Spaces arrangement switch between internal and external monitor

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Kamoranesi Author

Level 1

13 points

Spaces arrangement switch between internal and external monitor

Macbook Air M1 2020

macOS Ventura 13.4.1

USB-C

Samsung Viewfinity S6

So what works beautifully is that my Macbook remembers the arrangement of all windows and spaces on the external monitor I am using.

However when I remove the cable, every window lands on Desktop 1 on my Macbook internal Monitor. Just random sizes and everywhere.

So is there a way to remember the arrangement of windows for the internal monitor too? The use case is obvious. When I am working at home with my widescreen monitor, I need a special arrangement of all windows and spaces.

However when I am taking my Macbook with me and work somewhere else, with no external monitor, I have another setup of the spaces. Mac OS seems not to offer this. Does anyone know a workaround, or a software that does this?

And is this worth pitching to Apple? It seems so obvious.

Kamran’s MacBook Air

Posted on Aug 1, 2023 10:16 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

BobHarris

Level 9

53,195 points

Aug 1, 2023 11:02 AM in response to Kamoranesi

I have 2 paid apps I can point you towards.

Stay ($15 U.S.)

http://cordlessdog.com/stay

and

Moom ($10 U.S.)

https://manytricks.com/moom

These apps have the ability to memorize the window size and positions for your different monitor configurations.

Stay is easier to setup and I think will work for most user setups, but I find Moom a little more robust (well robust when it came to my 5 iTerm2 terminal emulator window arrangement; Stay could not tell one iTerm2 window from another, but to me each window had a specific task and position on my screen), but the Moom monitor configuration setting is not obvious (Moom -> Preferences -> Arrange Windows; and you create an arrangement for each monitor configuration).

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Answer 2

Kamoranesi Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 2, 2023 8:04 AM in response to BobHarris

Thanks for your suggestions :-)

I tried Moom and it is perfectly able to do a lot of things with the windows.

However it can't handle spaces, as Apple provides no API for that.

So I didn't even try Stay.

If any Apple employee reads this, this feature would be so useful:

Remembering arrangements of all windows and spaces for all kind of setups with and without external monitor(s).

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Spaces arrangement switch between internal and external monitor

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