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Mac Desktops Keep Changing Order? The One Setting That Stops It

10 November 2026

The short answer

Your desktops move because macOS sorts them by most recent use. Open System Settings, go to Desktop & Dock, scroll to the Mission Control section and turn off "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use". From then on each desktop stays where you put it. If you want the order to mean something, give each desktop a name with DeskStag, so the row in Mission Control reads Email, Client, Code instead of 1, 2, 3.

This article is the fix. For the system that stops the pile coming back, read How to organize desktops on a Mac.

Why macOS does this

Apple ships the setting on. The idea is that the desktop you used last is the one you most likely want next, so it slides to the left. In practice it breaks the thing that makes several desktops worth having: you learn that email is first and the spreadsheet is second, then one afternoon the spreadsheet is first and you are swiping the wrong way. Muscle memory never forms because the map keeps redrawing.

Three signs it is this setting and not something else:

• The desktops swap places after you switch between them, not after a restart.
• The desktop you just left is now next to the one you are on.
• The thumbnails in Mission Control are in a different order from an hour ago.

Turn it off, step by step

1. Open System Settings from the Apple menu.
2. Click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar.
3. Scroll to the bottom to the Mission Control section.
4. Turn off "Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use".

There is no restart. Open Mission Control (Control and the up arrow, or a three-finger swipe up) and drag the thumbnails into the order you want. That order now holds.

Two neighbours worth checking while you are there

Displays have separate Spaces. With this on, each monitor has its own set of desktops, and a desktop cannot drift to the other screen. With it off, one row of desktops spans every display. Either is fine, but a change here feels like the order changing.

When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application. This one does not reorder anything, but it does yank you across desktops when you click a Dock icon. If you keep landing somewhere unexpected, this is why.

Make the order readable

A fixed order helps only if you can tell the desktops apart. Mission Control shows them as Desktop 1, Desktop 2, Desktop 3, and the wallpaper thumbnails look alike at that size. DeskStag puts a name and a colour on each thumbnail, so the row reads as Email, Client, Code, Personal. The names stay with their desktops through reboots, through the drag reorder you just did, and across more than one display. A keyboard press, Control Option Command N, flashes the current desktop's name on screen so you know where you landed. It runs on macOS 13 and later and asks for one permission, Accessibility.

FAQ

Does turning the setting off affect full-screen apps? No. A full-screen app is still its own Space and still sits to the right of your desktops. It stops moving about, like the others.

My desktops still reorder after a restart. Why? macOS keeps the order you set. If it changes after a restart, check whether a display was unplugged while it was asleep; desktops from a missing display fold into the remaining one, and come back when the display does.

Can I give the desktops numbers I choose? macOS numbers them by position only, so dragging changes the number. A name you give in DeskStag stays on the same desktop wherever it sits.