Everything Marquee can do.

1Getting started

Install

1. Click Download for macOS and pick your Mac's chip: Apple silicon (M1 and later) or Intel. Not sure? Apple menu›About This Mac shows it.
2. Open the downloaded .dmg and drag Marquee into Applications.
3. Open Marquee from Applications. It lives in your menu bar (next to the clock), not in the Dock.
4. When macOS asks, allow Accessibility access (see Permissions). It's the only permission Marquee needs.

Install from Terminal instead

Prefer the Terminal, or want to skip the security prompt? Paste this into Terminal (in Applications › Utilities) and press ↩:

It picks the version for your Mac's chip, downloads it from this site, checks it against its published SHA-256 checksum, copies Marquee into Applications (replacing an older copy) and opens it. It also removes macOS's download flag from Marquee, which is what makes the security prompt appear. Nothing else on your Mac is changed.Read the script before you run it. Run the same line again any time to update.

Already installed Marquee from the disk image and macOS blocks it? This removes the flag from Marquee only:

Name your first space

1. Press ⌃ ⌥ R on any desktop.
2. Type a name, pick a colour, press ↩.
3. Swipe up with three fingers (or press ⌃ ↑) to see it in Mission Control.

The space's name also appears in the menu bar, so you always know where you are.

2Permissions & macOS settings

Marquee needs one permission and relies on one macOS default. One more setting is recommended for a stable order.

Required

Recommended

Optional

3Naming your spaces

There are four ways to rename a space:

• The space you're on: press ⌃ ⌥ R.
• Any space, from the switcher: press ⌥ ⇥, right-click the space and choose Rename…
• Any space, from the menu bar: open the menu bar item, hover a space and click the pencil.
• All at once: Marquee›Settings… lists every space with its name, colour and shortcut.

In the rename window, type a name, pick a colour, and press ↩ to save, oresc to cancel. Leave the name empty to go back to the default (“Desktop 3”). The preview shows exactly how the name will look in Mission Control. You can also give the space its own shortcut here.

4Colours

Every new desktop gets a soft colour automatically, starting with the ones you use least, so you can recognise a space before you read its name. Change it any time from the rename window or Settings.

• Twelve presets, or click the rainbow + swatch to pick any colour.
• No colour: pick the ⃠ swatch. Marquee remembers that choice and won't colour the space again.
• The colour fills the space's tag in Mission Control, its card in the switcher, and its dot in the menu.

5Switching spaces

• From the menu bar: click any space.
• With the switcher: press ⌥ ⇥ (see The switcher).
• With its own shortcut: give any space a shortcut (see below), then press it from anywhere.

Marquee moves you by pressing macOS's “Move left/right a space” shortcuts the right number of times, so the jump animates through the spaces in between, just like swiping.

Jump to a space with its own shortcut

Give the spaces you use most a shortcut, and you can jump to them from anywhere.

1. Press ⌥ ⇥, right-click the space and choose Add Shortcut…Or open Marquee›Settings… and click Add shortcut next to the space under Spaces.
2. When it says Press keys…, press the keys you want, for example ⌃ ⌥ 1.
3. That's it. Press those keys anywhere to go to that space.

6The switcher

Press ⌥ ⇥ and every space appears, in Mission Control order, each as a card showing its colour and the apps on it. The space you're on is highlighted. The switcher stays open until you choose.

You can also click a card. The switcher shortcut can be changed in Settings.

Search

Just start typing. The switcher narrows to the spaces whose name matches, best match first, and selects it, so↩ takes you there. Type “des” and press ↩ to land on Design.

• It matches the start of a name, any word in it, then anywhere in it. If no name matches, it tries the macOS names, like “Desktop 3” or “Safari”.
• ⌫ deletes a letter. esc clears the search; press it again to close.
• While you're searching, numbers and Space are typed into the search instead of switching.

Right-click a space

Right-click any card for a quick menu:

• Rename… opens the rename window for that space, even if it isn't the one you're on.
• Colour changes its colour straight away. The switcher stays open.
• Add Shortcut… (or Change Shortcut…) opens the rename window, ready for you to press the keys.
• Remove Shortcut appears when the space has one.

7Mission Control

Open Mission Control (swipe up with three or four fingers, or ⌃ ↑) and your names sit exactly where “Desktop 1, Desktop 2…” used to be, whether the bar shows names only or full thumbnails. The space you're on is drawn deeper, with a ring and a soft glow in its colour.

Nothing in macOS is changed to do this: Marquee draws your names on a see-through layer above the native labels. Quit Marquee and the native labels are simply back.

To turn this off: Marquee›Settings…›General›Show names in Mission Control.

8Fullscreen apps

A fullscreen app gets a space of its own. Marquee lists it with the app's name, and you can rename it, colour it and switch to it like any other space.

Fullscreen names are remembered by app: call Safari's fullscreen space “Research” once, and that name comes back every time Safari goes fullscreen. (Two fullscreen windows of the same app share one name.)

9The menu bar

The menu bar shows the Marquee icon and the name of the space you're on. Click it to open the menu:

• Every space, in order, with its colour; the current one is marked. Click one to switch to it.
• Hover a space and click the pencil to rename it.
• Rename Current Space…, Settings… (⌘ ,) and Quit (⌘ Q).
• Orphaned names appear only if macOS gives a desktop a new identity (rare, for example after a display change). Assign each to the right desktop again, or forget it.

10Settings

Open it from the menu bar item: Marquee›Settings….

Shortcuts

• Show switcher: ⌥ ⇥ by default.
• Rename current space: ⌃ ⌥ R by default.

To change one, click it, press the new keys, and you're done. esc cancels, and the ✕ removes it.

Spaces

Every space, with its colour, its name, and Add shortcut to give it a shortcut of its own (see Jump to a space with its own shortcut).

General

• Show name when switching: a brief badge with the space's name after you switch.
• Show names in Mission Control.
• Show icon in Dock: off by default; Marquee lives in the menu bar.
• Launch at login: works when Marquee is in your Applications folder. It then appears in System Settings›General›Login Items.

At the bottom you'll find the version and who made it.

11Keyboard shortcuts

Every shortcut can be changed or cleared in Settings.

12Troubleshooting

13Privacy, data & uninstalling

Marquee has no account, no analytics and no network features. Your names, colours and switch log stay on your Mac in ~/Library/Application Support/Marquee; your shortcuts and settings are in Marquee's preferences.

To uninstall

1. Quit Marquee from its menu.
2. Move Marquee from Applications to the Bin.
3. Optionally delete ~/Library/Application Support/Marquee to remove your names and colours.
4. Remove Marquee from System Settings›Privacy & Security›Accessibility with −.