Workspaces app alternative that restores window layouts.

Workspaces by Apptorium is a project launcher. It stores links to a project's files, folders, apps, websites and more, and opens them with one click. Its own FAQ says it does not remember or set window layout. SnapState does the part Workspaces skips: it saves where every window was and puts it back.

What does Workspaces do well?

From apptorium.com: you create a workspace per project with links to folders, files, apps, Mail messages, Terminal, websites, URLs, Shortcuts and plugin actions. START opens the resources you choose, and FINISH can run cleanup, for example the QuitApps plugin. It also keeps notes and tasks per workspace and supports AppleScript and Shortcuts.

Price and requirements, as listed on apptorium.com: $19.99, one-time for the current major version (minor 2.x updates free, Workspaces 3 a paid upgrade), a 30-day trial, macOS 14 or newer, also on the Mac App Store and Setapp. Data is stored locally, and there is no iCloud sync yet.

Where is the gap?

Its FAQ answers the question directly: Does the app remember or set window layout? No, it does not, and it suggests Apple Shortcuts instead. So Workspaces gets the right things open, but the windows land wherever each app puts them.

What Workspaces skips: the windows themselves. The 40 second demo shows a workspace saved from the SnapState menu bar and restored with one click: apps relaunch and windows go back to their saved displays, positions and sizes.

What does SnapState add?

SnapState is a Mac menu bar app that saves a named workspace: every window with its display, position and size, the apps to relaunch, the Space each app was on, full screen windows, and all open tabs in Safari, Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc and Chromium. You restore it from the menu bar, with a Control-Command-1 to 6 shortcut, or automatically on wake, when a monitor connects or disconnects, or when a matching display layout appears.

SnapState does not open arbitrary files or folders and does not keep notes or tasks. It is about the windows. See also how to save a window layout on Mac and save and restore Mac window layouts.

Can you use both together?

Yes. Click START in Workspaces to open the project, then restore the matching SnapState workspace to place the windows. Or let SnapState do both jobs for apps and browser tabs, since a Full restore relaunches the saved apps and reopens their tabs.

How do they compare?

For more options, see the best Mac workspace managers.

What are the practical details?

SnapState 2.7.2 costs $9.99 once, with a license for up to three Macs and a 14-day refund. It needs macOS 15.7 or later and runs natively on Apple Silicon and Intel. It needs Accessibility permission to move windows, and Automation permission if you want browser tabs reopened. Workspace data stays on your Mac. Workspaces saved in older versions need one re-save to pick up Spaces and full screen. See SnapState.

What are the honest limits?

SnapState is not a tiling or snapping tool. It does not save browser tab groups, history or form data, Firefox is not supported, and it does not change the display arrangement, main display, menu bar or Dock. It restores app windows.

Frequently asked questions