How To Split The Screen on a Mac.
Mac screens are getting smaller and smaller, but that doesn’t mean what the software you use does. If you are running out of space on your Mac screen, you need to think about ways to make better use of the space. A good way to do this is to use macOS built-in split-screen features to see and use multiple windows at once.
You can split the screen in half with two windows on the left or right. There are also third-party split screen tools like Moom that you can use instead, which allow you to split your Mac’s screen into quadrants using each of the four corners. Here’s how to split screen on Mac devices using these tools.
How to Split Screen on Mac
If you are using macOS, you are already familiar with the round colored window control buttons in the upper left corner of any open window. The red round button closes the window, and the yellow round button minimizes it. However, the green button is used to control your window while it is active.
- Use your mouse or trackpad to hover over the green button to see which options are available to you. You may have to press and hold the button to view these options in older versions of macOS.
- A pop-up menu will appear under the green icon. These include options for going full screen, which, as the name suggests, enlarges your open window to full screen while hiding the Dock and other items. More important, however, are two split screen options: a tiled window to the left of the screen and a tiled window to the right of the screen.
- Clicking any of these options will resize the open window to fill half of the available screen, and hide the Dock and menu bar. You will need to select the second window to occupy the other half of the screen at this stage.
- By default, windows using the split screen function will split the screen equally. You can change this when the windows are in place using your keyboard or trackpad by pressing and holding the black bar in the center of the screen and then dragging the bar left or right to resize the windows accordingly.
You can only use macOS’s built-in split-screen feature to see two windows side-by-side, and they go full screen by default. If you prefer not to use full screen mode and leave the Dock and Menu Bar visible, you can resize the windows to a similar position.
- To do this, hover over the green window button in the upper left corner while holding down the selection key on your Mac keyboard. The icon that you see when you hover over the green window button changes from two arrows to a plus sign.
- Alternatives will appear in a pop-up menu under the green window button. You can maximize the window without going full screen by clicking the Zoom option. However, to tiled your window to use half of the screen, click Move Window Left to Screen or Move Window to Right, depending on which side of the screen you want to use.
- Clicking any of these options resizes the window to fit half of the Mac’s screen, but unlike full split screen options, you can still view and use the Dock and menu bar. However, you cannot resize both windows at the same time, unlike in full split view.
Resize Windows with Moom on macOS
If you want to use a split screen mode on macOS that allows you to resize more than two windows at the same time, you should consider using a third-party windowing software. There are several paid and free options available, but we recommend using Moom. A free trial version of the software is available to try it out on your Mac before signing up.
- To get started, download the trial version from the Moom website, or purchase and install Moom from the Mac App Store. Once installed, you can launch Moom from the launcher or by clicking the Applications folder in Finder.
- You may need to authorize Moom to access accessibility features. To do this, click the Apple menu icon in the upper left corner, then click System Preferences.
- From here, click on Security & Privacy Privacy Accessibility and make sure Moom is enabled in the Allow box. the following applications for managing the list of computers.
- You may need to click the lock icon in the lower left corner and enter your password or Touch ID credentials to be able to make changes first.
- If you are having trouble using Moom after enabling accessibility, restart your Mac and then restart Moom after restarting.
- After launching Moom, hover over the green window button at the top of the screen. to the left of the open window. The macOS dropdown menu will be replaced by default with its own Moom menu with different icons showing different display modes. Icons with a gray box on the left or right will resize your window to fit on the left or right side of the screen.
- You also have the option to resize the windows so that they occupy the top or bottom of the screen, dividing the image horizontally in the middle. Click the gray box icons at the top or bottom to resize the window to fit the top or bottom of the screen.
- Moom also allows you to split your Mac’s screen into quadrants by resizing windows and placing them in the top and bottom corners of the left and right. Press and hold the Select button to view these options, then hover over the green window button. Click any of the icons shown in the Moom drop-down menu to resize the windows accordingly.
Enlarge your macOS real estate screen
Whether you use the built-in split screen mode or decide to use a third-party app like Moom to manage your windows, you should try to take full advantage of the screen space on macOS. However, knowing how to split screen on Mac devices can only help you – you might decide that display alone isn’t enough.
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However, before buying a second screen, consider using your iPad as a second monitor. Share your macOS tips for getting the most out of your macOS display in the comments below.
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