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Naming Spaces for macOS

Getting started

Naming Spaces lives in your menu bar. There's no Dock icon and no main window. It works entirely through the small badge it places on each desktop Space.

• A badge appears on every desktop Space you visit. Click it to give that Space a name.
• The badge and the menu bar show the name whenever you come back to that Space.
• After the app restarts, badges read “Click to Assign”. macOS can't tell the app which Space is which, so: visit a Space, click its badge, and pick its name. One click per Space.

To rename a Space later, just click its badge again and type a new name. The menu-bar icon opens a menu listing all of your named Spaces.

Why do badges say “Click to Assign” after a restart?

This is the most common question, and the honest answer is a macOS limitation rather than a bug.

macOS does not give apps a stable way to identify desktop Spaces across launches. While Naming Spaces is running, recognition is fully automatic: it follows you from Space to Space and keeps each name attached, with nothing for you to do. But once the app quits, whether you log out, restart, or shut down, macOS provides no way for the app to ask “which Space is this?” when it starts up again.

Your names are never lost. Every name you set is saved safely on your Mac. The only thing the app loses on restart is the automatic link between a saved name and the live Space it belongs to, and that link takes one click to restore:

1. Switch to a Space you'd named before. Its badge reads “Click to Assign”.
2. Click the badge and pick the matching name from your saved list, or tap the ↻ reclaim control.
3. The name is reconnected and stays put for as long as the app keeps running.

You only do this for Spaces you want to re-label, one click each, and only after the app itself has restarted. We'd love for this to be automatic. If Apple ever exposes a way to identify Spaces across launches, we'll adopt it.

Multiple displays

Each display has its own set of desktop Spaces, and Naming Spaces treats them that way. You'll see a badge on the active Space of each display, so you can name Spaces independently per screen. Naming works exactly the same on every display: visit the Space, click its badge, name it.

If you connect or disconnect a display, macOS may rearrange your Spaces. As with a restart, the badges on affected Spaces will read “Click to Assign”. Visit the Space and reconnect its name in one click.

You can also drag a badge onto another display: its name moves to that display's current Space, and any name already there returns to “Click to Assign”.

Frequently asked questions

Does Naming Spaces collect any data?

No. Everything is local. The app has no account, makes no network connections, and includes no analytics. Your Space names are stored only on your Mac. See the privacy policy.

Can it move windows to a Space, or make windows follow a Space?

Not this edition. Naming Spaces names your Spaces; it doesn't move windows. A more powerful direct-download edition, where windows follow their Spaces, is in development.

Which version of macOS do I need?

macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

Where's the app's window? I don't see one.

Naming Spaces is a menu-bar-only app, so it has no Dock icon or main window. Look for its icon in the menu bar, and for the badge on your current desktop Space. You can re-open the welcome guide any time from the menu.

Do I have to grant any permissions?

No. The app is fully sandboxed and requests no permissions: no accessibility access, no screen recording, nothing.

Why can't it just name all my Spaces at once?

macOS doesn't provide a list of your Spaces or a way to address them directly. The app can only see the Space you're currently on, which is why naming (and reclaiming after a restart) happens one Space at a time as you visit them.

Contact

Questions, trouble, or feedback? Email support@namingspaces.app and we'll get back to you.

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