Multiple apps are really the only way to work. So you have to switch between those apps and windows. I brought the old Windows Alt-Tab with me when I switch primarily to Mac 20 years ago. But Command+Tab only switches – it doesn’t organize. What really helps me is having a dedicated space for focus – for example on Mail, Browser, Code editor, etc. Thus, Mac Desktops (or Spaces). F3 is your friend.
Mission Control is the “View” that enables the user to see all the current Desktops. Besides F3 function key, the cool kids get to Mission Control by a three finger swipe up on the track pad. Two fingers won’t do it
Got it? Great! Now, here is the reason that I actually began this post. I have often ran into a drag and drop problem with MacOS Desktops. For example, if the user wants to drag and drop an image into a WordPress post, like this one, the process is super simple if the Finder and the Browser are tiled side by side. But how often is that the case?
Today, I finally did a google search (“macos desktops how to drag and drop between”) and learned that there are a few easy ways to accomplish a drag and drop with Desktops (Spaces). Click on the item and hold it. (This is easier with a mouse.) To select and hold an item (document, image, thing, etc.) with the trackpad, I hover the cursor over the item and with my left index finger, lightly press down on the track pad. Then with my right index finger, I pull the item away from the list (or icon grid). You can use this process to drag items to another tab in the Finder or to and from the desktop. But in this case we need to move to another Desktop (Space).
Once you’ve grabbed the item – be sure to keep a finger down on the trackpad or the “selection” will drop – press the F3 function key. This invokes Mission Control and all the spaces are be displayed at the top of the screen.
Now you can just move the item to the desired Desktop. Remember you have to keep holding down and use another finger to move that to where you want. Then you can let go.
Now this is only going to work if the target app has “focus” in the Desktop. So, if your Desktop has two or more apps (say Mail, Music and Browser) it won’t work well and will probably drop the item on that Desktop.
The target app should have its own Desktop.
As always, I don’t claim that this is a complete description of all the ways to accomplish this task. And as always with Apple, this whole system could be different or obsolete by the time you read this. For example, I’d rather just say “Hey Siri, move my ‘image of a monkey at a Macbook’ into my WordPress post in the third tab of Safari”. But you can perhaps easily see the engineering challenges with that process. Dream on!