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I have multiple desktops. I want to be able to name them. Is it possible out of the box?

Or at least does MacOS have API for that? I'd create an application.

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  • Alas, no, but the workaround I use is I hide Stickies under the dock whose font size is as tall as the dock, so that they're legible in MC. Since the dock doesn't show in mission control, they're pretty effective, and as of Catalina, you can even set them to "Float on Top" so that they're never covered up by a window that slides under the dock. They're just a bit clunky to arrange and don't go back to their assigned desktop after reboot/logout.
    – hepcat72
    May 28, 2020 at 19:01

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You cannot rename desktops in Mission Control.

You can’t rearrange or rename Spaces, either.

You get Desktop 1, Desktop 2, and so on, and that’s it.

This Thread should give you more information.

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    Actually, you can rearrange spaces in Mission Control: Just drag them into the order you want. Of course, after rearrangement, their names will change according to the new order. (Except for fullscreen applications, whose spaces bear the name of the application inhabiting those spaces.)
    – Harald Hanche-Olsen
    Dec 2, 2018 at 15:51
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    Yes I understand that but you can't give them custom name however that would be cool
    – k4b00m
    Dec 11, 2018 at 20:12
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[Update: creator here - I have pulled this app from the App Store because it's a free app that I currently don't have a great way to test on Monterey, as I don't own hardware that can run it (I have a 2014 MBP). That said, users have emailed me still wanting it, and I have selectively put it in the store every week or two for a short amount of time so they can grab it. If you are interested in that, shoot me an email via the support tab on the homepage listed below through an email or twitter DM. But also, Apple should just go ahead and support named Desktops natively, they're inevitably going to do so eventually - as all other OS platforms do, and it should be sooner rather than later. Thanks!]

There's a free app in the Mac App Store that (disclaimer) I made and launched in May of this year called CurrentKey that lets you give Spaces a persistent name via the menubar. It also lets you give each Space a unique icon, and tells you how you spend time across your Spaces (and the apps within them). Because macOS API's are limited, the names stay in the app and don't show up in Mission Control. But they are persistent.

The app also lets you jump directly to another named Space (it calls them "Rooms") via its dropdown menu or by a globally assigned hotkey. Because Apple lets you have up to 16 Spaces per screen, this is handy in navigating between them.

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    Hi just tried ur app. Its a nice start but if you dont show the name somewhere i won't be bothered to click on the icon to see in which room i am
    – Petros Kyriakou
    Mar 13, 2021 at 13:24
  • Thanks for the feedback! I'd suggest enabling the feature that lets you set a custom icon for each space. That way, you can just glance at the menubar and see which space you're in based on that Space's icon. Setting a custom icon ^ is the best way to have a glanceable reference on which Space you're in. If you're more adventurous, you can let the app notify an AppleScript of any Space-change event, with the active Space name. This is really powerful, letting you trigger any event, even custom sounds: spencerdailey.com/2020/05/07/…
    – sdailey
    Mar 17, 2021 at 19:48
  • I tried using icons however because the whole bar up there has icons in it it gets difficult. I need to memorize the icons and to be honest its not intuitive because I have to make an effort to find the icon that i "might" remember for this workspace. Tried custom icon but it was not working it was just closing the window. I am on Big sur 11.2.3
    – Petros Kyriakou
    Mar 18, 2021 at 7:07
  • Hey! So, using Applescript, you can get the name of the Space to appear automatically. I just wrote a blog post detailing how you can do that (it's a very simple AppleScript) spencerdailey.com/2021/03/19/…
    – sdailey
    Mar 19, 2021 at 0:38
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    IIRC, you could rename Spaces back in much earlier versions of Mac OS X, when they formed a two-dimensional grid.  So names were deliberately removed when Spaces was folded into Mission Control and made one-dimensional; I don't know why, but whatever reason they had presumably still applies :-(
    – gidds
    Aug 28, 2021 at 16:03

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