Workspaces not switching automatically

Solution 1:

I don't think this is a 10.8 specific issue as I experienced the same thing on 10.9.2 when switching out of an application running full-screen. My suspicion is that somehow the spaces plist files get corrupted.

My problem was fixed by regenerating the ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.spaces.plist file:

1. Navigate to your user's Library folder. This folder is hidden by default, but you can get there by holding down the option key when you click the Go menu in Finder and selecting Library.
2. Open the Preferences folder.
3. Move com.apple.spaces.plist to the desktop. There might be more than one, so drag them all out.
4. Log out and log back in.

Solution 2:

I've seen this intermittently for a few releases now. I fix it by restarting the "Dock" process (which handles Spaces/MissionControl) using this Terminal command:

killall Dock

I don't know how to do that via the regular GUI, sorry. And before you run that command, do killall -s Dock to see the processes which will get killed. If only the one "Dock" process is listed then you're good to go. Hope this helps!

Solution 3:

I was also having this problem on mavericks (osx 10.9.5). Here's how I solved it:

1. In Finder, click Go->Go to Folder...
2. Type: '~/Library/Preferences/' and click Go.
3. Open the file 'com.apple.dock.plist' using a text editor.
4. Edit the bottom line to: 'workspaces-auto-swoosh = ":true";'.
5. Restart.

Cheers!