v. 13 (Ventura) Stage Manager

[imwjl]

I have an initial like of Stage Manager but going through the settings I see no way to increase how many icons on the left. That seems major fail for a laptop power user. Might I have missed some settings?

 

[doogald]

I believe that it's limited to the last four stages used.

 

[gnirkatto]

you can add more desktops with totally different sets of app icons.
But I agree 1 or 2 more per desktop would be a good thing to have.
However there is a natural limit I think - more than 5 or 6 would probably feel cramped...? And you still have to SEE that there are stacked windows, so you can't endlessly shrink them.
I still don't know if I like stage manager or not, by the way. At the moment, it feels more confusing than helpful. It probably needs some more getting used to...

 

[imwjl]

you can add more desktops with totally different sets of app icons.
But I agree 1 or 2 more per desktop would be a good thing to have.
However there is a natural limit I think - more than 5 or 6 would probably feel cramped...? And you still have to SEE that there are stacked windows, so you can't endlessly shrink them.
I still don't know if I like stage manager or not, by the way. At the moment, it feels more confusing than helpful. It probably needs some more getting used to...

I underhand your reservations and admit my bias or work flow could be outside of mainstream but MacBooks are bought by lots of people who do work like me.

Keeping Apple Mail and Safari full screen so in essence multiple desktops and other apps in Stage Manager seems great but with laptop I can still throw off the speed or efficiency if I hop to a 6th app or window. Teams is vital in our enterprise, and I use ARM Edge over Chrome for my 365/Azure and other admin. Stage Manager is great for popping back and forth there.

Using Microsoft Windows too, a command or alt plus tab still remains a habitual and very effective app switcher. Still, I will give it (Stage Manager) some more time.

My assistant started some test iPads and will try it there but we can't just update dozens of iPads in an enterprise without testing and knowing it better.

 

[doogald]

I have an initial like of Stage Manager but going through the settings I see no way to increase how many icons on the left. That seems major fail for a laptop power user. Might I have missed some settings?

I've since read that it depends on which display (and which display settings) you are using. I believe that the new studio display can show as many as six stages. On my M2 MBA, I changed the display settings from default to show more text and it showed five stages rather than four..

 

[imwjl]

I've since read that it depends on which display (and which display settings) you are using. I believe that the new studio display can show as many as six stages. On my M2 MBA, I changed the display settings from default to show more text and it showed five stages rather than four..

Yes, but SO many power users have laptops where even my old eyes could handle smaller Stage Manager icons if it means I see 1-2 more. They could be dock icon size.

 

[imwjl]

FYI or FWIW.... I did the OS 13 update on my 27 inch iMac. Stage manager can give me one more icon than I see on the laptop but almost leaves me thinking more about it being a work in progress because a 27 inch display is more hand and mouse moving than the cmd + tab app switcher with near ancient roots in Windows and UNIX shells. I've also noticed some less than elegant if you are in a Teams or Zoom screen share doing some complicated stuff.

Still, I will give it some more time.

 

[gnirkatto]

I think the option of grouping different apps and windows (or whatever that's called in Apple world) into one stage manager pile could be (or develop into) a quite handy feature, if working on a task that needs all of these elements to quickly reappear on the screen en bloc.
You can't achieve this with the cmd + tab app switcher.

 

[doogald]

I think the option of grouping different apps and windows (or whatever that's called in Apple world) into one stage manager pile could be (or develop into) a quite handy feature, if working on a task that needs all of these elements to quickly reappear on the screen en bloc.
You can't achieve this with the cmd + tab app switcher.

Right, Spaces has been able to this as well, but it is out of sight. Stage Manager shows you the icons right there. (Of course you can combine both.)

 

[gnirkatto]

Right, Spaces has been able to this as well, but it is out of sight. Stage Manager shows you the icons right there. (Of course you can combine both.)

Correct, I almost forgot about spaces (desktops?) - although I usually (but rarely) use them when eg working with excel and multiple tables (not yet for different panels from different apps, but that works too, of course). And very easily accessible via mission control (in my case by 3-fingers-swipe-up, or sequential moving between them by 3-fingers-swipe sideways). And almost unlimited - I just created 12 for testing purposes and there seems to be no end (probably depending on RAM size).
Doesn't that sound way more useful than stage manager (contradicting my previous post now)?
Or is there any other advantage that comes with stage manager, besides being always visible (if wanted)?

 

[imwjl]

I think the option of grouping different apps and windows (or whatever that's called in Apple world) into one stage manager pile could be (or develop into) a quite handy feature, if working on a task that needs all of these elements to quickly reappear on the screen en bloc.
You can't achieve this with the cmd + tab app switcher.

I believe I said or tried to say Stage Manager has potential and likely work in progress.

Tab app switching is not perfect but it will leave you with lots of windows open in a desktop. Something with tab style switching is I'm a sys/net admin who's been doing it with UNIX, Windows, Linux and Macs for decades now. You get fast even if it is not elegant.

Where I found fault/flaw after quite liking Stage Manager came in a desktop sharing instance with Nutanix support and my assistant - a mix of multiple terminal app sessions at once, browsers, documentation and a text editor.

The way Apple is concentrating on tablets and same CPU for those and desktop has me thinking Stage Manager will get more polished.

 

[doogald]

Doesn't that sound way more useful than stage manager (contradicting my previous post now)?
Or is there any other advantage that comes with stage manager, besides being always visible (if wanted)?

Rather than one way, now there are two, depending on your preference. Well, there is a third way, and that's just manually organizing things, or not organizing at all.

 

[gnirkatto]

Rather than one way, now there are two, depending on your preference. Well, there is a third way, and that's just manually organizing things, or not organizing at all.

I always wonder, when companies create things that already existed, kind of, in a slightly different shape, why do they not spend their time & money differently, to better create something that hasn't existed at all and that would be a real enhancement or totally new feature that brings more fun, productivity, convenience etc. to the users.
Of course, in case the 'old' feature sucked big time, a redesign would be needed.
But now we have 2 different features which basically do the same things, in slightly different ways, and the 'old' feature was actually doing quite well.
I don't want to complain about giving users more choices for how to get things done.
I just prefer new stuff that's really new, or fine tuning of existing apps & features.

 

[doogald]

I always wonder, when companies create things that already existed, kind of, in a slightly different shape, why do they not spend their time & money differently, to better create something that hasn't existed at all and that would be a real enhancement or totally new feature that brings more fun, productivity, convenience etc. to the users.

Because there are people like me who never liked or used spaces - mostly because I don't think in terms of virtual desktops, don't keep track mentally of which ones are sitting in there background, etc. Stage Manager is a much better organizing theme for me, and I am sure that there are plenty of people like me.

Another advantage is no there will be people using Stage Manager in a slightly different format on iPadOS and the mental switch back to MacOS for them will be easier.

There doesn't have to be one way.

In fact, I thought of a fourth way. There are people who just run everything full screen, as if it was old days for the iPad, all apps running in the foreground with nothing in the background. Some people like that. I generally hate it myself, though now that you can also full screen in Ventura with the menu bar always visible - something that wasn't an option before - that makes full screen a little more palatable for me. I Amy use Word this way, as when I use Word I'm usually trying to concentrate only on typing or editing with no distractions.

 

[gnirkatto]

Because there are people like me who never liked or used spaces - mostly because I don't think in terms of virtual desktops, don't keep track mentally of which ones are sitting in there background, etc. Stage Manager is a much better organizing theme for me, and I am sure that there are plenty of people like me.

Another advantage is no there will be people using Stage Manager in a slightly different format on iPadOS and the mental switch back to MacOS for them will be easier.

There doesn't have to be one way.

In fact, I thought of a fourth way. There are people who just run everything full screen, as if it was old days for the iPad, all apps running in the foreground with nothing in the background. Some people like that. I generally hate it myself, though now that you can also full screen in Ventura with the menu bar always visible - something that wasn't an option before - that makes full screen a little more palatable for me. I Amy use Word this way, as when I use Word I'm usually trying to concentrate only on typing or editing with no distractions.

I understand that.
But refining spaces in a way that allows users to keep the 'selection bar' always on (as an option), would have made a stage manager like feature, and way easier to implement imho.
However, you have a point in what you said about iPad - there was no such feature like spaces, and the task switcher doesn't provide for grouping of apps and windows.
So maybe it was the only feasible way - to develop a new feature that works similarly on both platforms.

 

[imwjl]

FWIW, the 4 fingers swipe up with Stage Manager helps with fast power user actions. Still, yesterday 3 of us working in same room combined using laptops and at some complicated stuff requiring working across several programs again caught the not so loving part of Stage Manager love/hate. A conventional desktop window and 2-3 programs in the full screen (acts as desktop) was best.

More time with Stage Manager on my 27 inch iMac shows more exaggerated mouse movements vs keyboard tab fast switching or multi finger swipe on the Apple branded mouse.

This stuff might sound picky but the context is being an IT pro and doing the admin, InfoSec and infrastructure sorts of tasks. It is more random and broader mix than some things I've done in my career. Just popping between 3-4 programs and with laptop Stage Manager seems like an improvement. Fingers crossed for some more polish in the future.

Very first world problems because in person working with colleagues and staff shows a whole lot don't really even know the speed with cmd or alt + tab.

 

[gnirkatto]

I have now tested Stage Manager quite extensively and have to say it confuses me more than it helps.

1st, the ever changing positions of the stacks have me looking for the right one all the time. Turning off the rececnts doesn't help a lot, as the icons then disappear and only come back if I move the cursor to the left side of the screen.
2ndly, I constantly find myself scanning through both the Stage Manager 'bar' and the dock, in order to find the app/stack that I need. Is it (still) in Stage Manager or back at the dock only?

So for me, it's going to be the usual proven window management, mission control & full screen desktops, 3 finger swipes etc.
But I'm looking forward to further refinements that Apple may apply to Stage Manager. In particular, I think more individual setting options would help a lot.