How to split screen on Mac, with Split View or tiled windows

Split View or tiled windows

Apple’s guide has two pages, and both put two apps side by side. Split View, by our reading, is a full-screen mode: the pair moves to a space of its own, the menu bar shows when the pointer moves to the top of the screen, and the Dock when it moves to the Dock’s location. Apple adds that the menu bar is always shown if the option to hide and show it in full screen has been turned off.

Tiling, in macOS Sequoia 15 or later. On macOS Sonoma 14, Apple’s page Move and arrange app windows on Mac gives a half-screen route without full screen: hold Option while the pointer is over the green button, then choose Move Window to Left Side of Screen or Move Window to Right Side of Screen; the menu bar and Dock remain visible. From Sequoia 15, Apple’s page Tile windows on Mac lists five ways: drag the window to the edge of the screen, press Option while dragging, use the green button, use the Window menu, or use keyboard shortcuts. The Sequoia 15 version of the page opens with “In macOS Sequoia 15 or later”, and its shortcut page says window tiling is available in macOS Sequoia 15 or later.

The choice, by our reading of the two pages: Split View for two apps and nothing else on the screen; tiling to keep the Dock, the menu bar and other windows in reach. Apple’s Split View page speaks of two apps; its tiling table also has layouts for three and four windows, such as Quarters and Left & Quarters.

Tiling two windows without full screen

Drag to an edge. Drag a window to the left or right edge, or a corner, and release it when the highlighted area appears; Apple says the window snaps into position when the pointer reaches the edge. Dragging it to the menu bar fills the desktop.

Option while dragging. For faster tiling, Apple says to press and hold Option and drag the window toward the edge or corner you want, then release it in the highlighted area.

The green button. Hold the pointer over it and the menu shows layouts under Move & Resize for the active window and under Fill & Arrange for several windows; pressing Option shows more layouts. The same menu holds Full Screen, which is where Split View starts.

The Window menu. With the window active, choose Window › Move & Resize and pick a layout under Halves or Quarters for one window, or under Arrange for several. Window › Center and Window › Fill are in the same menu, and Full Screen Tile holds the Split View choices.

When dragging does nothing. The drag options can be turned off. Apple’s page on tiling settings lists four switches under System Settings › Desktop & Dock › Windows: Drag windows to left or right edge of screen to tile, Drag windows to menu bar to fill screen, Hold ⌥ key while dragging windows to tile, and Tiled windows have margins. Dragging a window through the top edge opens Mission Control unless Drag windows to top of screen to enter Mission Control is turned off in Desktop & Dock settings.

Keyboard shortcuts

Apple’s table Mac window tiling icons & keyboard shortcuts gives every key with Fn and Control. Fn-Control-Left Arrow and Fn-Control-Right Arrow move the active window to the left or right half of the desktop. Fn-Control-Shift-Left Arrow, named Left & Right, moves the active window to the left half and the second window to the right half; Fn-Control-Shift-Right Arrow does the opposite. Fn-Control-F fills the desktop, Fn-Control-C centres the window, and Fn-Control-R returns it to the size it had before it was tiled.

Split View itself has no shortcut in that table. The rows Left of Screen and Right of Screen under Full screen tile show n/a in the shortcut column, and so do Entire Screen and Exit Full Screen. The four corners and Quarters have no key either. The macOS 15 and macOS 27 versions of the table give the same keys.

Inside Split View, Control-Up Arrow opens Mission Control, which is how Apple’s page returns to an app after a window leaves the pair; swiping up with three or four fingers does the same.

Working inside Split View

Change sides. Drag a window by its title and toolbar to the other side.

Swap one app. Click the window, hold the pointer over the green button, choose Replace Tiled Window, then click the window to use instead. Clicking the desktop cancels.

Take one app out. From the same green button, Move Window to Desktop puts that app back on the desktop, and Make Window Full Screen gives it a full screen of its own. Either way, Apple says the app that stayed is now full screen in its own space.

Start from an app already in full screen. Press Control-Up Arrow to enter Mission Control, drag a window onto the thumbnail of the full-screen app in the Spaces bar, then click the Split View thumbnail. Apple’s page on spaces adds that dragging a window onto a full-screen app in the Spaces bar is a way into Split View, and that the Exit button on a thumbnail in the Spaces bar stops full screen or Split View.

Why split screen can stop working

The menu item has a new name. On macOS Sonoma 14, Apple’s Split View page says to choose Tile Window to Left of Screen or Tile Window to Right of Screen from the menu on the green button. From Sequoia 15 the same page says Full Screen › Left of Screen or Right of Screen. After an update, the old name is not where it was; that is our reading of the two versions side by side.

On a second display, a setting decides. Every version read, from 14 to 27, ends with the same condition: to use Split View on other displays, Displays have separate Spaces must be turned on in Desktop & Dock settings.

The app may not support it. Apple’s page names no list of the apps that support Split View, and none of those that do not. This guide has not tested an app without a Left of Screen choice.

Tiling switched off. If dragging a window to an edge no longer tiles it, check the switches under Desktop & Dock › Windows described above. Setapp’s guide adds two checks: that the windows are not in full-screen mode, and that the macOS version supports tiling.

A second display instead of a split

Apple’s page Connect one or more external displays with your Mac starts with three checks: which video ports the Mac has, how many displays it supports, and whether the cables match. The number is in the Mac’s specifications, under Display Support or Video Support, which Apple reaches by opening System Settings, then Help in the menu bar › [your Mac’s name] Specifications.

Once connected, System Settings › Displays decides whether the desktop is extended or mirrored across the displays. If the Mac does not see the display, Apple says to hold Option in Displays settings so that a Detect Displays button appears.