HOW TO Use Mission Control

1 Open Mission Control

Swipe up with three or four fingers on your trackpad or press the Mission Control button on your keyboard. Now click whichever window you want to switch to, or drag three or four fingers down to close Mission Control.

2 The Spaces bar

In Mission Control, move your mouse to the top of the screen to find the Spaces bar, then click the ‘+’ to add a new Space. To change desktops, swipe left or right with three fingers, or press ≈+‘ or ≈+“.

3 Moving windows

To move a window between desktops, drag it to the left or right edge of your screen and hold it there. You can move it to a Space from the desktop or Mission Control, or drag it over the ‘+’ to place it on a new desktop.

4 Split View

You can run two apps side-by-side in Split View if at least one is full screen. Open Mission Control, then drag a window over a full-screen app’s Space so the desktop preview shows half an app. Now drop it in place.

5 Move and close Spaces

The order of Spaces can be changed by dragging and dropping them to a new position in the Spaces bar. To close a desktop, hover your pointer over it, then click the ‘X’. Open windows move to your first Space.

6 Use the Dock

The Dock shows open apps on all Spaces. Click the app’s Dock icon to quickly switch to the desktop where it is open. If it is open in both Spaces, clicking the icon will cycle through the desktops where it is running.

7 Group open windows

Open System Prefs and click Mission Control. If you have too many open windows for Mission Control to organise, tick ‘Group windows by application’ to keep instances of the same app together and reduce clutter.

8 Hot Corners

In Mission Control’s preferences, click Hot Corners. Choose a pop-up menu in one corner, then select a function, such as starting a screen saver or locking your Mac. When you have chosen one, click OK.