why are numbers appearing on my desk top.

Do you have Voice Control turned on at  > System Settings > Accessibility > Voice Control? You can turn it off there if it is on. One of the options for Voice Control is to Show Numbers with an Overlay where you will see the numbers on the screen for identification when using Voice Control.

Use Voice Control commands to interact with your Mac - Apple Support (CA)

Roy Bradshaw wrote:

Thanks to Ian for sending on the screen shot. These numbers appear even though None is selected in voice control settings. Yes I can get rid of them by stopping listening but surely the None should override anything else.

Since it is intended for the numbers to appear in a menu no matter what setting you use for the Overlay, you can still reduce the affect by:

• Turn on Fade Overlay After Inactivity
• Set Fade After to 0
• Set Fade By to 100%

The numbers in the menu will briefly appear in the menu, and then will quickly go away. If you don't want to see any numbers at all in the menu, then I would recommend to send Feedback to Apple here:

Product Feedback - Apple

The relevant portions in the Voice Control support article shows that when setting the Numbers Overlay, they will appear on the Desktop, Apps, and Web Pages. Setting the Overlay to None will remove those from screen, but as seen in the Support Article, they will still appear for Menus. This is also confirmed on the Screenshot in the Support Article showing Keynote, where the numbers appear on the menus, but not on the right side where you can format the Text. If Numbers was turned on for the Overlay, you would also see a number next to each of those formatting elements too.

• These overlays make it easy to interact with complex interfaces, such as web pages. For example, in your web browser you could say “Search for Apple stores near me.” Then use the number overlay to choose one of the results: “Show numbers. Click 64.” (If the name of the link is unique, you might also be able to click it without overlays by saying “Click” and the name of the link.)
• Voice Control automatically shows numbers in menus and wherever you need to distinguish between items that have the same name.

Use Voice Control on your Mac - Apple Support

Ian R. Brown wrote:

Roy has sent me this screenshot of the mysterious numbers that appear in Mail.

Yep, that is Voice Control and how you specify which menu item you want to choose using Voice. The initial question of the numbers appearing on the Desktop are due to the Overlay setting in Voice Control where you can set that to None and the numbers will be removed from the Desktop. You would remove numbers from the menu items is by turning off Voice Control in Settings.

Voice Control automatically shows numbers in menus and wherever you need to distinguish between items that have the same name.

Use Voice Control on your Mac - Apple Support

Roy Bradshaw wrote:

Selected none but numbers still appeared when I right click on an item, best option is to stop listening on Voice control.

Yep, selecting None removes the numbers on the Desktop as you posted in your initial question, but you will still see numbers in a menu because that is how you choose that menu item when using Voice Control. Turning off Voice Control is the best option if you have no desire to do that.

Roy Bradshaw wrote:

Thanks. I hope they have gone

Did the numbers go away after turning off Voice Control? That should have been the reason why the numbers appeared on your screen. If you want to use Voice Control without the numbers, then at that same Setting location, you have to change the Overlay option to None.

Take a video . . . remembering to start the video before they appear. You can either use your camera or QuickTime to record the screen

Then play it full screen, pause when the numbers appear and take a screenshot.

Please post a cropped screenshot: Take a screenshot on Mac - Apple Support

Take a photo with your phone or camera.

Roy Bradshaw wrote:

I am using sequoia 15.7.1 and am repeating this message as it has appeared earlier in this group column and seems out of context.

No need to repeat the Message. You can change the Sort By option above the first message you see to Newest, and then they will be sorted with the newest reply on top. You can also make a global change for every post you read by choosing your user icon and edit your profile where you will see this option to make the change. Your setting does not affect how others view this thread and each user sees it how they choose to sort the messages.