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I make heavy use of workspaces, and tend to have a lot of workspaces, most of which only have one window. I pretty much always have two different workspaces that have a window of Google Chrome open.

Ever since I updated from Yosemite to High Sierra, I've had this weird issue where, when I switch to one of the Chrome workspaces, it'll instantly jump to the other Chrome workspace (even though there's like 4 other workspaces between them).

I can't seem to figure out the precise set of conditions that causes this; it's random as far as I can tell (although, infuriatingly, once it does happen, it'll probably happen again immediately after when I try to correct). It can happen whether I'm switching workspaces via keyboard shortcut or trackpad gesture, but I don't think I've ever seen it happen if I open Mission Control to switch workspaces. I've only seen it happen with Chrome, but then, Chrome is the only application that I ever have open in multiple workspaces.

I've tried toggling the "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application." option in System Preferences->Mission Control, but it happens whether this is turned on or off.

Does anyone know what might be causing this and how I might fix it?

Hayden Schiff
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    The root cause is having any app on more than one Space, which is a 'no fix' situation... I'd test & see if the actual 'bouncing' happens with Safari, or if it's Chrome-specific . – Tetsujin Nov 14 '17 at 08:48
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    It happens to me with applications other than Chromium. It happens with keyboard shortcuts, "Mission Control" switching, fullscreen applications, non-fullscreen applications, between different windows of the same application, and between different applications. Super annoying. It started after upgrading to High Sierra. – Steve Nov 17 '17 at 23:17
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    +1 This happens to me too. On the switch from Sierra to High Sierra. Very annoying. – ifermon Nov 21 '17 at 12:22
  • In my experimentation, the following can predictably trigger the bounce: 1. Open 2 different Chrome windows. 2. Move one Chrome window to a second desktop/workspace. 3. Have a second application/third window active on one Desktop. 4. Use a gesture to move to a workspace/desktop where the Chrome window is the topmost window. – RickH Nov 22 '17 at 18:14
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    macOS 10.13.2 seems to have fixed this issue for me. Anyone else seeing that? – Daniel Dickison Dec 12 '17 at 05:11
  • @DanielDickison Yes, the 10.13.2 update seems to have fixed it for me, too. It's nice to not be fighting my OS every day. – Steve Jan 10 '18 at 16:31
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    Upgrading to to 10.13.2 seemed to fix it for me for about a day, but then it just happened again, so I guess that wasn't a real fix. – Pedram Jan 16 '18 at 21:16
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    This just happened to me between Chrome and Xcode (jumped to Xcode from Chrome), so it looks like it's not just a Chrome issue. – Pedram Jan 26 '18 at 21:11
  • I don't have rep to answer this question yet since it had low quality answers according to stack exchange. But, I found a solution for this from this Apple forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4995042

    Do this in terminal: defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NO followed by killall Dock

    The latter restarts the Dock to apply the prefs change. Alternatively, reboot (though why when you can restart the service :)).

     – stuckj Oct 01 '18 at 20:48
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    I think I finally figured out what the issue is... when you apply the "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application." option in the mission control settings... it only applies to NEW SPACES. You have to delete all of the old ones and redrag your windows to new ones. Hopefully it continues to work after that.

    Also this only seems to be an issue for chrome. all of my other apps were already respecting the option

     – Will Dec 18 '18 at 06:12
  • Possibly related to https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1062493 and https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/382855/detaching-a-chrome-tab-on-catalina-causes-a-jump-to-a-different-workspace - based on the bug ticket it looks like a fix was recently applied to chromium but I can't tell from looking at the ticket when it will land in a stable release of chrome. – Tim Lewis Jul 20 '20 at 19:08
  • In the Dock, right-click on Google Chrome and make sure it is not assigned to all desktops – Sid Feb 20 '21 at 11:07
  • Possibly related: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/400368/apps-dont-gain-focus-when-switching-between-them-in-mission-control-with-a-touc – cambecc Jun 25 '23 at 06:39

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The only work-around I've found for this is to move the window that keeps stealing focus to another workspace. If I move it back to the previous workspace it will exhibit the same behaviour, so I need to delete that workspace and create it again, and then move the window back to it.

Upgrading to 10.13.2 didn't fix it for me.

Update: Upgraded to 10.13.3 and the issue is still there.

Pedram
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  • still no working solution, absolutely horrible decision made by Apple. The only way to prevent the app from creating its own isolated workspace is to not use it in full-screen. It sucks that Apple doesn't just allow the apps to utilize the already-existing desktop spaces to reduce the headache. I just want five desktops and work within only those spaces for my workspace. – briancrink Jun 19 '18 at 23:11
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Via @stickj in the comments way above, this seems to have worked for me:

By way of Apple forum: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4995042

Do this in terminal: 

defaults write com.apple.dock workspaces-auto-swoosh -bool NO

followed by 

killall Dock

The latter restarts the Dock to apply the prefs change. Alternatively, reboot (though why when you can restart the service :)).

There is a caveat:

Thank you for this. But now the problem is that when you click on an icon in the Dock it won't take you to that app and when you have a lot of things open across different desktops it sometimes is hard to find the app you're looking for.

One person suggests:

There's a easier solution (if I'm reading the OP's post correctly). -- Go to System Preferences/Mission Control and uncheck the box that says "When swithching applications, switch to another space with open windows for that application."

But this option actually seems to override that selection. (Toggling that selection does not change this option, this option does not exist until you've written to it).

Kaolin Fire
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UPD.: Nope, Apple's support is traditionally second to useless. Sent as feedback. Let's hope it helps…

Finally I've reported that to support. Not sure whether it means they would fix it, but hopefully they should.

poige
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  • It is very unlikely that Apple Support would do anything to help with this issue. You would likely need to file a radar to even hope for it to be fixed. – Oion Akif Jun 24 '19 at 20:37