How do I get rid of extra desktops in macOS?

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Level 1

17 points

How do I get rid of extra desktops in macOS?

Running High Sierra 10.13.3 on 2012 Mac Book Air with a Thunderbolt display and a Dell running through a USB to DVI converter. Going to Mission Control, moving the cursor to the top of the screen, there are 239 desktop icons labelled Desktop 1, Desktop 2, etc. The first two have the wallpaper I selected and the windows I have open; all the others do not - they only have the 10 desktop icons I have on Desktop 1, but not my wallpaper, and no windows that I have open. I'd like to delete the useless Desktops, but trying to hit the "X" at the top left of each icon is tricky (they move a lot) and time consuming (and likely will have to be repeated in future). Is there a way of eliminating the useless desktops efficiently?

MacBook Air (13-inch Mid 2012), macOS High Sierra (10.13.3), Thunderbolt display; Dell - USB/DVI

Posted on Mar 22, 2018 8:34 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 22, 2018 8:41 AM in response to grandMike

Based on the Apple Support article below, it appears one at a time deletion may be the only way.

Move or remove a space

To move a space, drag it left or right in the Spaces bar.
To remove a space, hold down the Option key, then click or next to the space in the Spaces bar. Any windows in that space are moved to another open space.

Use Mission Control on your Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

grandMike Author

Level 1

17 points

Mar 22, 2018 8:50 AM in response to anonyme4321

anonyme4321: Holding down the Option key made this a WHOLE lot easier. The icons still jump around because the resize (enlarge) as the number of icons reduces...but it's a lot better than trying to hit them without the Option key held down. 237 extra desktops now deleted. Thanks for the help...👍

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Answer 3

anonyme4321

Level 6

17,239 points

Mar 22, 2018 8:42 AM in response to grandMike

You can speed this up and hold the option key down and this will keep the ✖ to close the Desktops shown so you don't have to hover over the selected Desktop and wait for it to show itself.

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How do I get rid of extra desktops in macOS?

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