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Using macOS Ventura 13.0.1, I have noticed that when the Finder window is active, switching between spaces in Mission Control makes this window move to the newly selected space.

This happens despite the fact that I disabled all the automation options of Mission Control (no rearrangement, no space activation upon app switching, no window grouping).

Any idea why the Finder window behaves that way and how to fix it?

Benjamin
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    I was sure I'd seen a very similar question here recently, which makes me wonder if this could be a Ventura bug [which I cannot test, no Ventura Macs here yet.] I'm guessing this has somehow got toggled by accident. Right click Finder in the Dock > Options, set to something other than All Desktops. – Tetsujin Dec 02 '22 at 18:50
  • Indeed, the issue was fixed by tuning Dock > Options for the Finder and seems related to the fact that I am using 2 displays. – Benjamin Dec 03 '22 at 08:06
  • Glad that worked. It's not related to the number of displays you use, btw. I've tracked down some other similar issue & tagged them all together to make them easier to find for future searchers. – Tetsujin Dec 03 '22 at 08:19
  • Nice, thanks! I would lean towards a bug since the behavior of windows is not consistent for all apps. In my case it was only the finder window which was annoyingly moving around despite being set with the same default option as all other builtin or installed apps. – Benjamin Dec 03 '22 at 08:33
  • There's some quite complex interplay goes on, depending on what prefs you have set & how you use Spaces. If you have a particular issue, raise it as a new question & let's see what we can do. I have a couple of previous answers about some of Spaces' complexities in these - https://superuser.com/a/1187552/347380 and https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/179403/85275 – Tetsujin Dec 03 '22 at 10:14
  • @Benjamin, I have a Mini from about 9 months ago, in mid-2022. It didn't have this issue, but then I wiped it and started fresh. I use only 1 display and didn't have this issue until a day or so ago. So it's not linked with 2 displays. Also, this question should not have been closed. – Tango Mar 23 '23 at 16:41
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    I made a couple comments that have vanished. First, I want to point out, this is NOT the same as in the linked questions, since it's Finder, and many of us have multiple Finder windows open at once, on different desktops. Second, it happens even if Finder is not assigned to any desktops. Third, it doesn't happen with all Finder windows, and, Fourth, the windows only follow to some desktops, not to all. Otherwise all Finder windows would pile up in one desktop. (@Tetsujin, you have answered the other questions and seem to understand this, thought it might interest you.) – Tango Mar 23 '23 at 18:09
  • Also, I'm sure this is a bug. It only happens on some Finder windows and when I have multiple tabs open, if a window moves to a new desktop, it also resets to the first tab that was open. Also, it seems to be happening to me only with windows that have multiple tabs and were open in my last session and not just opened in the current session. – Tango Mar 23 '23 at 18:11
  • OP says their issue was fixed by setting Desktop affinity. If you think you've found something new/similar in the current version of Ventura, then raise it as a new question & link to this one for reference. – Tetsujin Mar 23 '23 at 18:53
  • @Tetsujin I'm not sure what you mean by "affinity." Do you mean assigning windows to workspaces? – Tango Mar 23 '23 at 19:28
  • @Tango I don't think I used the term affinity but nevermind. As Tetsujin suggested, the workaround is to attribute a display + workspace to the finder app (see Dock => Finder icon => right click => Options => Assign to). Still, from time to time the issue happens again, probably due to unplugging / plugging the external display and/or changing the number and order of workspaces. So it would be pleasant if the finder app could follow the Mission Control automation options as all other builtin apps seem to do just fine. – Benjamin Aug 09 '23 at 17:21
  • @Benjamin I think you're still missing the issue. Yes, I can specify that Finder use one workspace, then all the Finder windows open and stay there - but this is not what I'm talking about. I need to use Finder windows in different workspaces. I open a Finder window in, say WS9, then go to WS6 and the Finder window moves to 6. Not to ALL workspaces, but to WS6. Or maybe WS8 - whichever one I moved to. Then it might stay there while I go to other workspaces. Then, some later time, I may go back to the workspace with that window and it'll follow me, again, to the next WS I go to. – Tango Aug 12 '23 at 08:09
  • @Tango Sorry that I missed your point. Compared to other apps, there's something broken or at least counterintuitive in the interplay between Finder windows and workspaces. I would support a bug report or feature request to Apple if that has not already been done. – Benjamin Aug 17 '23 at 09:27
  • I asked about it on Apple's discussions - but I find bug reports to Apple are useless. (I reported, multiple times, how Apple Music could be easily tricked into downloading entire albums a user had never purchased - and it was ignored for years.) – Tango Aug 20 '23 at 19:05

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