Mac full screen shortcut: how to enter, exit and fill the screen

The keyboard shortcut for full screen on a Mac is Control-Command-F. Press it once to go full screen and again to come back. Below: the other ways in and out, what happens to the menu bar and Dock, and when “Fill” is the better choice.

Checked against Apple’s Mac keyboard shortcuts page and Mac User Guide on October 21, 2026.

The full screen keyboard shortcut

Apple’s Mac keyboard shortcuts list Control-Command-F as “Use or stop using the app in full screen, if supported by the app.” That last part matters: most document, browser and media apps support full screen, but some small utility windows and settings panels don’t, and the shortcut does nothing there.

Some apps add their own key. If Control-Command-F doesn’t respond, look in the app’s View or Window menu for “Enter Full Screen”; the menu item shows whatever shortcut that app uses.

Other ways to go full screen

From Apple’s full screen guide:

• Click the green button in the top-left corner of the window.
• Hold the pointer over the green button, then choose Full Screen › Entire Screen.
• Window menu: on macOS 15 and later, Window › Full Screen Tile offers the same Entire Screen option, plus Left of Screen and Right of Screen for Split View (Apple’s tiling shortcuts page).

How to exit full screen on a Mac

• Press Control-Command-F again.
• Or move the pointer to the top of the screen so the menu bar and window controls appear, hold the pointer over the green button and choose Exit Full Screen.

Working in full screen: menu bar, Dock and switching apps

A full-screen app gets its own space. Per Apple:

• Menu bar: move the pointer to the top of the screen to show it, and away to hide it. To keep it visible all the time, set “Automatically hide and show the menu bar” to Never in Menu Bar settings.
• Dock: move the pointer to where your Dock lives and it slides out.
• Switching: swipe left or right with three or four fingers on the trackpad (depending on your trackpad settings) to move between full-screen apps and your desktop.

Just need a quick look at the desktop without leaving your windows? That’s a different shortcut; see how to show the desktop on a Mac and minimize all windows.

Full screen vs Fill: which one you want

People searching for a full screen shortcut often just want a window to be as big as possible. macOS 15 and later has a separate command for that: Fill, shortcut Fn-Control-F. Apple’s guide to working with app windows describes it as maximizing the window: it expands, but the menu bar and the Dock stay visible, and the window stays on your normal desktop with your other windows. To go back to the earlier size, Option-click the green button, or press Fn-Control-R.

You can also make a double-click on a window’s title bar do Fill: set “Double-click a window’s title bar to” to Fill in Desktop & Dock settings.

Split View from a full-screen app

Already in full screen and want a second app next to it? Apple’s steps: press Control-Up Arrow (or swipe up with three or four fingers) to open Mission Control, drag a window onto the full-screen app’s thumbnail in the Spaces bar, then click the Split View thumbnail. Our guide on how to split screen on a Mac covers resizing, swapping and leaving Split View.

When you want big, but not everything

Full screen and Fill both give one window the whole display. On a large monitor that’s often more than a browser or editor needs. If what you really want is “this app big, those two small beside it,” tile instead: macOS 15 has halves and quarters (see how to tile windows on a Mac), and keyboard snappers such as Rectangle add thirds.

Screen Divider takes that one step further: you draw a grid, merge cells into the zones you want (say, a big zone for your main app and a narrow column for chat), and drag a window in to fill that zone instead of a whole space. Your menu bar, Dock and other windows stay where they are, and each display keeps its own layout.

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