Tiling places windows in halves, quarters and side-by-side pairs on your desktop, without going full screen: the menu bar and the Dock stay where they are. Every method below reaches the same layouts, so use whichever is closest to hand. It works the same on macOS 15, 26 and 27; two of its settings were renamed in macOS 26, as noted below.
Drag to tile
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Drag the window to an edge
Drag it by its title bar to the left or right edge, to any corner, or up to the menu bar. A highlighted area shows where it will go.
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Let go
Release the window when the highlight appears. A window dropped on the menu bar fills the desktop; at a side it takes that half, and in a corner, that quarter.
For faster tiling, hold ⌥ while you drag the window toward an edge or corner, and let go when it's in the highlighted area (Apple's guide to tiling). Two things can happen instead of a tile. Drag a window all the way through the top edge and Mission Control opens, unless you turn off Drag windows to top of screen to enter Mission Control. And Apple's guide to spaces notes that a window held at the edge of the screen moves to the next desktop after a moment, so let go when the highlight appears.
The green button
Hold the pointer over the green button in the top-left corner of a window, without clicking, and a menu of layouts appears. Press ⌥ while it's open to see more.
- Move & Resize tiles just this window, in a half or a corner of the desktop.
- Fill & Arrange tiles this window together with others. It also has a layout that fills the desktop with this window, and, with ⌥ held, one that centers it.
- Full Screen has Entire Screen, and Left of Screen and Right of Screen, which start Split View in a full-screen space of its own rather than tiling on your desktop.
Clicking the green button, rather than pointing at it, still puts the window in full screen (Apple's full screen guide). If you meant to make it big without leaving your desktop, use Fill: full screen vs maximize explains the difference.
Window › Move & Resize
The same layouts are in the menu bar, in apps that have a Window menu. Click the window you want to tile first.
- Window › Move & Resize, then a layout under Halves or Quarters, tiles the active window.
- Window › Move & Resize, then a layout under Arrange, tiles several windows. Hold ⌥ for more.
- Window › Fill makes the window fill the desktop, and Window › Center centers it.
- Window › Full Screen Tile has the full-screen and Split View choices.
Fill is also a quick fix for a window that has slipped partly off the screen: click it, then press Fn-⌃-F. More ways are in how to get a window back on screen.
Keyboard shortcuts
Every tiling shortcut starts with Fn and ⌃. On some keyboards, Fn is the Globe key (Mac keyboard shortcuts). This is Apple's full list from Mac window tiling icons & keyboard shortcuts; they act on the active window.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
| Fn⌃F | Fill: the window fills the desktop. |
| Fn⌃C | Center: centers the window on the desktop. |
| Fn⌃← | Left: the window takes the left half. |
| Fn⌃→ | Right: the window takes the right half. |
| Fn⌃↑ | Top: the window takes the top half. |
| Fn⌃↓ | Bottom: the window takes the bottom half. |
| Fn⌃R | Return to Previous Size: undoes the tile, back to the size the window had before. |
| Fn⌃⇧← | Left & Right: the window on the left half, a second window on the right half. |
| Fn⌃⇧→ | Right & Left: the window on the right half, a second window on the left half. |
| Fn⌃⇧↑ | Top & Bottom: the window on the top half, a second window on the bottom half. |
| Fn⌃⇧↓ | Bottom & Top: the window on the bottom half, a second window on the top half. |
| Fn⌃⌥⇧← | Left & Quarters: the window on the left half, a second window in the top-right corner, a third in the bottom-right corner. |
| Fn⌃⌥⇧→ | Right & Quarters: the window on the right half, a second window top left, a third bottom left. |
| Fn⌃⌥⇧↑ | Top & Quarters: the window on the top half, a second window bottom left, a third bottom right. |
| Fn⌃⌥⇧↓ | Bottom & Quarters: the window on the bottom half, a second window top left, a third top right. |
Apple lists no shortcut for the four single corners, for Quarters (four windows, one per corner), or for the full-screen and Split View choices: use the green button or the Window menu for those. To move a tiled window back and forth between halves, press the other arrow; to put it back as it was, Fn-⌃-R. More window keys, beyond tiling, are in Mac window keyboard shortcuts. Flick, the window switcher we make, doesn't tile or move windows; it switches between them.
Tiling settings
Choose Apple menu › System Settings, click Desktop & Dock, and go to Windows (Apple's tiling settings guide).
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Drag windows to left or right edge of screen to tile | Tiles a window you drag to a side. On macOS 15 it's called Drag windows to screen edges to tile. |
| Drag windows to menu bar to fill screen | Fills the desktop with a window you drag to the menu bar. |
| Hold ⌥ key while dragging windows to tile | Lets ⌥ speed up tiling while you drag. |
| Tiled windows have margins | Leaves some space around each tiled window. |
Two settings nearby change what dragging and double-clicking do. In the Mission Control section, Drag windows to top of screen to enter Mission Control is the one that opens Mission Control when you drag past the top edge. In the Dock section, the title-bar double-click setting can be set to Fill: it's called Window title bar double-click action on macOS 26 and 27, and Double-click a window's title bar to on macOS 15 (Desktop & Dock settings).
Tiling not working?Check the settings above first. On macOS 26, System Settings also says that window tiling requires Displays have separate Spaces, in the Mission Control section; turning that on takes a log out. See Displays have separate Spaces, explained.
On macOS 14
Apple's guides say window tiling is available in macOS Sequoia 15 or later, so on macOS 14 Sonoma none of the layouts, menus or Fn-⌃ shortcuts above exist. The built-in options there:
- Split View puts two apps side by side in a full-screen space. Hold the pointer over the green button and choose Tile Window to Left of Screen or Tile Window to Right of Screen, then click the app for the other side (Apple's macOS 14 Split View guide). Despite the word “Tile”, this is Split View, not tiling. The full how-to is in how to use Split View.
- Zoom enlarges a window without leaving your desktop. Set Double-click a window's title bar to to Zoom in Desktop & Dock settings, and double-clicking a title bar expands the window to fill the space between the Dock and the menu bar. Most apps also have Window › Zoom.
Putting two windows side by side on your desktop, at exact halves, takes macOS 15 or later, a third-party window manager, or resizing them by hand.
Sources
Checked on , against Apple's guides for macOS 14, 15, 26 and 27, and System Settings on macOS 26.2.
- Mac window tiling icons & keyboard shortcuts, Mac User Guide, Apple
- Tile windows on Mac, Mac User Guide, Apple
- Change window tiling settings on Mac, Mac User Guide, Apple
- Change window tiling settings on Mac (macOS Sequoia 15), Mac User Guide, Apple
- Use apps in full screen on Mac, Mac User Guide, Apple
- Change Desktop & Dock settings on Mac, Mac User Guide, Apple
- Change Desktop & Dock settings on Mac (macOS Sonoma 14), Mac User Guide, Apple
- Use apps in Split View on Mac (macOS Sonoma 14), Mac User Guide, Apple
- Work in multiple spaces on Mac, Mac User Guide, Apple
- Mac keyboard shortcuts, Apple Support
- System Settings › Desktop & Dock on macOS 26.2: the note shown with the window tiling options
