![](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/058e4af8e726290f491044219d2eee73.png)
Use desktop stacks on Mac
Desktop stacks on your Mac neatly organise files on your desktop into groups. When you save a file to the desktop, it’s automatically added to the appropriate stack.
![A Mac desktop with four stacks — for documents, images, presentations and spreadsheets — along the right edge of the screen.](https://help.apple.com/assets/63BCA927AAE78C58DD7FBE35/63BCA92EAAE78C58DD7FBE76/en_GB/7b5f8e1401c749db919d0db8377a951d.png)
Turn on desktop stacks
On your Mac, click the desktop, then choose View > Use Stacks or press Control-Command-0. You can also Control-click the desktop, then choose Use Stacks.
Browse files in a desktop stack
On your Mac, swipe left or right on the stack using two fingers on the trackpad or one finger on a Magic Mouse.
Expand or collapse a desktop stack
On your Mac, do any of the following:
Expand a stack: Click it on the desktop. When the stack’s expanded, double-click any item to open it.
Collapse a stack: Click its Down Arrow icon.
Change how desktop stacks are grouped
You can group stacks by kind (such as images or PDFs), date (such as the date a file was last opened or created) or Finder tags.
On your Mac, click the desktop, choose View > Group Stacks By, then choose an option. Or Control-click the desktop, choose Group Stacks By, then choose an option.
Change the appearance of desktop stacks
You can make icons bigger, change the spacing between icons, move icon labels to the side, or show more information (such as how many files are in a stack).
On your Mac, click the desktop, choose View > Show View Options, then change options. Or Control-click the desktop, choose Show View Options, then change options.
You can display folders in the Dock as stacks. See Use folders in the Dock.