MAC
How to stop Spaces rearranging themselves on a Mac
Real screenshot · MacBook Neo, macOS 27.0.1In short
Open System Settings, click Desktop & Dock, then under Mission Control switch off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use. Your desktops then stay in the order you put them.
You set your desktops up just so, and by the afternoon they have swapped places. It is not you: if you use several desktops, called Spaces, the setting Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use gives you quicker access to the desktops you used most recently.
3 of 3 steps show a real screenshot from our MacBook Neo.
Steps
- 1
Open System Settings
Click the Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen and choose System Settings.
- 2
Click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar
On our MacBook Neo it sits between Appearance and Displays.
- 3
Switch off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use
Scroll down past the Windows group to Mission Control. Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use is the first switch there.
On our MacBook Neo it was on. Click it so it turns grey.
If you do not see this option
- Desktop & Dock is not in the sidebar Scroll down the sidebar.
- You cannot see Mission Control It is below the Windows group in the Desktop & Dock pane. Scroll down in the right-hand side of the window.
If this does not work
- The order still changes Check that Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use is grey, not green. Click it again if it is still on.
- macOS jumps to another desktop when you switch apps That is the next switch, When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application. Apple's Spaces guide gives an example: if you create a new TextEdit document in Desktop 3 while TextEdit windows are already open in Desktop 2, the new document opens in Desktop 2. Switch it off as well if you want to stay where you are.
- An app always opens on one desktop? Apple says apps can be assigned to a desktop. Control-click the app's icon in the Dock, choose Options, then choose None under Assign To so it opens in the Space you are using.
- Your second display has the wrong Spaces? Apple says Displays have separate Spaces gives each display its own Spaces. It must be on for Stage Manager and for Split View on other displays.
Good to know
Two neighbours of that switch are easy to confuse with it. Group windows by application, in the same group, organises the windows by app in Mission Control when several apps have windows open.
On our MacBook Neo, the switch below, When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application, was also on. It moves you to a Space with that app's open windows when you switch to the app.
On our MacBook Neo, Group windows by application was off and Displays have separate Spaces was on. The second one sets up separate Spaces for each display, and it must be on if you want to use Stage Manager, as the trouble section below explains.
The Shortcuts… button lets you view or change keyboard shortcuts for showing and hiding Mission Control, and Hot Corners… chooses actions to perform when you move the pointer to screen corners.
With the order fixed, keyboard and gesture moves become predictable: the same move lands on the same desktop every time. Control with the Left or Right Arrow key moves between Spaces, Apple says, as does a swipe with three or four fingers on a trackpad. You can have up to 16 Spaces. To give each one a different wallpaper, so you can tell them apart at a glance, System Settings must first be assigned to all desktops.
macOS 27 compared with macOS 26: We rewrote this guide on macOS 27.0.1 (MacBook Neo): it now has 3 steps instead of 4. The macOS 26 page keeps the steps and screenshots as they were.
Version history: the macOS 26 version of this guide, with its own screenshots.
About this guide
- Device
- Mac
- Shown on
- macOS 27.0.1 (MacBook Neo)
- App
- System Settings
- Real screenshots
- 3 of 3 steps
- Checked
- October 2026
- Sources
- 2 official, linked below
Sources
Links checked October 2026. Menus and features can change with updates.Did this guide work for you?
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