How to snap windows on a Mac

Last updated November 1, 2026

Putting two windows side by side is one of the most common things to do on a Mac. Since macOS 15 Sequoia it's built in, with several ways to do it. Here's every one, what to do on older Macs, and a faster way with Helix.

Drag a window to the edge

Drag a window by its title bar to the left or right edge of the screen and let go when the outline appears. It fills that half. Drag to a corner for a quarter, or up to the menu bar to fill the screen.

Hold Option while dragging and the window tiles sooner, before it reaches the edge. Dragging through the top edge opens Mission Control instead, unless you turn that off in Desktop & Dock settings.

Use the green button

Hover over the green button in a window's corner. A menu of layouts appears:

Move & Resize tiles the window you're in, to a half or a quarter.
Fill & Arrange arranges several windows at once, fills the screen, or centers the window.
Full Screen puts the window in full screen, alone or next to another one.

Hold Option while the menu is open to see more layouts.

Use the Window menu

In most apps, the Window menu has the same choices: Move & Resize for halves, quarters and arrangements of several windows, plus Center, Fill and Full Screen Tile.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	What it does
Fn-Control-←	Left half
Fn-Control-→	Right half
Fn-Control-↑ / ↓	Top or bottom half
Fn-Control-F	Fill the screen
Fn-Control-C	Center the window
Fn-Control-R	Back to its previous size

There's no built-in shortcut for quarters; use the green button or the Window menu for those.

Turn tiling on or off

Open System Settings → Desktop & Dock and scroll to Windows. On recent macOS versions you'll find options for dragging windows to the edges to tile, dragging to the menu bar to fill the screen, holding Option to tile, and whether tiled windows have margins between them.

On macOS 14 Sonoma

Sonoma has no tiling, only Split View: hover over the green button and choose to tile the window to the left or right of the screen. Both windows go full screen in their own space, side by side. To snap windows on your normal desktop, you need an app.

When it doesn't work

Check the Windows settings above; dragging to tile may be turned off.
Some apps have a minimum width bigger than half your screen, so they can't fit.
If dragging up opens Mission Control, let go on the menu bar itself, or turn that setting off.

Snap with one flick in Helix

With Helix, hold ⌥Space, point at Windows and let go to maximize the front window. Keep moving outward instead and five options fan out on an outer ring:

Left half
Maximize
Right half
Center
Next display, for moving a window to your other screen

There's no small button to aim for and no key combination to remember, and it works on macOS 14 Sonoma, which has no tiling of its own.

Apps that go further

Helix covers the everyday moves. If you arrange windows all day, a dedicated window manager does more:

Rectangle: free and open source, with keyboard shortcuts for halves, thirds, quarters and more.
Magnet: a paid Mac App Store app for snapping windows by dragging or with shortcuts.
Loop: free and open source, picking a window's position from a radial menu.
Raycast: its free launcher has halves, thirds, quarters, sixths and more. See the best Raycast alternatives.

Questions

Can a Mac snap windows like Windows does?

Yes, since macOS 15 Sequoia. Drag a window to the edge of the screen, or use the Window menu's Move & Resize options. On macOS 14 Sonoma you get Split View, or an app such as Helix.

What's the keyboard shortcut to snap a window on a Mac?

On macOS 15 Sequoia and later, Fn-Control with an arrow key moves the front window to that half of the screen. Fn-Control-F fills the screen, Fn-Control-C centers the window and Fn-Control-R puts it back to its previous size.

Why doesn't my window snap when I drag it?

Check System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Windows, where dragging to tile can be turned off. Some apps also have a minimum window size that's too big for half the screen.

Which positions does Helix have?

Left half, right half, maximize, center, and moving the window to your next display.

Why does Helix need Accessibility access to move windows?

macOS only lets an app move another app's windows with Accessibility access. Helix uses it for that, for pasting and for media keys, and doesn't record what you type.

Helix is a one-time purchase for macOS 14 or later, with 16 tools in one ring. See how it works.

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