I have not seen this behavior. Will keep testing.
And to be clear, the issue I was having wouldn’t impact somebody swapping between configured stages - it was just when opening a new app.
I changed the settings to what you have, and it worked. Then I changed them back the way I had them, and it still worked.
Bizarre. Kind of like how I couldn’t resize windows properly until I’d rebooted a couple of times. It feels like there are certain things that just didn’t “take” at upgrade time. Either way, I’m glad that “jiggling the handle” fixed it. 
Thanks!
I’m gonna add this to my toolbox. Maybe try this before a reboot. 
Have you noticed the following?: With Stage Manager on, open Safari and make full zoom, not full screen. Then close Safari window (not Quit) using the red button on top left. Now reopen Safari window. It doesn’t go back to full zoom.
Looks like it’s working properly for me - although I have other window management stuff involved (Moom), so I don’t know if that’s affecting anything … ?
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I like Stage Manager, but it takes too much mouse movement to go over to the side of my 27” monitor to click into a different stage. And I have my mouse set decently quick.
The best thing about it is that it pushed me to finally try out Spaces. I have one space for email, messages, main Safari window, task, manager, and a Finder window. And three more, one for each project. Each one of those has its own Word, Finder, and Safari window. I’ve only used it for one day so far, but I think it will really help with my window management. I wish we could name the spaces.
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Have you had problems with apps winding up in a “stage” that you didn’t want there, and having a hard time getting them out?
I am trying to like it on my Mac but I had to disable it today because every time BBEdit would show a code completion the current stage would minimize. It’s a bug and I’m sure it will get sorted out but it makes Stage Manager unusable for me.
I also keep my dock on the left side of my main screen and since I have some desktop folders on the right side SM jumps all the way to the right side of my 2nd screen. By hiding the desktop folders on screen 1 SM returned.
I can’t figure out it’s logic so have turned it off.
I’ve been using it on my iPad this week and I think it is an improvement over the previous limited multitasking, but I tried it on macOS and really don’t see the point of it there. Since macOS has a full windowing system, what does stage manager add to it?
Still no Ventura or iOS 16.1 for me. Was initially excited for Stage Manager but my ardor has definitely cooled. 
I will weigh in with more thoughts on Stage Manager in Ventura, but for now I wanted to offer this observation. I usually use my 16”MacBook Pro connected to one 27” or two 24” external displays. I have been using it without the displays a bunch lately and have discovered that Stage Manager really shines in a single display environment. I very much like Spaces and Mission Control and use them fluidly; however, Stage Manager seems to be an even better environment to work with in a single-display set up. By better, I’m thinking in terms of efficiency, access to apps and windows, and overall convenience.
For me, it feels like I’m working as effectively on a single screen as I work with my multi-display set up. For example, it’s been quicker to get to things under Stage Manager than it is when I use Spaces.
I haven’t used Stage Manager enough to be definitive on this point, but that’s my preliminary impression.
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I have multiple monitors, but was unable to figure out if you can create a “stage” across both monitors. It seems not. ??
(I also have Keyboard Maestro, so maybe I don’t even need this.)
I’ll cover this in my longer post, but no. Stages appear to exist independently on each monitor. It probably would be more useful to have the stage span the displays. But, it’s probably because Spaces still exist that you couldn’t have the stage go across the displays, at least not without changing how spaces function.
Interesting - I regularly use 5 monitors and Spaces on my main computer which may be why I have been pondering about the benefits of Stage Manager. But it may well be helpful on my laptop when I travel - I will try that.
In case anyone feels that keyboard shortcuts are missing for Stage Manager, my ⌘ rcmd app can focus stages using keys now.
Here’s a demo video on how I like to use it:
I find it really useful when I have to juggle between wildly different workflows like jotting down notes on a new app feature, then trying some stuff in the code editor, then going back to updating those notes and doing some math in Soulver related to the feature, more testing… when the feature is partly working I might do some graphics work to showcase it to beta testers, then move to the Terminal stage to build and upload any test builds and graphics.
It feels nice to have desktops with just the apps I need for the task, always arranged how I want, and fast to switch to.
That’s exactly what Spaces did as well, but the stages are more visible, easier to navigate and move windows between them, and they also seem to remember some stuff about where an app was previously open if you happen to quit and relaunch it.
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Using stage manager back again after a few months, I can’t help to relate it to the visionOS windows as floating cards metaphor. This experience gets even more “real” (immersive if you will) with Sonoma’s immersive wallpapers.