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Command palette and Layout Overview

Press ⌃⌥Space, or click Commands at the top of the editor. The palette is available while Layout is active.

Type to search: the list keeps the commands whose name or description contains what you type. Use ↑ and ↓ to choose, Return to run, and Esc to close. You can also click a command.

The palette contains:

Command What it does
Go to followed by a workspace’s name Switches to that workspace. There’s one for each workspace.
Launch followed by a workspace’s name Opens its apps and applies its layout. There’s one for each workspace.
Save desktop as layout… Saves the current windows as a new workspace. See Save your desktop.
Layout Overview Opens the overview described below.
A window’s title Focuses that window, switching to its workspace if needed. There’s one for each window Layout manages.
Undo window move or resize Undoes your last move or resize in the current workspace. See Moving windows.
Recover hidden windows Brings back the windows Layout moved out of sight, into the active workspace. See Recovering windows.
Export diagnostics… Saves Layout’s state for a bug report. See Diagnostics.

The Layout Overview shows all your workspaces side by side, as small schematic desktops. Open it with ⌃⌥O, with Layout Overview in the Layout menu bar icon’s menu, or from the command palette. It’s available while Layout is active. Press ⌃⌥O again, or Esc, to close it.

Each desktop shows the workspace’s zones with their names, and its windows as tiles with the app’s icon and the window’s title. Minimized windows are dimmed. A workspace without open windows shows the apps its layout launches, dimmed, and “No open windows”. Above each desktop are the workspace’s name, its number of windows, and “Active” on the current one.

  • Use the arrow keys to select a desktop, and Return to switch to it.
  • Click a desktop to select it, or click its name to switch to it right away.
  • Drag a window’s tile onto another desktop to move the window to that workspace.
  • Or right-click the tile and choose Move to followed by the workspace’s name.

Under each desktop, a list names every window of the workspace, so windows that overlap and minimized windows stay reachable one by one. You can drag these labels and right-click them the same way.

Moving a window here works like Move to in the editor: the window leaves every other workspace. If the target isn’t the active workspace, the window moves out of sight.

Drag a divider on a desktop to resize its zones, in steps of 1%. The new proportions are saved. On the active workspace, the windows follow right away; a hidden workspace uses the new proportions the next time you switch to it.

The Layout Overview draws its desktops from the layouts and window positions Layout already knows. It takes no screenshot and needs no permission beyond Accessibility.