Mac keyboard shortcuts to move and resize windows

Every Mac has keyboard shortcuts for full screen, minimising, hiding and switching between windows. Shortcuts that move a window to a half or a quarter of the screen only arrived with the tiling commands in macOS 15 Sequoia, in the Window menu. On macOS 13 and 14, or for a separate shortcut for every position, thirds and other displays, the shortcuts come from a window manager such as SnapForMac.

Shortcuts every Mac has

These are Apple's own and work without installing anything. None of them moves a window to a part of the screen, but they are the ones worth knowing first.

The Mission Control shortcuts can be changed or switched off in System Settings, under Keyboard, so they may differ on a Mac someone has set up before you.

The tiling shortcuts in macOS 15

From macOS 15 Sequoia the Window menu has commands that tile the window in front: left, right, top and bottom halves, the four quarters, fill and centre, and a command to return the window to its previous size. Most are in the Move & Resize submenu.

Apple gives several of them a shortcut built on the Fn (Globe) key and Control. With an arrow key that combination tiles the window to that half of the screen. The menu shows the shortcut beside each command that has one, so the reliable way to learn them is to open the Window menu on your own Mac and read them off.

These commands do not exist on macOS 13 Ventura or macOS 14 Sonoma. On those versions the only built-in way to place two windows next to each other is Split View, described in the guide on how to snap windows side by side on a Mac.

Give any menu command your own shortcut

macOS lets you attach a shortcut to any command that appears in an app's menus. This is useful on macOS 15 for tiling commands that have no shortcut, or to replace one you find awkward.

1. Open System Settings and choose Keyboard.
2. Click Keyboard Shortcuts, then App Shortcuts.
3. Click the plus button. Leave the app set to All Applications.
4. Type the menu command's name exactly as it appears in the menu, including capital letters.
5. Click in the shortcut box, press the keys you want, and add it.

The limit of this method is that it can only press a menu command that exists. It cannot add a position macOS does not have, and it does nothing on a version of macOS without the tiling commands.

A window manager's shortcuts

A window manager registers its own shortcuts with macOS, so they work in every app and do not depend on what is in a menu. These are SnapForMac's defaults. They work with every SnapForMac window closed, because the app waits in the menu bar.

A few notes on what these do:

• Maximise fills the usable screen, between the menu bar and the Dock. It is not full screen, so the window stays on your desktop.
• Centre moves the window to the middle without changing its size.
• Restore puts a window back at the size and place it had before the first snap. Delete here is the key above Return that removes the character to the left.
• Thirds have no key of their own. In SnapForMac Pro, pressing the left or right half shortcut again steps through half, a third and two thirds.

The same table, with the keys drawn as they appear on a Mac keyboard, is on the features page.

Changing shortcuts and avoiding clashes

A shortcut can belong to one thing at a time. If macOS or another app already uses a combination, a window manager cannot take it. SnapForMac's Settings has a Shortcuts page that marks a shortcut that macOS or another app already uses as not working, so you can see which one lost.

There are two ways out of a clash. Free the combination in the other app, or change it in the window manager. In SnapForMac, changing a shortcut to keys of your own and resetting to the defaults are part of Pro. A new shortcut needs at least one of Control, Option, Shift or Command.

Two more things to keep in mind:

• Run one window manager at a time. Different window managers often choose similar default keys, and two of them answering the same press gives odd results.
• A window manager needs a permission. Its shortcuts do nothing until the app is allowed under Accessibility. The guide to the macOS Accessibility permission explains what you are agreeing to.

Five shortcuts to learn first

Nobody learns sixteen shortcuts in a sitting. Start with the five that cover most days: left half, right half, maximise, restore and the Snap Layouts bar. SnapForMac opens a short Learn page on first launch with those five and ticks each one off as you press it.

Once they are in your fingers, add the quarters, which sit together on U, I, J and K in the shape of the screen: U and I for the top corners, J and K for the bottom ones. SnapForMac runs on macOS 13 Ventura or later; the download page has the requirements and the install steps.

Questions people ask

Is there a Mac shortcut to snap a window to half the screen?

On macOS 15 Sequoia or later, yes: the Window menu shows a shortcut beside its half commands under Move & Resize. On macOS 13 and 14 there is none built in, and a window manager supplies one.

What is the shortcut to maximise a window on a Mac?

Control, Command and F takes most windows into full screen. To fill the desktop without full screen, use Fill in the Window menu on macOS 15, or a window manager: in SnapForMac it is Control, Option and Return.

How do I move a window to another display with the keyboard?

macOS does not give this a shortcut of its own by default. In SnapForMac, Control, Option, Command and the Right Arrow moves the window to the next display, and the Left Arrow to the previous one. Both are free.

Can I change the shortcuts a window manager uses?

It depends on the app. In SnapForMac the defaults work for everyone, and changing a shortcut to your own keys is part of SnapForMac Pro. For commands in macOS's own menus, App Shortcuts in System Settings lets you set any keys.

Why does my window shortcut do nothing?

Usually another app or macOS already owns that key combination, the window manager has lost its Accessibility permission, or the window is full screen, minimised or a dialog, which cannot be moved.