How to Use Split View and Window Tiling on a Mac

If you are coming from Windows, tiling is the Mac equivalent of Snap: quick, flexible, and it keeps windows on your normal desktop. Split View is a separate, more focused mode. This guide covers both, plus the keyboard shortcuts, how to resize and move tiled windows, and how to get back out again. The steps below reflect current macOS (macOS Tahoe, version 26). Native drag-to-edge tiling arrived in macOS Sequoia (macOS 15), so if your Mac is on an older release you will have Split View but not the newer tiling layouts.

Method 1 — Tile windows by dragging to an edge

This is the fastest way to split the screen on a recent Mac. It works on your normal desktop, so both windows stay resizable. Apple's Mac User Guide page on tiling app windows describes dragging a window to an edge of the screen — left, right, or any corner, or to the menu bar at the top — and holding Option while dragging for faster tiling.

1. Click and hold a window's title bar (the strip along the top).
2. Drag the window to the left or right edge of the screen. When a translucent highlight appears showing where the window will land, release the mouse or trackpad. The window fills that half.
3. Drag a second window to the opposite edge and release to fill the other half.

Drag to a corner instead of an edge to tile a window to a quarter of the screen, or drag up into the menu bar at the top to fill the whole desktop with that window.

Method 2 — Tile from the green button menu

Every standard Mac window has a green button in its top-left corner, next to the red and yellow ones. Hovering over it opens a layout menu — no dragging required.

1. Click the window you want to tile so it is the active (frontmost) window.
2. Move the pointer over the green button in the top-left corner and hold it there for a moment until the menu appears.
3. Under Move & Resize, choose a layout such as a left or right half (under Halves) or a corner (under Quarters). Press Option (⌥) while the menu is open to reveal extra layouts, including Center.
4. To tile two or more windows at once, use the Fill & Arrange section of the same menu and pick a multi-window arrangement.

You will find the identical options in the Window menu in the menu bar, under Move & Resize — handy when you would rather not hover.

Method 3 — Tile with the keyboard

If you prefer shortcuts, macOS tiles the active window with the Globe (Fn) and Control keys plus an arrow. On most Mac keyboards the Globe key doubles as the Fn key in the bottom-left corner.

Left half        Globe (Fn) + Control + Left Arrow
Right half       Globe (Fn) + Control + Right Arrow
Top half         Globe (Fn) + Control + Up Arrow
Bottom half      Globe (Fn) + Control + Down Arrow
Fill desktop     Globe (Fn) + Control + F
Center window    Globe (Fn) + Control + C
Return to size   Globe (Fn) + Control + R

There are also two-window shortcuts: Globe (Fn) + Control + Shift + Left Arrow puts the active window on the left and a second window on the right, and the Up Arrow version does the same top-and-bottom.

Method 4 — Full-screen Split View

Split View is the more focused option: two apps share one full-screen space, with everything else hidden. Apple's guide to using apps in Split View gives the same sequence: hold the pointer over the green button, choose Full Screen, then Left of Screen or Right of Screen.

1. Hold the pointer over the green button in the top-left corner of the first window.
2. Choose Full Screen, then Left of Screen or Right of Screen. The window fills that half and moves into its own space.
3. On the other half, you will see thumbnails of your open windows. Click the second app you want to work with, and it fills the remaining side.

Split View lives in its own full-screen space, so you can swipe between it and your desktop with a three- or four-finger swipe on the trackpad, or with Control + Left/Right Arrow.

Moving and resizing tiled windows

Once two windows share the screen, you are not stuck with a 50/50 split.

• Resize the split: move the pointer over the divider (the separator bar) between the two windows and drag it left or right. In Split View, double-click the divider to snap back to even halves — Apple's Split View documentation describes dragging the separator bar in the middle and double-clicking it to return to the original sizes.
• Swap the two sides: in Split View, drag a window by its title bar and toolbar across to the other side.
• Replace one app: hover the green button of a tiled window and choose Replace Tiled Window, then click the app you would rather have in that spot.

Desktop-tiled windows behave like ordinary windows — grab any edge or corner to resize freely, and drag the title bar to move a window out of its tile whenever you want.

Exiting Split View and untiling

To leave Split View, move the pointer to the very top of the screen so the menu bar and the green button reappear, then:

1. Hold the pointer over the green button of the window you want to release.
2. Choose Move Window to Desktop to return it to a normal window, or Make Window Full Screen to keep it full screen on its own.

Pressing Esc also exits full-screen Split View. For desktop-tiled windows, there is nothing to "exit" — just drag a window's title bar to pull it out of its tile, resize it by an edge, or press Globe (Fn) + Control + R to restore its previous size.