Keep your desktop routine across two Macs

Put your editor on one desktop and your browser on another. These desktops, called spaces in macOS, group your windows so you can move between parts of your work. For development, keep a terminal beside your code, then give testing and reference material a separate place.

Share the other Mac’s whole display with Beam 0.3.1 to navigate its spaces from your workstation. Check which desktop is visible in the shared window, then try Control–Left Arrow or Control–Right Arrow and watch which Mac responds before continuing with your work.

Start by arranging the Mac in front of you and learning the positions of its spaces. Then repeat the navigation with the second machine, checking which desktop changes when you press a shortcut in its shared display.

Give your spaces a predictable order

Mission Control gives you an overview of open windows and spaces. Use it to find a particular window or choose a destination visually. Once you know where your work lives, the left and right arrow shortcuts let you move between neighboring spaces.

1. On the Mac in front of you, press Control–Up Arrow or the Mission Control key. You’ll see open windows and, along the top, thumbnails representing desktop spaces and full-screen apps. Find the desktop containing your editor and the one containing your browser; Apple’s Mission Control guide explains this overview and its controls.

1. Select a desktop thumbnail to move there, then open Mission Control again. Drag a window to another desktop thumbnail to change its place: for example, move your terminal alongside your editor and keep browser testing on a neighboring desktop. Use Control–Left Arrow and Control–Right Arrow to move between them, following Apple’s steps for arranging windows across spaces.

1. For a stable order, open System Settings > Desktop & Dock > Mission Control and turn off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use. This Desktop & Dock setting controls whether recent activity changes their order. Keeping positions consistent lets you remember that testing is to the right of your coding desktop.

If a shortcut does not respond, start in System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts and check its assignment and possible conflicts. For the Mission Control key, also check how your keyboard handles Fn or Globe. Apple’s keyboard shortcut troubleshooting covers these checks; the relevant adjustment depends on your keyboard and settings.

Carry the routine to the other Mac

Choose the scope of sharing to match the work. Beam can share one window at a time or a whole display when you select one.

1. Open Beam on both machines, each an Apple silicon Mac running macOS Sonoma or later. Put them on the same local network, where they connect directly, or connect them through your Tailscale tailnet when apart. A tailnet is your private network for reaching your devices from different locations.

1. Pair the Macs in Beam and select the other Mac’s whole display to share. The result is a beamed window: a window on the Mac in front of you that shows content shared from the other Mac. Identify the desktop currently visible inside it before you begin moving between destinations.

1. Choose the desktop you want to reach before trying the navigation shortcuts. With the beamed window active, press Control–Left Arrow or Control–Right Arrow. Verify that the other Mac changes desktops, then use the opposite shortcut to return and confirm that you recognize the starting desktop.

Beam puts the other Mac’s desktops in your window’s header and brings your familiar keyboard routine along. The header gives you a place to check destinations, while the arrow shortcuts move between the other Mac’s spaces during your work.

For a second machine you plan to operate from your main workstation, the headless Mac mini workflow provides a related setup. Keep that machine accessible while you check reconnection, so you can complete the test before putting it elsewhere.

While the other Mac is still within reach, restart it. Reconnect through Beam and test desktop navigation with Control–Left Arrow and Control–Right Arrow before moving it.