Organize
Your Mac Desktop
with InfiniDesk 2.0

InfiniDesk is developed by Ben Shirt-Ediss, a registered Apple Developer. You can read about how InfiniDesk was made - the journey from hobby project to a full Mac app to declutter and organize the Mac desktop - on his website blog.

The InfiniDesk app is code-signed by the developer and notarized by Apple as being trustworthy.

The Mac desktop is great for quickly accessing the files you’re actively working on. Items on the desktop are easy to open, easy to drag-and-drop into applications, and are laid out in 2D space for fast visual recognition.

The classic problem of the Mac desktop, however, is clutter. InfiniDesk solves this problem by giving you multiple virtual desktops on Mac, each with its own layout of files, folders, and wallpaper. Easily switch between Desktop Views from the Mac menu bar to focus on a project, or move to a clean desktop for presentations and video calls without distractions.

With InfiniDesk, you can maintain all the advantages of the Mac desktop while avoiding the clutter! Stay organized, focus on your tasks, and keep your work easily accessible. InfiniDesk turns your Mac desktop into a productive, flexible, and visually tidy workspace.

✔ Your data is safe with InfiniDesk. The app only changes the visibility of files and folders in the Mac's Desktop folder, based on the current Desktop View. By design, the app never deletes, moves, renames, or copies any of your files or folders. Since your data is never modified or relocated, data loss is impossible with InfiniDesk.

✔ InfiniDesk is 100% private. The app does not connect to the internet to transfer data externally. By design, InfiniDesk runs fully locally on your Mac. We are committed to user privacy - see our Privacy Policy.

Version 2.0 was released on 13 October 2025. It added these features:

• Two operation modes - Classic Mode and Follow Spaces Mode. Two different ways to organize your Mac desktop.
• The ability to select a wallpaper for each Desktop View.
• Support for 🇩🇪 German and 🇫🇷 French.
• The ability to check for updates in-app.
• Stability improvements.

Version 1.0 was on released 12 June 2025.

All versions are compatible with macOS 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 26 Tahoe.

Try these full installation instructions:

1. Download the app and double click the InfiniDesk.dmg installer file.
2. In the installer window, move the InfiniDesk icon across and drop it over the Applications folder icon. The app is now installed on your Mac.
3. Note: The app is distributed outside the Mac App Store. Therefore, in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Security you may need to allow your Mac to run apps from "App Store & Known Developers".
4. Note: In System Preferences › Desktop & Dock › Desktop & Stage Manager make sure the Show Items "On Desktop" is checked.
5. Launch the app. On first launch, a message similar to below will be shown. This is a normal message for Mac apps distributed outside the Mac App Store. Click Open. InfiniDesk will load in the Mac menu bar, at the top right of the screen.

Note that InfiniDesk does not have an icon that appears in the Dock.

If you launch InfiniDesk and you don't see 'InfiniDesk' or the name of your current Desktop View in the Mac menu bar (at the top right of your screen) first confirm that the app is running by opening the Activity Monitor app.

If it's running, the problem is likely that there is not enough space in the Mac menu bar to display InfiniDesk.

This is actually a really common problem on macOS:

• On smaller Mac screens, long application menus can overlap the Mac menu bar, causing some Mac menubar icons to disappear.
• On MacBooks with a screen notch for the camera, icons can actually disappear without trace behind the notch, if the Mac menu bar has too many apps running in it.

This is a menu bar that is just about big enough to fit InfiniDesk:

But opening another menu bar app, like keyboard language, makes InfiniDesk disappear behind the notch (red arrow below). It is still running, but it is not visible!

To make InfiniDesk reappear, try closing some of the other menu bar apps. A better long-term solution is to use third-party utilities like Ice menu bar to manage and organize your menu bar icons.

If the problem persists, please Contact Us.

Check that you are not displaying hidden files on your Mac. Use the keyboard shortcut Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + Period (.) to toggle hidden files on and off. Toggle them to off.

Sometimes unexpected things happen, like if the InfiniDesk database gets accidentally deleted or becomes corrupt.

Even in these situations, you can still get all of your desktop data back easily:

1. Quit InfiniDesk, if it's open.
2. Uninstall the InfiniDesk app (see the Q&A on this page for how to do it).
3. In Terminal, enter the following command to change to the Desktop folder and show all invisible files:
   cd $HOME/Desktop;chflags nohidden *
4. All of the files and folders managed by InfiniDesk (and maybe some others) should now be visible in the Desktop folder. Manually sort these files into new folders off the desktop.
5. Install the latest version of InfiniDesk, make new Desktop Views, and move your files back on the correct Desktop Views.
6. If your previous version of InfiniDesk was registered, simply click Register in the InfiniDesk menu again. Request your key file to be sent to your email address.

InfiniDesk needs a few system permissions to work correctly with your Mac. Each permission serves a specific purpose and is only used to support the app's core functionality.

"InfiniDesk" would like to access files in your Desktop folder. This permission allows InfiniDesk to manage the visibility of files and folders in your Desktop folder. This is essential to allow the app to organize and declutter your Mac desktop.

"InfiniDesk" wants access to control "Finder". This lets InfiniDesk detect which items you've selected on the desktop, so it can move them to another Desktop View when you use the 🔀 Move Selected Items to Another Desktop View feature. This is the app's only interaction with Finder.

"InfiniDesk" wants access to control "System Events". This enables InfiniDesk to add itself to your Mac's startup items, if you've chosen to have it launch automatically when your Mac starts. Tip: enabling Launch at Startup is recommended as it ensures InfiniDesk is always available to avoid clutter on your Mac desktop and help you focus.

Remember: InfiniDesk never sends any data externally and does not use these permissions for anything unrelated to its Mac desktop management features.

Simply download the latest app version from the InfiniDesk website and drag it into your Applications folder, replacing the old app version. You will be enjoying multiple desktops on Mac again in no time!

If you're already registered, the new version will be automatically registered too.

Follow these steps to keep InfiniDesk working after a macOS upgrade:

1. Before upgrading, disable InfiniDesk. Click Disable InfiniDesk in the menu.
2. Make a copy of all items (files and folders) in your Desktop folder.
3. Make a copy of the InfiniDesk database file located at: ~/Library/Application Support/InfiniDesk/infinidesk.database
4. Upgrade macOS.
5. If you need to, copy back the items into your Desktop folder.
6. If you need to, copy back the InfiniDesk database to: ~/Library/Application Support/InfiniDesk/
7. Re-install the latest version of the app from the InfiniDesk website. Enjoy multiple independent desktops on Mac again!

If you have registered InfiniDesk and then want to move your existing registration to a new Mac, or if you want to change your registered email address, please Contact Us. The transfer is free of charge and we will be happy to help you.

1. In the InfiniDesk menu, select Disable InfiniDesk. This will make all Desktop Views visible at once. All the folders and files managed by InfiniDesk will now be visible in your Desktop folder.
2. Quit the InfiniDesk application.
3. Drag InfiniDesk from your Applications folder to the Trash/Bin.
4. Delete the folder at ~/Library/Application Support/InfiniDesk to remove InfiniDesk's settings.

InfiniDesk is now completely uninstalled.

😉 Yes.

In the InfiniDesk menu, Desktop Views are given a computer screen 🖥️ menu icon by default.

But you can add your own menu icon by including a Unicode character code at the beginning of the desktop name.

For example, naming a Desktop View as "U+1F680 Product Launch" will show as "🚀 Product Launch" in the menu.

You can find Unicode character codes at unicodeplus.com or similar sites.

Yes. InfiniDesk is fully compatible with existing Mac desktop management features like Stacks, Sort By, Clean Up, and other options available by right-clicking the desktop.

• If Use Stacks is enabled, each Desktop View shows its items grouped into stacks.
• Sort By options apply to all Desktop Views. Sort By None preserves manual arrangement.
• Clean Up can be used to reorganize icons on individual Desktop Views.
• Icon size, grid spacing, and text size on the desktop can also be adjusted as usual (and applies across all Desktop Views).

When using InfiniDesk, it's not recommended to use iCloud (or similar services) to directly synchronize the Desktop contents between two Macs. Doing so leads to unpredictable behavior because the InfiniDesk apps on each Mac don't operate independently and interfere with each other.

If you want to have the same Desktop Views on two (or more) Macs, there's a safer manual workaround:

1. Install InfiniDesk on both Macs.
2. On each Mac, create matching Desktop Views (for example, Work, Admin, etc.).
3. Make a folder e.g. DesktopShared/ which is shared between both Macs by your cloud storage.
4. On each Mac, create aliases (Right-click → Make Alias) to the files or folders inside DesktopShared/.
5. Drag those aliases onto the corresponding Desktop View (e.g. Work) on each Mac.

With this setup, each InfiniDesk app only changes the visibility of local aliases, not the actual shared files. That keeps the InfiniDesk apps on each Mac independent, while still giving you access to the same synced content.

Issue: In InfiniDesk, using Command (⌘) + C to copy items on one Desktop View and then attempting to paste Command (⌘) + V or move Option (⌥) + Command (⌘) + V these items onto another Desktop View does not work.

Why: InfiniDesk's Desktop Views are simply different filtered views of the same underlying Mac Desktop folder: they are not separate physical folders. As a result, clipboard-based file operations do not behave like they do between truly distinct physical folders.

What to do: To move files between Desktop Views, use the mouse to select the desired items and then choose 🔀 Move Selected Items to Another Desktop View from the InfiniDesk menu.

Issue: If a large file download is started to one Desktop View, and then the Desktop View is switched such that the file download finishes on a different Desktop View, the same downloaded file will be shown on both Desktop Views.

What to do: Try to avoid switching Desktop Views as long file downloads complete.

Note: There is no issue the other way around, i.e. when a large file already on the desktop is copied or moved away from the desktop. You can change Desktop Views freely in this case.

Issue: On older Macs, switching between Desktop Views may not always appear instantaneous. Occasionally, you might notice a brief delay or a "patchy" transition where some files take a moment to hide or appear. This is due to slower Finder refresh rate on older hardware, especially when many files are involved.

What to do: Wait - it's a cosmetic delay only and typically lasts up to one second on the occasions it does occur.

Issue: This message means that you are trying to copy a file to the desktop, but the file actually already exists there in an invisible state.

For example, this message appears when you copy a file from 'Desktop 1' to the Documents folder. Later, you switch to 'Desktop 2' and try to copy that same file from Documents to 'Desktop 2'. Then macOS warns you that the file can't be replaced because it's already on the desktop, but invisible (it's on 'Desktop 1' which is currently hidden).

What to do: Simply click "OK" to cancel the operation. The warning just means the file is already present on a different, currently hidden, Desktop View.

Tip: You can use 🔀 Move Selected Items to Another Desktop View in the InfiniDesk menu to safely move items between Desktop Views.

InfiniDesk cannot toggle the visibility of the following types of desktop items:

1. Full application packages (like those in the Applications directory).
2. Linux-style symbolic links created using Terminal.
3. Mounted drives.
4. Desktop widgets in macOS Tahoe 26+.

Full application packages and Linux-style symbolic links are not usually on the Mac desktop.

Mounted drives and Tahoe Desktop widgets unfortunately provide no way for applications to automatically hide them.