How to tile windows on a Mac

Place windows side by side, in quarters, or in a custom part of your screen with Tidy Screen’s grid.

Set up Tidy Screen

Download Tidy Screen, unzip it, and move the app to Applications. It supports macOS 13 and later on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Open it from Applications, then enable it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility. This permission lets the app move and resize other apps’ windows.

Put two windows side by side

1. Click the first window to focus it.
2. Press Control + Option + Command + T to open the grid, or click Tidy Screen in the menu bar.
3. Choose Left half, or drag from the top-left cell to the bottom of the grid’s left half.
4. Focus the second window and choose Right half.

These layouts resize ordinary windows within the available desktop area. They don’t put apps into macOS full-screen mode. The grid shortcut can be changed in Settings → General.

Arrange four windows in quarters

Focus each window in turn and select Top left, Top right, Bottom left, or Bottom right. You can also draw the same quarter-sized rectangles on the grid. For an uneven arrangement, select any rectangle that fits the task—for example, a wider editor beside a narrow reference window.

Save a layout you use often

Open Settings → Shortcuts to create a named layout and assign its keys. A global shortcut applies the layout directly to the focused window. A grid-only shortcut works while the grid is open. See the window shortcut guide for setup and conflicts.

Adjust gaps and undo a move

Settings → Grid & Spacing controls the number of grid cells, screen margins, and gaps between windows. To undo a recent placement, open the grid and use Undo or Command + Z.

Why a window might not fit

Some apps enforce a minimum size, and some dialogs cannot be resized. Terminal windows can also resize in text-cell increments rather than to every exact pixel size. Exit macOS full screen and try a larger region. If nothing moves, check Accessibility access.

Using more than one monitor? Read arranging windows across displays.