Useful macOS defaults: Mission Control and Spaces

Mission Control and Spaces settings are split across two domains. Most Mission Control settings live in com.apple.dock. Spaces-specific settings live in com.apple.spaces.

After changing any of these, restart the Dock:

killall Dock

Speed up the Mission Control animation

Make Mission Control appear faster:

defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.1

The default is about 0.7 seconds. Set it to 0.1 for a snappy feel. Set it to 0 to skip the animation entirely, though this can look jarring.

Stop Spaces from rearranging themselves

By default, macOS reorders your Spaces based on how recently you used them. The Space you use most often moves to the front. To keep your Spaces in the order you set:

defaults write com.apple.dock mru-spaces -bool false

This is one of the most popular defaults tweaks. Many people find it confusing when their Spaces move around.

To go back to automatic reordering:

defaults write com.apple.dock mru-spaces -bool true

Group windows by app in Mission Control

Show all windows from the same app together in Mission Control:

defaults write com.apple.dock expose-group-apps -bool true

To show every window separately (the default):

defaults write com.apple.dock expose-group-apps -bool false

Displays have separate Spaces

Each display gets its own set of Spaces. This is on by default. To turn it off (so all displays share the same Space):

defaults write com.apple.spaces spans-displays -bool true

Note: this setting is backwards. Setting spans-displays to true means Spaces span across displays (one Space covers all screens). Setting it to false means each display has its own Spaces.

To go back to separate Spaces per display:

defaults write com.apple.spaces spans-displays -bool false

You must log out and back in for this change to take effect.

Hot Corners

Hot Corners trigger actions when you move your mouse to a corner of the screen. You can set them through defaults.

Each corner has two keys: one for the action and one for modifier keys.

The corner keys:

The modifier keys use the same names with -modifier appended.

Action codes:

Set the top right corner to show the Desktop:

defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-tr-corner -int 4
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-tr-modifier -int 0

Set the bottom left corner to start the Screen Saver:

defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-bl-corner -int 5
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-bl-modifier -int 0

Set the bottom right corner to lock the screen:

defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-br-corner -int 13
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-br-modifier -int 0

Require a modifier key (so the action only triggers when you hold a key). For example, require Command for the top left corner Mission Control:

defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-tl-corner -int 2
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-tl-modifier -int 1048576

Modifier values:

Turn off all Hot Corners

defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-tl-corner -int 0
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-tr-corner -int 0
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-bl-corner -int 0
defaults write com.apple.dock wvous-br-corner -int 0

Switch to a Space without animation

defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-swoosh-animation-off -bool true

Read current settings

defaults read com.apple.dock | grep -E "wvous|expose|mru|spaces"
defaults read com.apple.spaces

Notes

Hot Corner settings are also available in System Settings, then Desktop and Dock, then Hot Corners (at the bottom of the page). The defaults commands are useful for scripting or setting up several Macs.

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