I like to use my computer’s desktop the way I use my physical desktop—somewhere to place documents and photos related to what I’m currently working on. The problem is that I’m usually working on multiple projects, meaning my computer desktop is a mess of unrelated things.
Say I’m selling my old Macbook but also organizing important cat pictures for my newsletter—that all takes up a lot of space, and I don’t need to see all of those photos all the time. Wouldn’t it be better if I could switch which things show up on my desktop depending on my current project?
That’s idea behind Infinidesk, an indie Mac app from developer Ben Shirt-Ediss that lets you create as many virtual desktops as you like and switch between them from the menu bar.
Credit: Justin Pot
The idea behind Infinidesk is that you’ll make different desktops for different projects, allowing you to use your desktop as a workspace for each of them. This isn’t at all like your Mac’s native Mission Control—it doesn’t affect the windows you have open. The focus, instead, is simply on the icons visible on your desktop. You can create as many different desktops as you need to. When you create a new desktop, all of your current icons will disappear, allowing you to add new ones. When you switch between desktops, all of your icons will disappear and reappear accordingly.
It’s a simple concept, and it won’t be useful for everyone—only some of us even still use our desktops to store files at this point, and you might already have your own system for keeping things organized. But if your desktop is spiraling out of control, Infinidesk might help you keep things tidy without making the desktop useless in the process—especially if you have one computer for both work and personal use.
Infinidesk offers a free version, with a catch: you can only switch desktops 50 times. That should be enough for you to get a feel for whether this application is useful for you, though. The full version costs $12.99, as a one-time payment.
