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Monitor Management

BetterStage treats your entire multi-monitor setup as a single workspace. Stages span all connected displays, so switching a stage hides and shows windows on every monitor simultaneously.

Multi-Monitor Behavior

A stage is not tied to a single display. When you switch stages with Opt+1 through Opt+9, BetterStage hides every window belonging to the outgoing stage and reveals every window belonging to the incoming stage — across all monitors at once.

  • Windows stay on the monitor where you placed them. Switching stages never moves a window to a different display.
  • Tiling layouts (Bento Box) are computed per-monitor, so each display gets its own independent grid.
  • Snap zones work on every connected monitor. Drag a window to the edge of any display to trigger a snap zone.

Excluding Monitors from Staging

Sometimes you want a monitor to stay untouched — a dedicated reference screen, a video call display, or a monitoring dashboard. You can exclude individual monitors from stage management entirely.

  1. Open Settings > Monitors.
  2. Toggle off any monitor you want to exclude.
  3. Windows on excluded monitors remain visible regardless of which stage is active.

Excluded monitors are not affected by stage switches, tiling, or snap zones. They behave as if BetterStage is not running on that display.

Display ID Persistence

BetterStage identifies monitors by their macOS display ID, a unique identifier assigned by the system. This means your monitor configurations — including exclusion settings and tiling layouts — are remembered even when a monitor is disconnected and reconnected later.

  • Unplug a monitor, reconnect it, and your settings are restored automatically.
  • Display IDs are stable across reboots for physically connected monitors.
  • If macOS assigns a new display ID (rare, but possible after driver updates), you may need to re-configure that monitor in Settings.

Hot-Plugging

BetterStage detects monitor connect and disconnect events in real time. There is no need to restart the app when you plug in or remove a display.

  • Monitor connected: BetterStage picks up the new display, restores any saved settings for its display ID, and begins managing windows on it.
  • Monitor disconnected: Windows that were on the removed display are reassigned to remaining monitors by macOS. BetterStage updates its internal state and continues managing the active displays.
  • Tiling layouts are recalculated automatically when the monitor configuration changes.
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