Do them in order; the whole list takes about ten minutes. Each step is one action, then what you should see. Where macOS has to give permission, the step says so.
Not installed yet? Download the free trial. macOS 13 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. Open the disk image and drag DeskSay to Applications, then open it; its icon appears in the menu bar.
Press Option and 1 together.
You should seeEvery desktop you have, one tile each, filling the screen, on every display. Escape closes it.
If it did not openCheck that DeskSay is running: its icon is in the menu bar. If another app already uses Option and 1, record a different key in Settings, Switching, or turn on the Control and Option tap or the F3 key there.
Type two letters of a desktop’s name, or hover its tile. Then Return, or click.
You should seeThe best match ringed in amber as you type, then that desktop, with its name on a card for a moment. About 200 milliseconds a switch.
Nothing named yet? Every desktop still answers to its number: press 1 to 9 on the Board, or hover and click. Names come next.
On the Board, click the pencil beside a tile’s name. Type the name, press Return.
You should seeThe tile takes the name, and an icon and a colour picked from it: Design gets a paintbrush, Email an envelope. The name also sits over that desktop’s thumbnail in Mission Control.
Want your own icon or colour? Right-click the tile, then Icon and Colour. The pencil appears when the pointer rests on a tile; right-click, Rename and ⌘↵ do the same thing.
Hold Option and Space, say the name, let go.
You should seeA listening card while the keys are down, then the desktop with that name. The first time, macOS asks for the Microphone and for Speech Recognition. Both stay on the Mac: recognition uses the engine built into macOS, and nothing is uploaded.
If it did not workSystem Settings, Privacy & Security: DeskSay needs to be on under Microphone and under Speech Recognition. Then hold the keys and try again. Voice is optional; every other step works without it.
Hold Option and drag any window by its title bar. The Board opens. Drop the window on a tile.
You should seeThe Board opens as the window starts to move. Let go over a tile and the window lands on that desktop about half a second later.
If it did not workThis needs Accessibility: System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility, DeskSay on. It works as soon as it is granted, no relaunch. Drag by the title bar or a toolbar; a drag that selects text does not count. Prefer Shift or Control as the key? Settings, Switching.
Drag a tile on the Board to where you want it.
You should seeThe other tiles slide out of the way. After the drop, DeskSay opens Mission Control and moves the desktop for you: about four seconds, hands off the keyboard and mouse while it works. Then the order is the same everywhere, on the Board, in Mission Control and with Control + arrow.
If it did not workTwo things: Accessibility has to be on for DeskSay (System Settings, Privacy & Security, Accessibility), and one macOS setting has to be off: System Settings, Desktop & Dock, “Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use”. The Board says so while it is on. To keep an order that is DeskSay’s alone and leave macOS as it is, use the switch in the Board’s gear.
DeskSay asks macOS for three permissions, each the first time it is needed. If one was dismissed, it is in System Settings, Privacy & Security, and DeskSay has to be switched on in the list.
Window pictures on the tiles are a fourth, Screen Recording, which macOS asks for when you turn them on in Settings, On Screen. Without it the tiles show each desktop’s apps as icons.
Still stuck? Email support at desksay.com and a person will answer.