MacOS – How to prevent Mac OS X El Capitan from automatically switching desktop when new application is launched

macosterminal

I use multiple desktops to multitask between applications because I like using full screen mode. My problem is sometimes I run a command in Terminal that launches other applications. Whenever a new application is launched in OS X, it seems to think that it should automatically change to the "Main Desktop" and set the newly launched application as the active application. This bothers me because I would like to just run an application in the background without the OS deciding what I should be staring at.

Is there a way to disable or work-around that behaviour?

Note: this, I believe, unfortunately is the same behaviour when you have any application in full screen as your main focus application and you launch another application from the Dock. It takes your focus directly to that new application.

Best Answer

There is no way to change this behavior. The reason is because your full screen application is contained in a separate virtual desktop, leaving the "default desktop" available for any other apps to run (like the case of efficiency on multiple screens). OS X & macOS work like that. Every aspect of the OS was designed in a way to be "clutter free", so a window on top of a window is a big no no for apple, and will be avoided if possible.

Create Finder Window with a Shortcut

While this doesn't solve your problem with the dock, using a keyboard shortcut can be much faster and can help in your workflow.

Activate Finder by clicking the desktop background
(If the desktop is cluttered with windows, pinch out to clean it up and then click)
Use the New Finder Window shortcut: ⌘ + N

Disable Spaces Auto-Switching

Uncheck the Missions Control preferences checkbox to switch to a space with open windows for an application: enter image description here

On a side note, this does not effect the Finder if you have the Assign to all Desktops option selected. Link Here

MacOS – When Terminal forks process, current app loses focus

In my case it was the Maven Failsafe Plugin that caused the annoying window focus stealing of ForkedBooter, and setting the JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS variable in .bashrc didn't help.

This fix applies to both Failsafe and Surefire (although in my case, Surefire wasn't stealing focus).

In your pom.xml, add a <argLine>-Djava.awt.headless=true</argLine> line inside the <configuration> for the failsafe (and/or) surefire plugin.

It will look like this:

<!-- this is inside your <project><build><plugins> block -->
<plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-surefire-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${maven.surefire.plugin.version}</version>
    <configuration>
      <includes>
        <include>**/unit/**/*Test*.java</include>
      </includes>
      <!-- prevent the annoying ForkedBooter process from stealing window 
        focus on Mac OS -->
      <argLine>-Djava.awt.headless=true</argLine>
    </configuration>
  </plugin>
  <plugin>
    <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
    <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
    <version>${maven.failsafe.plugin.version}</version>
    <configuration>
      <!-- prevent the annoying ForkedBooter process from stealing window 
        focus on Mac OS -->
      <argLine>-Djava.awt.headless=true</argLine>
      <includes>
        <include>**/integration/**/*Test*</include>
      </includes>
    </configuration>
    <executions>
      <execution>
        <goals>
          <goal>integration-test</goal>
          <goal>verify</goal>
        </goals>
      </execution>
    </executions>
  </plugin>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to open a Finder window in Desktop without switching to another one

Create Finder Window with a Shortcut

Disable Spaces Auto-Switching

MacOS – When Terminal forks process, current app loses focus

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