Turn off the Spaces animation on Mac, switch desktops faster, and stop them rearranging

Applies to macOS 14, 15, 26 and 27Reviewed 2 November 2026Tested on macOS 27.2 and Tahoe 26.6.22 min read

Replace the slide with a fade

1. Open System Settings › Accessibility › Motion. It's in the same place on macOS 27 and 26 Tahoe.
2. Turn on Reduce motion.

This also tones down other animations around the system, such as opening Mission Control. Most people who try it for Spaces keep it.

On macOS 27? If Spaces stutters rather than just feeling slow, that's a known bug. See Mission Control lag and black screens on macOS 27.

You'll find a Terminal command, workspaces-swoosh-animation-off, shared on many sites. It comes from older macOS versions and isn't reliable on current ones, so we don't recommend it.

Jump straight to a desktop

Switching with Control ← and Control → moves one Space at a time. Direct shortcuts take you to a specific desktop:

1. Make sure the desktops exist first: open Mission Control and add them with the + button at the top right.
2. Open System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts… › Mission Control.
3. Expand Mission Control and tick Switch to Desktop 1, Switch to Desktop 2 and so on. The defaults are Control 1, Control 2…

The same pane is where you change any Spaces shortcut, for example to move Move left a space off Control ← if an app needs that key.

Stop macOS rearranging your Spaces

By default, macOS reorders Spaces so the ones you used most recently sit closest. If your desktops keep changing places, turn that off:

1. Open System Settings › Desktop & Dock and scroll to Mission Control.
2. Turn off Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use.

A related switch just below, When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application, decides whether clicking an app in the Dock jumps you to another desktop. Turn it off if that surprises you.

Make Mission Control open faster

This widely used Terminal command shortens the Mission Control animation. It changes one Dock preference and is easy to undo.

defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0.1; killall Dock

To go back to the normal speed:

defaults delete com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration; killall Dock

Spaces not working?

• Shortcuts do nothing: check they're ticked in Keyboard Shortcuts › Mission Control, and that the desktop number exists.
• Swipes don't switch: check System Settings › Trackpad › More Gestures › Swipe between full-screen applications.
• Second screen won't switch on its own: each display only gets its own Spaces when Displays have separate Spaces is on (needs a log out).
• Everything is stuck: restart the Dock, which also runs Mission Control and Spaces, with killall Dock in Terminal.