- Mar 20, 2015 As many of you guys know, I’m a huge HyperDock ($9.99 on the Mac App Store) proponent. I use it primarily to have access to window previews of running apps in the OS X dock, but the tweak has additional features as well. The biggest side benefit to using HyperDock is its window snapping capabilities.
- Oct 07, 2019 Tiles is a Free Windows Snapping App for Mac OS, App Cleaner is a FREE Mac App for cleaning out the extra Files that linger on your Hard-Drive after you uninstall an unwanted App!
- Moom makes window management as easy as clicking a mouse button—or using a keyboard shortcut, if you're one of those types of people. With Moom, you can easily move and zoom windows to half screen, quarter screen, or fill the screen; set custom sizes and locations, and save layouts of opened windows for one-click positioning.
If you use your Mac for more than browsing the occasional website or checking email, chances are you're working with multiple windows at a time — you might have seven Safari windows open with multiple tabs, a couple instances of your text editor of choice, a Messages window, Photoshop running in the background … I could go on. The point is all those windows start to get in the way, keeping you from completing the work you set out to do when you sat down at your Mac. With a few keyboard shortcuts, some trackpad and mouse gestures, and apps for managing your windows, you can take control of your workspace on macOS.
Keyboard shortcuts
Whether you've just switched to Mac or you're secretly a little jealous of Windows 7 features, there are some things Mac OS X just doesn't do that Windows handles beautifully. Here's how to get. Your Mac permits you to double-click an app’s title bar in order to maximize its window as long as the option to do so is set to “zoom” in the Dock system preferences. To set up this feature, head over to System Preferences → Dock, tick the box next to “Double-click a window’s title bar to”, then click the adjacent popup menu.
There are several shortcuts that can help you navigate macOS without ever having to lift your fingers from the keyboard.
- Command (⌘) + H: This hides the windows of the frontmost app.
- Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + H: This hides the windows of all apps except for the frontmost app.
- Command (⌘) + M: This minimizes the frontmost window.
- Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + M: This minimizes all the windows of the frontmost app.
- Command (⌘) + N: This opens a new window (or document, depending on the app).
- Command (⌘) + W: This closes the frontmost window.
- Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + W: This closes all the windows of the frontmost app.
- Command (⌘) + Tab: This switches to the next open and most recently app.
- Shift (⇧) + Command (⌘) + Tilde: This switches to the next most recently used window of the frontmost app.
- Option (⌥) + Command (⌘) + D: This toggles on and off Dock Hiding. If you need a little more room on screen, consider hiding your Dock.
- Control (⌃) + Down Arrow: This shows all the windows of the frontmost application.
- Control (⌃) + F4: This moves the keyboard focus to the active window. Pressing it again moves keyboard focus to the next window.
- Control (⌃) + F5: This moves the keyboard focus to the floating window.
- Command (⌘) + `: This moves keyboard focus to the next window.
Trackpad and mouse gestures
You can use your Mac's trackpad or a Magic Mouse to activate certain shortcuts for windows management.
Trackpad gestures
- Quickly show your desktop by spreading your thumb and three fingers apart on the trackpad.
- Swipe up with three or four fingers to open Mission Control.
- Swipe down with three or four fingers to open App Exposé.
- Swipe left or right with three or four fingers to switch between desktop and app Spaces.
Mouse gestures
- Double tap with two fingers to launch Mission Control.
- Swipe left or right with two fingers to switch between desktop and app Spaces.
Using Mission Control
Mission Control is one of the best ways to manage your windows on macOS. It's built in at the system level and available with the tap of a key, the swipe of your trackpad, or the tap of your mouse. It gives you an overview of all your open windows, full-screen apps, and Spaces — making it quick and convenient to switch between them.
How do you activate Mission Control? Let me count the ways:
- Swipe up with three or four fingers on your trackpad.
- Double-tap on the top of your Magic Mouse with two fingers.
- If you kept it in your Dock, you can click the Mission Control icon.
- Tap the Mission Control key on your keyboard (looks like three rectangles of varying sizes).
- Use the keyboard shortcut Control (⌃) + Up Arrow.
- Click and drag a window to the top of the screen.
Working with Spaces
Mission Control allows you to create Spaces. Spaces are essentially different iterations of your desktop that can all display different apps, windows, and Split Views. If you find your current desktop is getting a little crowded but you don't want to close the apps and windows you've got open, you can create a brand new Space to work with. Some people will even create Spaces for different tasks — you might have your Space for writing, your Space for browsing the web, and your Space for editing photos.
How to add a Space
- Launch Mission Control.
- Click the Add Space icon (looks like a plus sign) to add a Space.
How to move a window to a Space
- Launch Mission Control.
- Drag a window of your choice to a desktop Space in the Spaces bar.
How to switch between Spaces
- Swipe left or right with three or four fingers on your trackpad.
- Swipe left or right with two fingers on your Magic Mouse.
- Use the keyboard shortcut Control (⌃) + Left Arrow to move to a space to the left.
- Use the keyboard shortcut Control (⌃) + Right Arrow to move to a space to the right.
- Launch Mission Control and click on a Space in the Spaces Bar.
How to organize Spaces*
- Launch Mission Control.
- Click and drag a Space left or right in the Spaces bar.
How to remove Spaces
- Launch Mission Control.
- Hold down the Option (⌥) key and click the Close icon (looks like an X) next to the Space you want to close.
Windows within the Space you're closing won't be closed; they'll be moved to another open Space.
Working with Split View
Sometimes you want a more focused workspace. Split View in macOS lets you fill your screen with two apps, placed side by side. Here are some things you'll need to know if you're going to be working in Split View:
- You tell macOS which window you want to work in by clicking anywhere in that window.
- Need to see the menu bar? Just move your cursor to the top of the screen.
- Want the windows swapped? Just click and drag one of the windows to the other side of the screen.
- Want one window smaller than the other? Click and drag the vertical line between the two windows to adjust their width.
How to enter Split View
- Hold down the full-screen button (looks like a green circle with two arrows pointing away from each other) in the upper left corner of an app window.
- Drag the window to the left or right side of the screen.
- Release the button, snapping the window into Split View.
- Click on another window to bring it into Split View.
You can also bring an app into Split View using Mission Control. Simply launch Mission Control and drag a window onto the full-screen app Space.
Note: Some apps don't support Split View on macOS. You'll find a zoom button (looks like a green plus sign) in place of the full-screen button.
Exiting Split View
- While in Split View, click the full-screen button on one of the windows.
Apps for window management
Sometimes the built-in offerings just aren't powerful enough for your needs. In that case, there are some third-party apps that can help you keep your windows exactly where you want them. Here are four of the most-popular, well-rated offerings from the Mac App Store!
Magnet
Magnet is a lightweight windows management tool that helps you snap your windows into predefined spaces. By dragging a window to the edge of your screen, Magnet will resize the window to half of your screen; drag a window to the corner of your screen and Magnet will resize the window into a quarter of your screen. Along with drag functionality, Magnet supports keyboard shortcuts.
Here are the features Magnet supports:
- Drag and snap functionality: halves, thirds, quarters, two-thirds, and full-screen
- Keyboard shortcut triggers
- Menu bar app
- Supports up to six external displays
- Magnet - $0.99 - Download now
Moom
Moom is a powerful tool for moving, snapping, and zooming your windows. You can use keyboard shortcuts and hotspots to snap your windows into predefined spaces. Moom also lets you create and save window layouts so you needn't recreate your perfect desktop setup every time you head back to your Mac.
Here are the features Moom supports:
- Presets: The Moom button features five preset window locations. Hover over the green window button and quickly move and resize your window to one of the presets.
- Grids: You can use a grid to draw your desired size and location for a window.
- Custom controls: You can create and define custom controls that will resize, move, and snap windows across multiple displays and reorganize your window setup.
- Window layouts: You can create and save window layouts to easily recreate your ideal window setup.
- Keyboard controls: Skip the clicking and dragging; use the keyboard controls to trigger your Moom tools.
- Moom - $9.99 - Download now
Divvy
Mac App For Window Snapping Video
Divvy is a windows management tool that approaches things a little differently. Instead of focusing on edge-snapping and predefined sizes, Divvy uses a grid system that lets you quickly 'divvy up' your screen real estate for the apps and windows you've got open.
You click on a window and then click and drag in the Divvy interface (a grid that represents your screen) to tell the app where to place your window. It's a quick, time-saving tool that focuses on quickly and easily organizing your windows across the available area of your screen.
Here are the features Divvy supports:
- The quick Divvy grid system for organizing apps and windows
- The grid's size is customizable — you can get super granular controls by going all the way up to a 20 x 20 grid size.
- Supports multiple monitors
- Supports keyboard shortcuts
- Divvy - $13.99 - Download now
BetterSnapTool
BetterSnapTool is all about that edge-snapping. Drag your windows to one of the four corners or the top, left, and right sides of the screen to quickly resize and position your windows accordingly. BetterSnapTool lets you take edge-snapping a little further — it features custom snap areas that you can create anywhere on your display in order to create your own sizing presets.
Here are the features BetterSnapTool supports:
- Custom triggers for right clicking on the macOS window buttons
- Modifier key support for custom actions
- Trigger window resizing when you double click the titlebar
- Application-specific snapping sizes
- Support for multiple monitors
- BetterSnapTool - $3.99 - Download now
![Osx window snapping Osx window snapping](https://media.idownloadblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Mac-App-Low-Resolution-Finder-Window.png)
How do you manage your windows on macOS?
Do you use any specific apps, tools, or keyboard shortcuts to manage your windows on macOS? Learn anything new from this piece? Gimme a shout in the comments with your thoughts, ideas, and questions!
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Best screen capturing app
Use CleanShot X for all your screen recording needs.
Screenshots have become so ubiquitous nowadays that we don’t give them too much thought anymore. Yet every day we use them to show, explain, and communicate. Whether it’s sending an image of a software bug to customer support, a quick how-to GIF to a colleague, or a heartfelt joke a loved one, screenshots help us enrich and liven up our daily communication patterns.
Naturally, for creating and editing screenshots, Windows PC has its widely respected Snipping Tool. In fact, if you’ve recently switched your PC for Mac, at some point you’re guaranteed to wonder where and what is Snipping Tool for Mac.
Rest assured, you’re not left without screenshots forever. A snipping tool for Mac does exist. Moreover, just like on Windows, it’s built right into the operating system — which is the answer to the common question of where to download snipping tool for Mac. In addition, there are plenty of third-party snipping tools out there that considerably expand on the functionality of the pre-installed option.
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A superb edition of best apps that take your snipping on Mac to the new level. All in one pack.
What is the best Snipping tool for Mac?
Mac OS snipping tool is so baked into the operating system that it doesn’t even have a name. It just … well, works, mirroring the Snipping Tool you’ve grown accustomed to on Windows almost to a T.
Plus, there’s not just one snipping tool on Mac — there are dozens. Below, we’ll compare the default screenshot snipping tool Mac offers to its Windows alternative, and introduce third-party tools like CleanShot, Dropshare, and Capto as well.
How to use Snipping tool on macOS
What is the shortcut key for Snipping Tool? The shortest answer to “How to snip on Mac?” is to press ⇧⌘5. The shortcut calls up a small menu in the lower part of the screen with lots of options to choose from.
This menu is new to Mac, as it first appeared in macOS Mojave in 2018. Before then, Mac users were limited to either using ⇧⌘3 to take a screenshot of the whole screen or ⇧⌘4 to select an area (these shortcuts still work the same). If you’re using one of the macOS versions before Mojave, make sure to update to the latest macOS available to make full use of the snipping tool on Mac.
So the menu for the Mac OS snipping tool features the following options:
- Capture Entire Screen,
- Capture Selected Window,
- Caption Selected Portion (area),
- Record Entire Screen,
- and Record Selected Portion (area).
Besides, there is also an Options dropdown, where you can change where to save the resulting image, set a timer, and choose whether to show the mouse pointer.
BTW, did you know that you can use Mac Snipping tool also to taking screenshots of the Touch Bar itself?
- To save a screenshot of Touch Bar as a file on your desktop press ⇧⌘6
- To copy what you see on Touch Bar to your clipboard press ⌃⇧⌘6
You can customize your keyboard shortcuts by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Screen Shots
Right away you can see how similar the functionality of a snipping tool on Mac is to its Windows counterpart. Let’s compare screenshot capabilities side by side:
- Full screen: Mac and Windows
- Single app window: Mac and Windows
- Area: Mac and Windows
- Freeform: Windows only
- Video: Mac only
- Delay: 5 or 10 seconds on Mac, 1 to 5 seconds on Windows
- Editing: full toolkit on Mac, limited on Windows
Diving into details, you might notice that the snipping tool on Mac doesn’t allow for a freeform capture. Likewise, its Windows alternative can’t record video and only offers limited annotation options. So naturally, this default screenshot grabber on Mac would be your go-to in most cases. However, if you need to be able to capture screenshots with a freehand selection or you’re just eager to use something more powerful, third-party Mac apps have a lot to offer.
Snipping tool alternatives
Download apps that allow to customize and enjoy screenshotting on Mac – better than default programs.
Snipping tool to capture your screen without distractions
While Mac’s default snipping tool can create basic screenshots, a professional utility like CleanShot seamlessly enhances its functionality. It allows you to hide all desktop icons to capture your screen with no distractions, change the wallpaper, preview screenshots before you save them, copy the resulting image or video into your clipboard, annotate images with ease, and much more.
To give yourself an example of what CleanShot is truly capable of, choose Capture Area within the app (notice how desktop icons disappear), drag your mouse to make a screenshot, and click the pen icon to edit the result before it gets saved.
To be able to always capture your screen without all the desktop icons getting in your way, set and use custom hotkeys in the Preferences menu of the CleanShot app. And if you wonder what’s the most effective way to share your screenshot with others, you need to know about one more app.
Share screenshots with others instantly
Unlike the default snipping tool on Mac, we have a tool approaches the problem of screenshots as a sharing problem first and foremost.
Dropshare is a Mac snipping tool alternative that allows you to choose between capturing a specific area, capturing and editing, and recording an area or full screen. After you done, all URLs would be saved automatically and ready to share with your team. Every time you take a screenshot, Dropshare swiftly uploads it to the cloud and gives you a short link to share with others. It’s also robust in its uploading options, offering you a choice between 10 GB of its own storage or any of the cloud providers you already use, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Rackspace, Amazon S3, etc.
However, if you want to make 100% freehand selections or take webpage screenshots of any length, you need to combine Dropshare with another brilliant utility.
How to capture freehand region on a Mac
Compared to other tools discussed above, Capto is in a league of its own and virtually redefines how to snip on Mac. It lets you capture full screen, circle area, rectangle area, freeform area, single app window, menus, webpages, and more. Besides, it features a robust editor to help you modify the results.
To create screenshots of any type, simply choose Freehand and draw out the shape.
Similarly, the options for instantly taking seamless screenshots of long webpages are available under the Web tab, where you can choose to use a built-in browser to search for the website or open the current URL.
Mac App For Window Snapping Download
This feature completely eliminates the need for the old-school way of taking screenshots as long as your display allows and then somehow stitching them all together by hand.
Does Mac have a snipping tool for me?
Yes, and lots! As you can see, your Mac has a wide array of snipping tools to cover every need possible. And hopefully, by reading this far, you’ve come a long way from wondering whether “Mac has snipping tools at all” to “how to use snipping tool for Mac” to “omg, which snipping tool do I choose.”
Your choice in using a specific snipping tool should correlate to your needs. It’s probably a good idea to disregard the default Mac OS snipping tool and instead use CleanShot right away, as it features more functionality and much cleaner experience. But if communication is key, turn to Dropshare, which enables you to stay in the loop in a super-productive and visual way. And finally no screenshot functionality is too complicated for Capto, which brings all custom screenshot needs under one roof.
How To Snap Windows Mac
Best of all, you can try and download all these apps, and decide which one you like the most for free because all of them are available through Setapp, a platform for over 150 best-in-class Mac apps for any job. Taking screenshots with unique apps from Setapp will bring you the most beautiful results of the highest quality in no time. Screenshot away!