

My monitor is wide enough, I have room to leave space on the LHS for the auto-hidden app thumbnails to be visible. However, instead of mousing to those thumbnails over and over and over, I just use memorized keyboard shortcuts to launch all my most-used apps and switch between them.

I am having this same issue on my Mac. I tested all these settings and the autohide feature for stage manager only works on virtual desktop 1. I can get stage manager working on every virtual desktop ONLY if I don't use the autohide feature. As soon as I want to try that, it stops working on all the other virtual desktops except for virtual desktop 1. Has anyone found a solution to this yet?

UPDATE: So I switched my virtual desktop 1 to be virtual desktop 2. You know how you can move them around? Now ONLY virtual desktop 2 works and the other 2 don't. So there is something specific to that actual space that doesn't seem to be working for all of them. There has to be a setting in here somewhere to fix this

That's annoying...

Anw macOS 13.2 is in RC stage so I hope it's fixed and will be released soon, most likely next week.

That's weird... Try refreshing again until you see it. You can search online and see that macOS and other iOS and iPadOS versions were released. I updated immediately and the issue was fixed.

That is probably due to that area being the edge between both screens.

I will have to try this later, as now I don't have a second screen av but I wonder, in the case of two screens, if you may see it on the right on the second one.

Stage Manager is smart enough to work on the right in a single screen, when the Dock is positioned on the left, so maybe it adjusts as well in a two monitor setup.