Working with two apps at once, a web page and a document, say, is much easier when they sit neatly side by side. Macs give you two ways to do it:
- Window tiling: snap windows to halves or quarters of your desktop (macOS Sequoia and later).
- Split View: two apps side by side in full screen, with nothing else visible (all recent macOS versions).
Which version of macOS do I have? Click the Apple menu > About This Mac. Window tiling requires macOS Sequoia (15) or later.
Method 1: Drag a window to the edge (tiling)
- Click and hold the window’s title bar (the top strip of the window).
- Drag it to the left or right edge of the screen. You’ll see an outline showing where it will go.
- Let go: the window fills that half of the screen.
- Repeat with another window on the other side.
Drag to a corner to fill a quarter of the screen, or to the top edge to fill the whole desktop.
Tip: Hold Option while dragging and the outline appears immediately, without having to reach the very edge.
Method 2: Use the green button
- Hover your pointer over the green button in the top-left corner of a window.
- A menu appears. Under Move & Resize, choose a layout: left half, right half, top, bottom, quarters, or an arrangement with other open windows.
- The window snaps into place.
The Arrange options in this menu are especially handy: pick one and macOS tiles your two most recent windows together in one go.
Method 3: Keyboard shortcuts
With the window you want to move selected, press:
| Shortcut | Result |
|---|---|
| fn (🌐) + Control + ← | Tile to left half |
| fn (🌐) + Control + → | Tile to right half |
| fn (🌐) + Control + ↑ | Tile to top half |
| fn (🌐) + Control + ↓ | Tile to bottom half |
| fn (🌐) + Control + F | Fill the screen |
| fn (🌐) + Control + R | Return to previous size |
You’ll also find all of these under Window > Move & Resize in the menu bar of most apps.
Method 4: Full-screen Split View
Split View puts two apps side by side in their own full-screen space, hiding the Dock and menu bar so you can focus.
- Hover over the green button of the first window.
- Choose Full Screen > Left of Screen (the wording can vary slightly by macOS version, e.g. “Tile Window to Left of Screen”).
- The other side of the screen shows your other open windows. Click the one you want on the right.
To adjust: drag the divider in the middle to give one app more space. To exit: move your pointer to the top of the screen and click the green button, or press Escape in many apps.
Turn tiling on or off
If windows snap when you don’t want them to (or won’t snap at all):
- Open System Settings > Desktop & Dock.
- Scroll to Windows.
- Toggle Drag windows to screen edges to tile and Drag windows to menu bar to fill screen.
- Toggle Tiled windows have margins if you prefer small gaps between windows.
Wrapping up
For everyday multitasking, drag-to-edge tiling is the quickest. Use Split View when you want a distraction-free, full-screen pair of apps, perfect for writing while researching.
