FAQ
Asked and answered.
Everything people ask before they install, and a few things they ask after.
Updated 7 September 2026
Basics
What is Doorplate?
A native macOS menu bar app that names your desktops (Spaces) and shows the names in the menu bar, inside Mission Control, in a Quick Switcher, in a top-edge hover strip, and as a tag when you switch. It also switches desktops, moves windows between them, and tracks how long you spend on each.
Which Macs does it run on?
Any Mac on macOS 14 Sonoma or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. The download is one universal binary.
Is it in the Mac App Store?
No. The window-server calls that make clean desktop switching possible are not allowed in App Store apps, which is why none of the apps in this category are there. Doorplate is downloaded from this site.
How much does it cost?
$7.99 once, for every Mac you own, with a 14-day trial of everything. No subscription, no account, no seat counting.
Permissions and privacy
What permission does it ask for?
Accessibility, once. It is how Doorplate finds Mission Control’s labels through the Dock’s accessibility tree, and how it switches desktops by synthesizing macOS’ own “Switch to Desktop N” shortcut. It does not ask for Screen Recording, Input Monitoring or anything else.
Does it watch my keyboard?
No. Global shortcuts are registered as Carbon hotkeys, which tell the app only when its own shortcut is pressed. The only event tap listens for the two mouse-button events, and only while Mission Control is open, so the pills can leave with the bar.
Does it connect to the internet?
No. The app has no networking code: no analytics, no accounts, no update checks. Your names live in your preferences on your Mac.
Why does it turn on the ⌃1 to ⌃0 shortcuts and restart the Dock?
macOS only lets the Dock switch desktops cleanly, so Doorplate switches by pressing the system’s own “Switch to Desktop N” shortcut for you. Those shortcuts ship disabled. On the first run with Accessibility granted, Doorplate enables them for your desktops and relaunches the Dock once so it loads them. Your windows and desktops are not touched; a tag tells you when it happens.
Mission Control
Do the names really appear inside Mission Control?
Yes, on Apple Silicon and Intel, with System Integrity Protection on. Doorplate overlays a pill in the desktop’s color exactly where the Dock draws “Desktop N”, and moves it with the Dock’s own animation.
Can I choose where the pill sits?
On the label line under each preview (the default, so the preview is untouched) or inside the preview’s bottom edge. You can also label unnamed desktops, prefix the number, and nudge the size and offset.
What about fullscreen apps?
Fullscreen and Split View spaces show the app’s name, which no app can change. Doorplate leaves them alone.
Does it use the camera notch?
As an option, yes. On a MacBook with a notch the desktop’s name can sit in the menu bar band flush against the notch, as if the notch had grown a label: the icon, the name or both, on either side. It is off by default.
Will a new macOS break it?
The pills depend on where the Dock reports its labels, so they are the one feature a macOS release could move. Every release is checked before it ships. Everything else in Doorplate is independent of the Dock.
Performance
How much CPU does it use?
Measured as CPU-time deltas: about 0.1 % of one core while idle, about 1 % in active use, about 3 % while Mission Control is open with bursts to 9 % for half a second after the row expands. Physical memory is 22 MB.
Why so little?
Nothing runs on a timer while you are idle. Desktop changes arrive as system notifications; Mission Control is noticed by a sub-millisecond read made only after recent input; label positions are read only while Mission Control is open, in batched calls driven by the Dock’s own notifications; and nothing is written to disk except when you change a setting or leave a desktop.
Names, data and moving
Do the names survive a restart, or a deleted desktop?
A name is tied to the desktop’s identity, which macOS keeps across restarts, so it survives. Delete a desktop and its name goes with it. Rearranging desktops does not change their names.
Can I use my own picture as a desktop icon?
Yes: PNG, JPEG, ICNS or any picture macOS can open, plus fifty SF Symbols and any emoji from the system picker. Ten colors, a transparent tile for logos, or the automatic numbered tile.
I used SpaceTags. What happens to my names?
Doorplate is the same app under its new name. The first time it opens it copies your names, icons, colors, shortcuts, tracked time and settings from the old bundle. Quit SpaceTags, grant Doorplate Accessibility once, and you can delete SpaceTags from Applications.
Can it bring an app to the front on another desktop?
Yes. In the menu bar popover and the hover strip, click an app’s icon to switch to its desktop with that app in front. In the Quick Switcher, type the app’s name; the row says which app it opens.
What about desktops past the tenth?
macOS has shortcuts for the first ten desktops only. Doorplate reaches the rest too, with the same smooth slide, from the strip, the switcher, the popover or a custom shortcut.
Can I drive it from Shortcuts, Raycast or Alfred?
Yes. Shortcuts, Raycast, Alfred, a Stream Deck or Keyboard Maestro can switch to a desktop by number or name, jump back, step to the next or previous one, and open the Quick Switcher or Settings.
Coming soon for macOS 14 Sonoma and later · Apple Silicon and Intel · 14-day trial