Disable Stage Manager on Mac (Ventura, Sonoma, Sequoia)

Stage Manager arrived in macOS 13 Ventura and has been part of every release since. If the left-side app strip isn't working for you, you can turn the whole feature off in System Settings — or just hide the strip while keeping Stage Manager active. This guide covers both, plus a Terminal shortcut for those who prefer it.

What Stage Manager actually does

When Stage Manager is on, your active app takes center stage and other open windows shrink into a vertical strip on the left edge of the screen. Clicking a window in the strip swaps it to center. It is Apple's answer to virtual desktops for people who prefer a single continuous workspace.

The tradeoff: the strip consumes horizontal screen real estate and can feel intrusive on smaller displays. On a 13-inch MacBook, the persistent left column is a meaningful chunk of usable space.

Turn Stage Manager off in System Settings

This is the cleanest approach — no Terminal, fully reversible from the same menu.

1. Click the Apple menu () in the top-left corner and choose System Settings.
2. Click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the Stage Manager section.
4. Click the toggle next to Stage Manager to turn it off.

The strip vanishes immediately. Your open windows rearrange to fill the full screen again. To re-enable it, follow the same steps and toggle it back on.

Hide the strip without turning Stage Manager off

If you like Stage Manager's window-grouping behavior but find the persistent strip distracting, there is a middle option: turn on Stage Manager, then hide the strip.

1. In System Settings → Desktop & Dock, make sure Stage Manager is on.
2. In the same section, uncheck Show recent apps in Stage Manager.

The left strip disappears, but Stage Manager stays active. You can still switch between app sets by hovering at the left edge of the screen, where the strip reappears temporarily.

Turn it off with a Terminal command

If you want a scriptable toggle — for an automation, a shell alias, or just personal preference — the underlying defaults key is GloballyEnabled in the com.apple.WindowManager domain.

To disable Stage Manager:

# turn Stage Manager off
defaults write com.apple.WindowManager GloballyEnabled -bool false

To re-enable it:

# turn Stage Manager back on
defaults write com.apple.WindowManager GloballyEnabled -bool true

No app restart or logout required. The change takes effect as soon as the command runs. You can confirm the current value at any time:

# check current state (prints 0 = off, 1 = on)
defaults read com.apple.WindowManager GloballyEnabled

Keyboard shortcut

On macOS 13 and later you can also toggle Stage Manager from the Control Center icon in the menu bar. Click the Control Center icon (the two-slider icon), find Stage Manager in the panel, and click the icon to toggle. This is the fastest way if you switch back and forth.

There is no built-in global keyboard shortcut for Stage Manager, but you can assign one in System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Mission Control.

Does this affect Spaces or Mission Control?

No. Stage Manager and Mission Control Spaces are separate systems. Turning off Stage Manager does not delete or collapse your Spaces. Mission Control (F3 or swipe up with four fingers) continues to work exactly as before.

Frequently asked questions

Does disabling Stage Manager change how windows overlap?

Yes, slightly. With Stage Manager off, macOS returns to the traditional behavior where windows from all apps coexist freely on the desktop. The "one focused group" model goes away, so you can have windows from a dozen apps overlapping each other as you prefer.

I turned it off but the left strip is still there

This can happen if the Stage Manager toggle in System Settings is in an intermediate state. Try toggling it on and then off again. If you used the Terminal command, run defaults read com.apple.WindowManager GloballyEnabled to confirm it read back as 0. If still stuck, a logout and back in will clear any lingering state.

Does this affect iPad Stage Manager?

No. If you use Stage Manager on an iPad connected to an external display, that setting is managed separately on the iPad itself. The macOS defaults key only controls the Mac.