How to split the screen on a Mac

Split View does a clean 50/50, but real work rarely fits in halves. Here's how to split a Mac screen into the exact layout you want.

The built-in way: Split View

Hold or hover over the green window button (or drag a window to the top in Mission Control) to put two apps side by side in a full-screen space. It's tidy for two apps, but it's a fixed full-screen split, resizing is coarse, and it only handles two windows at a time.

Beyond 50/50

Most layouts aren't two equal halves. You might want a main window at two-thirds, a reference panel beside it, and a short bar along the bottom. Screen Divider lets you split the screen at any ratio, into as many zones as you want, and merge cells into custom rectangles — then you drag windows into those zones on your normal desktop (no full-screen space required).

How to do it with Screen Divider

• Install and grant Accessibility access when prompted.
• Open Edit Layouts, split the screen into the regions you want, and merge cells into zones.
• Drag any window toward a zone — an overlay shows the target — and release to snap and resize it.

For a walkthrough of all the options, see how to snap windows on a Mac.

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