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In Windows 7, we can easily arrange two windows with these shortcuts: Option (Alt) ⌥ + ← maximizes the window to the left side of the screen, and Option (Alt) ⌥ + → maximizes the window to the right side of the screen.

I'm using a 27" iMac now, and I'd really like to do this. Does Mac OS X have this functionality?

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Are you aiming to do this constantly for particular windows that you wish to set up to be in a certain position at all times? If so, i think i have a better solution you might not know about – XAleXOwnZX May 4 '12 at 3:29
Many windows management tools are listed on several other threads. apple.stackexchange.com/questions/9659/… and apple.stackexchange.com/questions/9659/… are notably good Q&A – bmike♦ Feb 16 at 18:04

6 Answers

up vote 11 down vote accepted

I use BTT (Better Touch Tool) which includes window snapping, as well as a whole host of other useful features such as extra multitouch gestures, and button management.

You can use as much or as little as you want, but window snapping is on by default and just means you drag an application to the top to maximise it, left to align and fill the left half, and to the right for the right.

Oh, and it's free.

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wow, excellent. It works. – Benjamin May 3 '12 at 6:48
1  
Probably the best option out of all of these choices (even better than my answer) :-) – daviesgeek May 3 '12 at 18:47
up vote 5 down vote

Another tool is Moom (5$ in the Apple Store): you can divide the screen in a number of squares and define keyboard shortcut to position the windows. Several standard placements are already defined by default (right/left half, bottom/top half, ...)

Moom screenshot
I never used anything else (I'm very happy with Moom) but DoublePane was mentioned several time on AskDifferent and it seems that several other alternatives exist.

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An awesome thing with Moom is the ability to write applescript to load a named window config. Use your favorite launcher (launchbar, quicksilver, qsb, etc) to instantly arrange windows the way you want to. – skarface May 4 '12 at 3:47
up vote 2 down vote

Cinch

Cinch brings the window management of Windows 7 to the Mac with a simple and easy to use application.

cinch: windows 7 window management for the Mac

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This is cool too. There were many nice apps I didn't even heard. I'm waiting some other stuffs. – Benjamin May 4 '12 at 1:09
@Benjamin Yes. I love Cinch. It is great! – daviesgeek May 4 '12 at 3:00
up vote 1 down vote

I’ve used SizeUp.app before, which allows you to press e.g. ⌘+⌥+Ctrl+← to make the active window fill the left half of the screen, and ⌘+⌥+Ctrl+→ to make it fill the right half.

It has lots of other options as well:

SizeUp.app

If you prefer to use the mouse instead of the keyboard, you could use Cinch.app by the same authors. It allows you to drag any window to the left or right side of the screen to make it fill that half of the screen.

Both these apps aren’t free (although they’re very cheap), but they have free trials. Check it out!

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Why the downvote? – Mathias Bynens May 5 '12 at 18:14
up vote 0 down vote

Divvy would be the software I recommend that is the most Mac like in design and implementation, yet it hits all the functionality most Windows 7 users prefer or are used to having.

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up vote 0 down vote

There are a number of free alternatives for that work well. These include :

  • BetterTouchTool
  • Shiftit
  • Spectacle
  • TileWindows

There are many alternative window sizing utilities freely available.

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