How to use Stage Manager with your iPad and Mac

Microsoft
By Microsoft 10 Min Read

Stage Manager organizes your open apps on the left side of the screen, where you can see them at a glance. You can also group apps and even resize and overlap windows. It makes a lot of sense for the iPad, but it’s also available on running MacBooks Mac OS is coming—useful if you often have a lot of apps open and need some help organizing. While it’s easy to use once you get the hang of it, there is a learning curve. To help you, here we break down how to use Stage Manager on iPad and Mac.

Is your device compatible?

Apple originally announced that Stage Manager would only work with M1-powered iPad Pro models and newer models. But the company support later expanded also to iPad Pro models with the A12X AND A12Z chips. The following iPads support Stage Manager:

iPad Pro 12.9 inch (3rd generation and later)iPad Pro 11 inch (all generations)iPadAir (5th generation)

There is one caveat. The ability to move apps and windows between your iPad and an external display using Stage Manager only works with the following models:

iPad Pro 12.9 inch (5th generation and later)iPad Pro 11 inch (3rd generation and later)iPadAir (5th generation)

To check your specific iPad model, go to Settings > General > About and look for the section titled Model name.

As for Macs, Stage Manager supports any model running MacOS Ventura. The following Macs support the latest OS version:

macbook: 2017 and laterMacBook Air: 2018 and laterMacbook Pros: 2017 and laterMacMini: 2018 and lateriMac: 2017 and lateriMac Pro: 2017 and laterMac Pro: 2019 and laterMacStudio: 2022

To check the specific Mac model you have, click the Apple icon in the menu bar in the upper left corner of the screen and choose About This Mac.

Update your iPad and Mac

If your device supports Stage Manager, the next step is to make sure it’s running the latest version of iPadOS or MacOS. Before upgrading, we highly recommend back up your files. To see the exact version of the software your iPad is running, tap Settings > General > Software Update. Tap the latest version (iPadOS 16.2) and choose Download and install. For the Mac, click the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen, then click About This Mac to make sure you are on MacOS Ventura. If you are not, go to System Preferences > Software Update and click Update now (or Update now). From there, the download and installation process will begin.

How to activate Stage Manager

To activate Stage Manager on your iPads:

Make sure the iPad is in landscape orientation; scroll down to Control Center in the upper right corner; touch the Stage manager icon.

You can also turn it on via the Settings menu. Go to Settings > Home screen and multitasking and alternate Stage manager on.

The same process applies to yours Mac: Go to Control Center and click Stage manager icon. Don’t see Stage Manager in Control Center? Go to System Preferences > Desktop & Dock and turn on “Displays have separate spaces.” You should then see the Stage Manager icon in the Control Center. You can also pass Settings clicking on Desk and dock and activating Stage manager.

How to use Stage Manager

Stage Manager has the same layout regardless of whether you’re using it on the iPad or Mac. The active app is in the center of the screen, while recently used apps are on the left in list form. Navigation varies depending on whether you’re using a tablet or desktop.

Internship Manager on iPad

Whenever you’re done with the active app, you can easily switch to another app by tapping the desired app in the Dock or tapping another app in the Recent Apps list on the left side. Each time you switch, the active app will move to the Recent Apps list and the new app will appear in the center of the screen.

You can also customize the layout. Go to Settings > Home screen and multitasking and you’ll see the option to hide the recent apps list or docks, which will make active apps appear larger. You can always access the recent apps list by swiping right from the left edge and the Dock by swiping up the screen from the bottom.

Those with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro (5th generation and later)iPad Pro 11 inch (all generations)and iPad Air (5th generation), which comes with support for display scaling mode, can increase pixel density to display more content in your apps. Go to Settings > Display & brightness > Display zoom > More space.

You can also group apps together. For example, I grouped Slack and Gmail together since these are two apps I check at the same time during the workday. This way, both of these apps automatically appear in the center of my screen when I tap on the group.

There are several ways to group apps:

Tap the three-dot icon at the top of an app, select Add another window and choose the app you want to group it with. Long press on an app in the Recent apps list and drag it to the center of the screen. Long press on an app in Hip bone and drag it to the center of the screen. Tap the App library icon, long press on an app and drag it to the center of the screen.

You can group up to four apps at once. If you want to remove an app from a group, you can tap the three dots icon and select Close the window. When apps are grouped together, they will also be layered on top of each other. You can drag the app around the screen and place it wherever you like. You can also resize a window by dragging the corner with your finger, trackpad or mouse. To zoom in on an app, tap the three-dot icon and select Sign in to full screen.

Internship Manager on Mac

Using Stage Manager with MacOS Ventura doesn’t have such a steep learning curve. To switch apps, simply click on a specific app via the Recent apps list on the left. TO group apps, click and drag it from the list on the left side of the screen to the center. TO ungroup an appclick and drag it back to the left side of the screen.

You can too reposition and resize windows as you normally would on a desktop. To reposition it, click and drag the app around the screen. To resize it, place the cursor over the corner of the window and adjust it as needed.

As with iPads, you can customize the layout on Mac as well. Go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock and scroll to Windows and Apps. When you see Stage Manager, click customize. You will have the option to opt out Recent applications if you don’t want the list on the left side of the screen (you can click on the left side of the screen to access it). There’s a Desk items also the setting, which lets you choose whether or not to hide folders, files, or screens on the desktop.

There is also a titled dropdown menu Show Windows from an application. If you choose Everything at once, you’ll see all the windows available for an app when you click it. If you choose One by one, it will only show you the most recently used window for the app. To save the changes, click on “Done” inside the System settings window.

How to log off Stage Manager

To disable Stage Manager on your iPad, swipe down on the Control Center and tap the icon. The same steps apply to your Mac: click Control Center and click the Stage Manager icon.

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