Stage Manager icons disappearing from my screen.

Your icons are most likely disappearing because your active application windows are too large or positioned too close to the screen edges. Stage Manager is designed to automatically hide the recent apps strip on the left and desktop icons at the top/sides to prevent windows from overlapping or cluttering them.

To fix this and keep your Stage Manager icons pinned to your screen, try the following solutions:

Check the "In Stage Manager" Desktop Items Setting

If your actual desktop files, folders, and icons are vanishing specifically when Stage Manager is turned on, a separate toggle manages their visibility:

• Open System Settings and click Desktop & Dock in the sidebar.
• Scroll down to the Desktop & Stage Manager section.
• Look under Show Items and ensure the checkbox next to In Stage Manager is checked. If this is unchecked, your desktop files will only show when Stage Manager is off.

• More info from Apple: Change Desktop & Dock settings on Mac - Apple Support

Resize or Center Your Active Windows

• The Auto-Hide Trigger: If you expand an app window so that its left edge gets too close to the left side of the screen, macOS will instantly hide the recent apps strip to give you maximum workspace. 
• The Fix: Click the right edge of your current window and drag it inward to make it smaller, or grab the window title bar and drag it toward the center of your screen. As soon as there is enough clearance on the left edge, your recent app icons will reappear. 

Clear Out Left-Side Desktop Widgets

Placing macOS widgets on the left side of your wallpaper can cause visual conflicts. Stage Manager will actively clear out or hide recent app strips to avoid overlapping with active widgets. Try moving any desktop widgets to the right side of your screen. 

Add and customize widgets on Mac - Apple Support

Relaunch Finder (If it's a temporary glitch)

If you have verified that your windows are small and centered but the icons still refuse to show up, the Finder process may simply be bugged. 

• Hold the Option key on your keyboard, right-click (or two-finger tap) the Finder icon on your Dock, and select Relaunch

Hello,

Thank you very much for your quick response. It was indeed a desktop widget too close to the edge of the screen that prevented the stage manager icons from appearing on the screen. Thank you again.