BetterStage Complete Tutorial

BetterStage is the tiling window manager for Mac that remembers how you work. In this tutorial you set up a project, switch away and come back to it, organize its windows, work across screens, and save the whole setup for later.

Move the pointer to the top center of the screen to open the Stages Bar, and create a Stage there. Click its name to rename it — the video uses Design Desk.

With Design Desk active, open the windows for this project. New windows join the active Stage, unless a routing rule says otherwise.

Create another Stage and name it Research. The design windows leave the screen, but their apps stay open. Select Design Desk again, and the same windows return.

To move a window into Research, drag it onto that Stage's card. You can also switch Stages with Option (⌥) and a number.

In Native mode you place windows freely. Snap the focused window with Control-Option (⌃⌥) and an arrow key.

A middle click opens the Snap Wheel: pick a placement, and the window moves beside the first. Its outer actions also send windows to Stages and change the current screen's Window Mode.

TabStack keeps windows in resizable panes. Open the Snap Wheel, choose Window Modes, then TabStack, and pick a layout — Split View gives two panes.

Drop a window in the center of a pane to join it as a tab; an empty pane can launch an app right into it. Click a tab to switch the visible window while the panes stay put. Drag the tab bar onto the Swap zone, and the panes trade places.

Drop a tab at a pane's edge to split that pane, and drag a divider to resize just the panes beside it. Full zooms a pane to fill the screen; choose it again to restore the layout.

Under More Actions, Save New Layout stores the pane arrangement so you can reuse it on any screen, and Apply a TabStack preset picks from the built-in layouts and any you've saved.

In Settings → Window Modes you can restyle the tab bar. Modes and Behavior sets where new windows go and how the drop zones work. Small tool windows, like Calculator, float above the layout automatically.

To make sure a window always floats, choose Window Behavior, then Keep Floating. Floating windows still belong to their Stage: switch to Research and the window leaves with Design Desk; come back and it returns.

A window can also belong to several Stages. Open Send to Stage, then Show in multiple Stages, tick the Stages you want, and apply. In Design Desk the same Safari window now appears as a tab — it's one window, not a copy.

The BetterStage switcher lists your windows by Stage. Turn it on in Settings.

Hold Command and press Tab. Keep pressing Tab to move the highlight, and release Command to bring that window forward. Pick a window in another Stage, and BetterStage switches to that project. Keep holding Command and type to search, then press Return to open the match.

A Stage spans all your displays. Each screen keeps its own windows and layout, and switching projects changes the screens together. Drag a window to another display and drop it into a pane.

To keep a screen constant, pin it in Settings → Displays. Switching projects then leaves the pinned screen as it is.

A Stage can also hold more than one macOS Desktop, with its own layout on each. Switching Desktops changes the layout inside a project; switching Stages changes the project itself.

App Routing sends new windows from an app to the Stage you choose. Add a rule, pick the app, choose its destination Stage, and save. Rules run from top to bottom, so put specific matches first.

From then on, opening the app puts its window straight into that Stage.

Start from a typical messy desk: nine windows piled into a single Stage. AI Staging can sort them for you. Open it from the Snap Wheel's workspace tools.

Write a Recipe in plain language: name your projects, say which windows belong to each, pick their Window Modes, and add a few layout rules. Then choose Arrange windows.

Before anything moves, you review the plan — which Stage each window goes to and how the panes are filled — and you can ask for changes before you apply it. Apply, and the pile becomes separate projects with their panes filled.

Your window details go to the AI provider you choose, so choose it deliberately.

A Stage is the project you're working in. A Saved Workspace is your whole setup, kept for later. Save Workspace captures all your Stages, with their windows, Window Modes and layouts.

To bring it back, open Load Workspace, pick the saved workspace, and load it. Every Stage returns with its windows, Window Modes and panes — even after its Stages were deleted and every window was left in one Stage in plain Native mode.

Loading can also bring back apps that aren't running, say after a restart. Turn on Open missing apps, and BetterStage reopens them and puts their windows back where they belong.

Clean Load goes further: it first quits apps and removes Stages that aren't part of the workspace, for a completely fresh start. Apps can still ask to save, and nothing is force quit.

In Settings, Shortcuts lets you pick keys you'll remember, and Snap Wheel settings choose its trigger and its actions.

Settings Backup exports your preferences. It's not a snapshot of your open windows — that's what Saved Workspaces are for.

If a window behaves unexpectedly, check which Stage it belongs to, and its Window Behavior.

You now have projects you can leave and come back to, layouts that fit your work, and a setup you can save and bring back anytime.

That's everything you need to get started. Set the stage once, and perform every day.