Stacks automatically collects related items on the desktop and displays them in stacks. With macOS Mojave and later, Stacks became a display option for the desktop. Use Stacks: The Mac has had the ability to display items in stacks for a while, but it pertained to how items were shown in the Dock. You can also have the desktop image change automatically, or make use of a dynamic desktop that brightens and dims depending on the time of day. A popup menu will appear, with a number of options that pertain to the desktop:Ĭhange Desktop Background: This menu item will open the Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane, where you can select an image to use for your desktop. Make sure it’s not over a file, folder, or disk, then right-click or control-click the mouse or trackpad. Move the cursor to an empty spot on the desktop. You won’t find these desktop settings in the System Preferences instead, many desktop options are available directly from a menu when you place the cursor over the desktop: Most of the items on the desktop (files, folders, drives, servers) can be placed anywhere you wish, though there can be some restrictions depending on desktop settings. It sounds like you've been launching your apps from within the mounted disk images all the time, rather than copying them over to your /Applications folder first and launching them from there.Desktop getting a bit cluttered? You can keep your desktop organized with some of these tricks.Īs the primary play area the desktop can get a bit messy, so we’ll start with tips for keeping the desktop well organized. Then find your app in your /Applications folder and launch it by double-clicking it from there. Just drag the application icon into that folder within the very same window:ī: If you see an installer package, double-click it to run the installer.Īfter either A or B, eject (unmount) the virtual hard drive icon, and drag the. Often, the mounted disk image already shows a link to the Applications folder. This is a self-contained app that needs no installer you just drag-copy it to wherever you want it, and that's it. pkg).Ī: If you see an app, simply drag that app to your /Applications folder. Open that virtual hard drive and you'll see either the app you want to install, or an installer package file (cardboard box icon. When you double-click on that, it mounts the disk image, which makes it show up as a virtual hard drive icon on your desktop.

Macbook icons on desktop