Windows
How to snap and tile windows on a Mac
Updated · Applies to macOS 15 Sequoia and later
Drag a window to the left or right edge of the screen to fill that half, or to a corner for a quarter. Or hold the pointer over the window's green button and choose a layout, or press Fn-Control and an arrow key. Change how it behaves in System Settings → Desktop & Dock.
Snap by dragging
- Drag a window by its title bar to the left or right edge of the screen. An outline shows where it will go.
- Let go, and the window fills that half. Drag to a corner instead for a quarter.
- Drag a window to the menu bar to make it fill the screen.
Holding ⌥ while you drag makes the window tile sooner, before it reaches the edge.
Use the green button or the Window menu
Hold the pointer over the green button in the top-left corner of a window to see layouts you can click, including arrangements that place two or more windows at once. The same options are in the menu bar under Window → Move & Resize.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Fn Control F: fill the screen.
- Fn Control and an arrow key: move the window to that half.
- Fn Control Shift and an arrow key: arrange the window with the one behind it, for example left and right.
The Window → Move & Resize menu lists the rest, with each shortcut next to it.
Change how tiling behaves
Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock and scroll to Windows. The switches are:
- Drag windows to left or right edge of screen to tile. Turn this off if windows snap when you don’t want them to.
- Drag windows to menu bar to fill screen.
- Hold ⌥ key while dragging windows to tile. With this on, tiling happens sooner while Option is held.
- Tiled windows have margins. Leaves a small space around tiled windows. It’s on or off; the size can’t be changed.
What window managers add
The built-in tiling covers halves, quarters, and full screen. A window manager adds things like:
- Thirds and two thirds, which suit wide and ultrawide displays.
- Cycling sizes: press the left-half shortcut again for two thirds, again for one third.
- Shortcuts you choose, all in one settings window.
- Gaps you can size between windows.
Window managers worth knowing
- Rectangle: free and open source, with shortcuts, drag-to-snap, and size cycling (rectangleapp.com).
- Magnet: a paid app on the Mac App Store with snap areas and shortcuts (magnet.crowdcafe.com).
- Softset Tile: ours. A one-time purchase with shortcuts, drag-to-snap including thirds, size cycling, gaps, and restore. Compared with Rectangle and Magnet.