nikitabobko
Switching workspaces on one monitor hides native fullscreen app on second monitor
Background
I'm having an issue where switching workspaces that are both on the same monitor results in a fullscreen app minimizing on my other monitor. I'll go into more detail below.
"Displays have separate Spaces" is enabled. "Group windows by application" is enabled. (disabling doesn't seem to affect this issue)
My main monitor is positioned to the left of my laptop screen. I like to watch a fullscreen video on my laptop screen while working on other things on my main monitor.
I have aerospace workspaces 1 and 2 on my main monitor. workspace 0 on my laptop screen.
When I switch between workspaces 1 and 2 (on main monitor), the video on workspaces 0 goes away to show the desktop. I can still hear the audio and if I just click the screen on the laptop then the video shows up again.
It looks like the apps from inactive workspaces are being moved to the bottom right corner of my laptop monitor. I suspect this might be what is causing the video to go away.
What I've tried
- I thought it might just be my browser (chrome) because I have chrome in multiple workspaces including the one playing the video. However, I tried using a different browser for the video only and the issue still happens.
- I tried changing my main display to the laptop screen in macOS settings thinking maybe the apps would get moved to my other monitor instead of the laptop monitor. However, the apps always move to the bottom-right of the laptop screen regardless of the settings.
- I temporarily tried swapping which monitors my workspaces are on (1 and 2 moved to my laptop screen, 0 moved to my main monitor). This way the video was playing fullscreen on my main monitor and my other apps on my laptop screen. This did "fix" the issue in that I could switch between workspaces 1 and 2 and workspace 0 stayed fullscreen. This leads me to believe the issue is related to where the inactive apps get moved to.
- I temporarily moved the arrangement of my laptop in macOS settings to be on the left of my main monitor instead of the right. This did "fix" the issue. This is further evidence that the root of the issue is where the inactive apps get moved to.
Possible solution
(assuming there isn't already a known solution)
This issue could be solved for me if there was a setting to control which monitor inactive apps get moved to. If they moved to my main monitor instead of my laptop monitor I think the issue would be solved. On a side note, it seems weird that apps (even inactive ones) would get moved to a different macOS Space. Shouldn't they always stay in the same Space to keep things isolated?
Alternatively, there could be a settings to control which corner apps get moved to. It appears to always be the bottom-right. If it could be configured to be the bottom-left, then I think it would fix the issue for me.
