Unofficial archive. This is a read-only, community-run archive of the Apple Support Community. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.

Mission Control confusing names and rearranges windows on the fly

A few issues with Mission Control.


1) Full screen apps in Mission Control are now missing their names. The title below thumbnail is dynamically generated and is confusing. For example the website name in Safari, or inbox name in Mail. This is confusing and makes it harder to find the window you need.

2) When opening Mission Control from a desktop, full screen apps are presented with a name and no thumbnail. Move the mouse up to preview the thumbnails and all windows in the desktop preview will rearrange.

3) When clicking on a full screen app, first all icons on the desktop are made visible and then the switch is performed. This causes a lag of about a second or so.


https://youtu.be/kKjiH8FGdLE

4 replies

On your 14-inch MacBook Pro running macOS 27 Golden Gate, first restart the Mac and check Mission Control again. 


Open System Settings >> Desktop & Dock >> Mission Control. 


If Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use is enabled, turn it off and check whether the Desktop windows still rearrange when you move the pointer to the top of the screen.


Next, check Group windows by application. 


If it is enabled, turn it off and check whether the presentation of windows in Mission Control changes.


For the delay when selecting a full-screen app, go to System Settings >> Accessibility >> Display, enable Reduce Motion, and check whether the delay remains.


Make only one change at a time so the result of each test is clear. 


If the three behaviours remain unchanged, the next step would be to determine whether they also occur in a newly created macOS user account. 


That can help distinguish a system-wide Mission Control problem from one associated with the current user account.


Apple’s guide to Mission Control is here: Apple Support — View open windows and spaces in Mission Control

Your observations indicate three Mission Control behaviours in the current macOS version.


First, the names shown for full-screen applications in Mission Control are dynamically generated. In Safari, for example, the displayed name can correspond to the website, while Mail can display an inbox name. This makes it more difficult to identify the required window. You have also observed that this behaviour does not occur under Tahoe.


Second, when Mission Control is initially opened from a Desktop, full-screen applications are displayed as names without thumbnail previews. 


When the pointer is moved to the top bar, Mission Control changes to displaying thumbnail previews. 


This reduces the available vertical space for the Desktop windows, and the windows then rearrange. The attached video shows this occurring during the transition.


Third, when a full-screen application is selected, the Desktop icons first become visible before the application switch takes place. 


This results in a delay of approximately one second. Changing Reduce Motion did not change the observed delay.


The setting "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use" is disabled, and toggling it did not change the behaviour. 


Toggling "Group windows by application" also did not change it. 


Testing with a new user account did not change the behaviour either.


The window rearrangement therefore occurs specifically during the transition from the initial label-only presentation to the thumbnail-preview presentation. 


The delay when selecting a full-screen application is a separate behaviour involving the Desktop contents becoming visible before the application switch completes.


These observations, together with the attached video and the comparison with Tahoe, provide specific details that can be included when reporting the behaviour to Apple.


Use the  Product Feedback - and make it known to Apple regarding this ongoing issue

To start with: described behavior is not observed under Tahoe. It happens specifically during Mission Control session after it is initially opened. Windows change place after you point at the top bar when it is in the state of displaying only labels and transitions to displaying thumbnail previews. This reduces the vertical space available for windows and triggers their rearrangement. Clearly a bug displayed in the attached video.


"Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use" is disabled, toggling it did not change anything.

Toggling "group windows by application" didn't change anything.

Reduce motion didn't change anything, because the delay is caused by displaying the icons on the desktop first and then switching to the desired application.

New user didn't change a thing also.

There are multiple issues with Mission Control that have been reported in macOS Golden Gate. Some may be design changes by Apple, others may be bona fide bugs. Either way, you've tried the relevant steps for troubleshooting.


Bugs can be reported to Apple here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple