Tile Windows in macOS Sequoia
Dragging two windows side by side by hand, resizing each one pixel by pixel, gets old fast. macOS Sequoia added proper window tiling: drag a window to the edge, or use the green button menu, and the Mac snaps it neatly into halves, quarters, or full arrangements. This guide shows the built-in ways to tile without installing anything.
TL;DR / Quick Fix
Quick fix: drag a window to the left or right edge of the screen until you see the tile outline, then drop it. For more control, hover the green maximize button and pick a layout from the menu. Both windows then fill the screen in neat halves for side-by-side work.
Follow these steps
- Drag a window to the screen edge. Click and hold a window's title bar, then drag it to the left or right edge of the screen. A translucent outline appears showing where it will snap — release to tile it into that half.
- Use the green button menu for layouts. Hover over the green maximize button in the top-left of a window and a tiling menu appears with halves, quarters, and full-screen options. Pick one and the window snaps into place.
- Fill the other half when prompted. After tiling the first window, Sequoia suggests open windows for the other side. Click one and both windows share the screen in a clean split.
- Adjust the divider between tiles. Hover over the line where two tiled windows meet and drag to resize both at once. This is much faster than resizing each window by hand.
- Drag a tiled window out to untile. Grab the title bar of a tiled window and drag it away — it returns to its previous floating size. Nothing is locked in.
- Learn the keyboard shortcuts next. Once you know the layouts you use daily, keyboard tiling shortcuts tile windows instantly without dragging. They are the same layouts, just faster.
What NOT to do
- Do not install a paid tiling app before trying the built-in feature. Sequoia's native tiling covers halves and quarters well.
- Do not fight with Stage Manager for tiling. Tiling and Stage Manager serve different workflows — use one or the other for window layout.
- Do not expect tiling to work in every app. A few older apps resist snapping; most modern Mac apps tile fine.
- Do not resize tiled windows by dragging corners. Use the divider between tiles — it keeps the pair neatly filling the screen.
Frequently asked questions
Does tiling work on multiple monitors?
Yes — tiling applies per display. Drag a window to the edge of whichever monitor it is on and it tiles there.
Can I tile more than two windows?
Yes, using the quarter layouts from the green button menu, or by dragging windows to screen corners for quarter tiles.
Why does my window maximize instead of tiling?
Dragging to the very top maximizes; dragging to the left or right edge tiles. Aim for the side edges for halves.