Create a New Desktop Space in Mac OS X with Mission Control

Mission Control is the powerful window management feature in Mac OS X that allows for sorting through windows, full screen apps, split-view, and utilizing virtual desktops called Spaces. The latter Spaces feature is what we’ll focus on here, which is the ability to create a new additional blank desktop space to work within, either for a set purpose, a particular app, or just to clear off the screen while you work on something else with less distraction.

You can create many desktop spaces if you want to in Mission Control, and if you use multiple monitors, each display will have it’s own set of spaces. Making a new space and switching between them is an easy and efficient way of improving multitasking in OS X.

How to Create a New Virtual Desktop Space in Mission Control for Mac OS X

1. Open Mission Control in OS X as you normally would with the F3 key or what keystroke you have set depending on your Mac keyboard and settings defined in System Preferences
2. Hover the mouse cursor over the top right of Mission Control where the faint [+] plus icon is, clicking on the [+] plus button will create a new desktop space named “Desktop #”
3. Select that desktop to switch to it, or click the [+] plus button again to create a new desktop virtual space

Once a new desktop is created it will add to the thumbnail list across the top of the screen, it won’t become the active desktop unless you select it from the Mission Control screen, however.

You can switch between spaces by accessing Mission Control and selecting the desktop again, another option is to use keystrokes for quickly moving between Desktops as well, which power users should enjoy.

While in Mission Control, you can also create a new desktop space for a specific app with a drag and drop trick. Closing Spaces is a matter of hovering over a desktop in Mission Control and clicking on the (X) icon.

Spaces, which is the Mac OS X name for virtual desktops, is a helpful feature that can reduce clutter and improve workflow. If you haven’t utilized Spaces much, give it a try, it can be a great productivity booster. You can also learn more by checking out a collection of some particularly useful Mission Control tips or browse through all Mission Control posts here.