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I am not a long-time Mac user and could find the answer. So on Win7 there is a built-in feature when you click Win+← the window resizes to fit half of the screen and sticks to left. Is there something similar on OS X?

Thank you.

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7 Answers 7

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Spectacle (github, homepage) is free, and works fine for me.

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  • 3
    This one seems very close to what I want. Thank you!
    – Alex Buznik
    Mar 13, 2013 at 22:24
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    Contemporary choice
    – Alex Buznik
    Jan 17, 2017 at 15:29
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There are lots and lots of similar window management apps available, the one I like to use and recommend is called Moom. Sounds a stupid name, but it's short for Move and Zoom.

Amongst various other functions (lots more, like edge snapping etc), it allows you to:

Move your mouse over the green zoom button in any window, and Moom's mouse control overlay will appear ... [allowing you to]:

  • Move & Zoom to Full Screen

  • Move & Zoom to Left Half

  • Move & Zoom to Right Half

  • Move & Zoom to Top Half

  • Move & Zoom to Bottom Half

  • Revert to Original Dimensions

enter image description here

Keyboard shortcuts are also available and customisable:

Keyboard mode allows you to do everything you can do in mouse mode, and more. It's all controlled by the Keyboard section of Moom's settings window.

Once set up, you can use the keyboard to zoom windows to full/half/quarter-screen sizes, move them (while optionally confining them to the display) around, send them to another display; grow and shrink them, center them, and revert them to their pre-Mooming dimensions.

After pressing the keyboard mode trigger key you define, an onscreen overlay appears. While the overlay is visible, you can use easy-to-remember keys (e.g., the arrow keys, plus Return, Tab, and Space) to control the frontmost window, instead of having to memorize tons of outlandish key combos.

If you want a reminder as to your defined shortcuts, you can display a cheat sheet (enabled in Moom's Settings) along with the overlay: enter image description here

So essentially, yes, you can replicate the feature diretly, with the same keystroke, only with plenty more options. Moom isn;t free, but it's not particularly expensive either. Plenty more window managers are available that do similar, and even cost less. This is just my recommendation.

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To emulate this from Windows, check out BetterTouchTool.

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  • Thanks, checked it earlier today. It is okay, but seems too clumsy.
    – Alex Buznik
    Mar 13, 2013 at 22:22
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I was directed here when asked the same question to google in 2020.

The solution in Catalina is to hold Option when hovering on the green windows button. You'll be able to choose which half of the screen to bound the window.

move a window to a side of a screen

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  • In Big Sur, this requires selecting a second window for the opposite side of the screen. I'm looking for a solution to only resize my current window.
    – Code-Apprentice
    Jan 23, 2021 at 15:40
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Divvy has a free trial, and is about $14 if you would like to get ride of a window that pops up and asks whether you want to buy the software. It allows you to customize different keyboard shortcuts to different window configurations.

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You could use one of these: BettersnapTool or BetterTouchTool or Hyperdock

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In 2021 you could use rectangle since spectacle is no longer actively maintained.

Follow link for details, install with homebrew brew install --cask rectangle.

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