Workflow guide

How I use Mac Spaces to manage multiple projects

I work on several projects at the same time. macOS Spaces keep them from bleeding into each other. Here's how I have mine set up, and what took me a while to figure out.

March 2026

The one-desktop problem

When all your projects live on one desktop, everything gets tangled. Client A's Slack is next to Client B's Figma. Browser tabs from three different projects share the same window. You see a notification for one thing while trying to focus on another.

Spaces are virtual desktops built into macOS. Each one holds its own set of windows. I give each project its own Space, and when I'm working on one project, the others are out of sight.

It's straightforward once you set it up. The tricky part is that macOS ships with some default settings that make Spaces confusing to use. More on that below.

Spaces in 60 seconds

Swipe up with three fingers (or press F3) to see Mission Control. Your desktops show as a strip across the top. Click "+" on the right to add more. You can have up to 16. Swipe left/right with three fingers to move between them. That's the basics.

My setup

If something belongs to a client, it goes on their Space. If I catch myself opening a client's Slack on the wrong desktop, I move it. This sounds pedantic but it's what makes the system work.

Settings you need to change

macOS ships with two defaults that make Spaces feel broken. Both are in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Mission Control.

Two more things that help:

Go to System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Mission Control and enable "Switch to Desktop 1" through "Switch to Desktop 5." Defaults are Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+5. Much faster than swiping.

For apps that should stay on one Space (like Messages or Music), right-click them in the Dock, go to Options, and set "Assign To → This Desktop."

The naming problem

Apple labels Spaces "Desktop 1, Desktop 2, Desktop 3." You can't change this. With five desktops, that's a problem. Was Acme Corp on Desktop 2 or 3?

Common workarounds: different wallpaper per Space (helps a little but you can't see it from Mission Control), or a Stickies note in the corner of each desktop (messy, disappears behind windows).

I ended up building SpaceJump for this. It shows the Space name in the menu bar, lets you set colors, and has a quick switcher where you type the name and press Enter. I'm biased, obviously, but the wallpaper approach wasn't cutting it.

Things that took me a while to learn

Keep one messy Space. My Admin desktop is where I dump everything that doesn't belong somewhere else. Random browser tabs, research, personal stuff. It gets chaotic and that's fine. The point is that the chaos stays there instead of spreading across client workspaces.

Don't go past 6 or 7. I tried 8 Spaces once. Too many. You lose track of which number is which. If you have more clients than that, group the small ones.

Use separate browser windows, not tabs. If Client A and Client B share a Chrome window, they'll always be on the same Space together. Give each client their own window.

Switch Spaces before replying to clients. Even for a quick Slack message. Two reasons: the time gets tracked to the right project, and you have their context right in front of you so your answer is better.

Swipe through all Spaces in the morning. Takes 30 seconds. Gives you a mental map of what's going on across projects. Prevents the "oh no, I forgot about that" moments.

Clean up on Fridays. Close everything, reopen only what you need for next week. Browser tabs and VS Code windows multiply over five days. A clean Monday morning is worth the 5 minutes.

Time tracking

If each Space is one project, you can track time per project automatically. SpaceJump does this: it logs which Space you're on and for how long. No timers to press.

I wrote more about this in my time tracking guide. Short version: I went from tracking about 24 hours/week to 30. Same work, fewer lost hours.

Questions