Stop your desktops swapping places
macOS reorders Spaces behind your back, so desktop two is not where you left it. One checkbox freezes them.
Works on: macOS Ventura 13 and later · checked on macOS Golden Gate 27
Published: · Source: Rod Herzstrom
If you work with several desktops, macOS quietly reorders them: the one you used most recently drifts towards the front, so the desktop that was third this morning is second now. No muscle memory survives that.
Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock, scroll down to the Mission Control section and turn off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use.
From then on desktop 1 is always desktop 1, and a fixed layout starts to pay off: mail and calendar on the first, the browser on the second, the editor on the third. Swiping left and right with three or four fingers becomes something you do without looking, and ⌃ + ← or ⌃ + → lands exactly where you expect.
Related tips
Stack the windows of each app in Mission Control
With fifteen windows open, Mission Control is a mosaic you have to read. One checkbox turns it into piles, one per app.
Tile windows from the green button
The three coloured dots do more than close, minimise and maximise — hold the green one.
See every window of the app you are using
App Exposé spreads out the windows of the current app, including the ones hiding on other desktops.