Stupid Simple Mac Tips #35 – Become a Windows Resizing Rockstar

By Tom Lambotte | June 22, 2020

If you have ever struggled with moving the windows to your desired layout, say when drafting documents, this post if for you. macOS Catalina has a neat little feature few people know about.

Using it makes it simple to resize and arrange your windows without trying to manually get them in perfect half-monitor size.

You can use this feature with any app you have open and want to shift around, whether you want to move it to one side of your display or to another display entirely.

Here’s what you do:

• Move your mouse to the top left corner of your window where the buttons to close, minimize, and expand your app are located.
• Hover over the green button, which expands your app to full screen. Don’t click on it, just hover over it.

Now, here’s a hidden, hidden feature it took me a bit to grasp:

If you just hover, you get these options:

• Full Screen
• Tile Window to Left of Screen
• Tile Window to Right of Screen
• Move to [name of other display] *If external monitor is connected

[NOTE: this enables Full Screen mode,but tiles it on the chosen side.]

If, while hovering, you press the Option key:

• Zoom
• Move Window to Left Side of Screen
• Move Window to Right Side of Screen
• Move to [name of other display] *If external monitor is connected

[ NOTE: This behavior resized the window in place to the desired side without going full screen]

Personally, I prefer that behavior.