Mac users now have a window snapping feature built directly into Mac OS, which allows users to easily snap windows to aspects of the screen or against one another. This offers a nice way to quickly and precisely align windows, and it’s more or less the Mac equivalent feature of window snapping from the Microsoft Windows world. The fast, easy way to organize windows on your Mac. Snap windows by dragging, keyboard shortcuts, or menu bar. Download.One week free trial.
Enter Split View
Split View requires OS X El Capitan or later, and the steps differ slightly based on which macOS you're using. If these steps don't work, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, click Mission Control, and make sure that “Displays have separate Spaces” is selected.
macOS Catalina
- Hover your pointer over the full-screen button in the upper-left corner of a window. Or click and hold the button.
- Choose ”Tile Window to Left of Screen” or ”Tile Window to Right of Screen” from the menu. The window then fills that side of the screen.
- Click a window on the other side of the screen to begin using both windows side by side.
Other macOS versions
- Click and hold the full-screen button in the upper-left corner of a window.
- As you hold the button, the window shrinks and you can drag it to the left or right side of the screen.
- Release the button, then click a window on the other side of the screen to begin using both windows side by side.
Work in Split View
In Split View, you can use both apps side by side, without the distraction of other apps.
- Choose a window to work in by clicking anywhere in that window.
- Show the menu bar by moving the pointer to the top of the screen.
- Swap window positions by dragging a window to the other side.
- Adjust window width by dragging the vertical line between the windows.
- Switch to other apps or your desktop with Mission Control, or use a Multi-Touch gesture such as swiping left or right with four fingers on your trackpad.
Exit Split View
- Move the pointer to the top of the screen to reveal the window buttons.
- Click the full-screen button in either window. That window exits Split View.
- The other window switches to full-screen view. You can switch to the full-screen window with Mission Control, or use a Multi-Touch gesture such as swiping left or right with four fingers on your trackpad.
Snap is a feature that debuted in Windows 7 at its release in 2009. It allows users to drag windows to the edges of their computer screen to quickly snap them into a specific size. If you drag the window to the top, it maximizes the window. If you drag it to the left or right, it fills that half of the display. Then you can adjust them to your liking from there too.
Despite being such a popular feature for several years, OS X only recently caught on to this useful organizational tool in El Capitan. There’s a built-in feature that works similarly to Snap hidden at the top of every OS X window. Still, the way it functions is a bit different from Windows. For more power and control over your window sizes and placement, we’ll also have to turn to a third-party app.
Mac’s Split View
OS X El Capitan (and presumably future versions of OS X to come) has a feature called Split View built in that mimics Snap for Windows, though it doesn’t work for every application.
Split View is hidden behind the green full-screen button at the top left of every window. All you need to do is press and hold this green button. You’ll see that the current app window will automatically resize to take up the left portion on your screen.
Over on the right, an array of windows you have open that are compatible with Split View will appear so you can pick one to fill in the other side.
Tip: Not all applications will work with every Split View because some require more than half of the screen. If this is the case, windows you have open will sit as thumbnails at the bottom with the message “Not available in this Split View.”Just click a compatible window to fill your display with two applications simultaneously. You can even drag the slider in the middle to adjust the sizes of each one.
![How to snap windows in mac How to snap windows in mac](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/glsyMqWoNsU/maxresdefault.jpg)
More Advanced Window Management with Magnet
If you really want to go all out with your window management on a Mac, try out Magnet. It’s currently on sale for $0.99 in the Mac App Store so there’s no better time to get it. Plus it does everything Windows Snap can do and more.
Windows 8 for macbook air free download. At its core, all Magnet really does is enable windows to intelligently resize at your comment. In addition to having them fill up half the screen like Split View already does, you can fill four corners with four different windows, have three windows with one at the top and two at the bottom, one on the left and two on the right… the possibilities are extensive.
When you first launch Magnet, be sure to grant permissions in System Preferences as it prompts you to do. Once that’s complete, you have one of two options. You can drag a window to the corner or side you want, or use my own preferred method which is the menu bar icon. Magnet’s menu bar icon lists all the sizing shortcuts and even some extras like centering a window. Just click a window, click the icon and choose its position.
Split View and Magnet combined, not only can you mimic Snap, you can go above and beyond what Windows can do.
Apple downloads dashboard widgets. ALSO READ:8 Ways to Free Up Disk Space on Your 128 GB Mac
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Did You Know
Notion, the productivity app, was founded in 2013.