Ability to open multiple instances of the Miro app (Mac)

@KyleB The desktop app is an Electron app. That's just the way Electron works. Miro is a web application, the desktop app is just the web app wrapped in a native “shell”. Same with Slack and a bunch of other tools.

@Henrik Ståhl, thank you. I know it is an electron app. I’d like the app to open in multiple windows … Sort of the way Descript — which is another electron app — lets you open projects in multiple windows.

@KyleB I haven't used the Descript app (sounds like an amazing tool though!), but it's quite a hassle to build support for windows in Electron since it's not an out-of-the-box feature.

So, about Descript… have you used it a lot? Is it really as good as they claim it to be on the website?? 

Ah, I understand. Yes, Descript is a great tool and a great service — the app is not great though. Airtable is another electron app that comes to mind that supports multiple windows (it is probably better known than descript). Airtable is another great tool, but the app is, IMO, not that good or pleasant to use. 
 

I guess I’d like Miro to invest in a proper Mac app to provide a better experience for users — or to at least tailor their electron app to allow for things that are basic for native apps, like multiple windows. ‍♂️

@KyleB Thanks, will look into Descript. Sounds like magic.

Yeah, there are definitely some things that could be improved with the Miro desktop app.

Totally agree.

Multiple windows of Miro will be a deal-breaker for me as we get closer the fall and the release of macOS Ventura.

I rely on the new Stage Manager a lot (it’s awesome!!!) but doesn’t work well with apps that don’t do multiple windows.

100% on multiple projects usuable on the desktop app (solution) or make it easier to work on two boards at the same time (problem).

 I really don’t care what stack the app is built on, its clear there’s a need, and it would make a lot of customer’s lives easier.

I really don’t care what stack the app is built on, its clear there’s a need, and it would make a lot of customer’s lives easier - particularly on work that needs to cross projects. If Electron doesn’t support multiple views in focus, ok - how else could that be accomplished? Top of mind, just make it easy to open the current board via its URL directly in a browser so you can move between two windows. Currently that doesn’t seem to be an option. On the surface it seems like that could be as easy is taking the existing URL and sending an intent with the URL directly to the default browser (ideally in an authenticated state). That solves the problem of quickly toggling between windows (even if they are in different apps) with attributes (URL) that already exists, that is a native event at the OS level.

There are multiple potential solutions to the problem, including a few that would be no-brainers to implement, at least until electron catches up to the way people use apps, or Miro changes the tech they use.

Hi all, a nifty trick is to simply open a second instance of the Miro application.

Trying to use the Finder to open multiple instances of an application on Mac OS X will simply cause the first instance to come to the foreground. To get around this, use the open command from the command line with the -n option. The -n option opens a new instance of the application even if one is already running.

If you’re on MacOS, you can do this by opening Terminal and typing the following at the prompt:

open -n "/Applications/Miro.app"

I use this regularly on a dual monitor setup. Hopefully that provides a workaround for you too.

 

This feature would be really nice, because many of us are using MIRO intensively for large modelling applications and this absolutely requires multiple instances, usually running on multiple physical displays.  The workaround is to use Desktop MIRO with one or more web app instances, but in my experience at least, these are not as performant as the Desktop version. 

Note - the requirement here is for PCs, not just Macs.  Thanks.

Was about to post this same request - glad to see KyleB has already initiated the conversation! Insightful follow-up communication as well.

Seconding for all the reasons highlighted. I will always defer to desktop versions of applications over browser versions, and having the ability to launch multiple instances to better manage open tabs would be super helpful. Of course, the somewhat niche nature of the request and the ability to just open the browser version when need be places the prioritization of this request pretty low, in my eyes.

An interesting lateral approach to this same need could be a re-thinking of the way that boards / tabs are managed and launched, which could coincide with a larger re-thinking of the Directory and Navigation experience. That’s a big can of etc. to open but it feels synced up with the larger need.

Thanks for the thoughtful responses everyone!

Another trick is to go into the /applications/ folder on the mac and duplicate the Miro app.
Select it, and press ⌘+D
Then launch the “Miro Copy” app. 

Note: The solution by @Luke Chambers using terminal is more elegant.

Thanks so much for taking the time to comment about this feature. We appreciate your patience. Our team is reviewing this idea as it continues to be open for votes and comments.

For those coming across this idea, if you feel this would be helpful for you or your business, please be sure to vote for it and leave a comment about your use case to help our team scope this request!
 

Thank you,

Miro Community Team