How to Open Mission Control in macOS 13

Mission Control is a built-in macOS feature that gives you a bird's-eye view of all your open windows, desktop spaces, and full-screen applications. This guide explains what Mission Control does and details the fastest methods to access and navigate it on Mac computers running macOS 13 Ventura.

What Is Mission Control?

Mission Control serves as a centralized management hub for your active workspace on a Mac. When activated, it spreads out every open application window in a single layer without overlapping, allowing you to quickly locate and jump to any specific task. At the top of the Mission Control screen, the Spaces bar displays thumbnails of your current Desktop, any additional virtual desktops you have created, and apps running in Full Screen or Split View mode.

How to Open Mission Control in macOS 13

You can access Mission Control in macOS 13 using several different input methods:

• Keyboard Shortcut: Press the dedicated Mission Control key (typically the F3 key on Apple keyboards). Alternatively, press Control + Up Arrow.
• Trackpad Gesture: Swipe up using three or four fingers on your built-in trackpad or Magic Trackpad (depending on your Trackpad settings in System Settings).
• Magic Mouse Gesture: Double-tap the top surface of your Magic Mouse with two fingers.
• Spotlight or Applications Folder: Press Command + Space to open Spotlight, type "Mission Control," and press Return. You can also find and launch the Mission Control app directly inside the Applications folder.
• Hot Corners: Move your cursor to a pre-configured corner of your display. To set this up, go to System Settings > Desktop & Dock, scroll to the bottom, click Hot Corners, assign Mission Control to your preferred corner, and click Done.

To exit Mission Control at any time, click on the window or desktop you want to switch to, repeat the gesture you used to open it, or press the Escape key.