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Sometimes you need to see two windows side by side, e.g. when following instructions or when working on a translation. How do I quickly arrange two windows like that?

edit: interested in answers for all platforms and window managers

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On what platform? – innaM Jul 29 '09 at 12:19
I'm assuming that you only have one monitor? :) – Nippysaurus Jul 29 '09 at 13:10
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5 Answers

up vote 9 down vote accepted

There are good solutions for both Mac and Windows that I know of:

Windows 7

This feature is built in, and called "Aero Snap" You can use the following shortcut keys to get the behavior you want:

  • WIN+Left Arrow - Move the current window to the left half of the screen
  • WIN+Right Arrow - Move the current window to the right half of the screen
  • WIN+Up Arrow - Maximize the current window

Windows XP and Vista

GridMove - Allows you to setup regions to snap windows to via a shortcut key. I mapped WIN+1 to move a window to the left half of the screen and WIN+2 to use the right half.

AeroSnap - Brings the same Windows 7 behaviors to Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Mac OS X

TwoUp and SizeUp from Irradiated Software both accomplish this task perfectly. TwoUp is free, and SizeUp adds some extra features, including multiple monitor support.

I'm not sure what I available for Linux. If anyone else knows post in the comments and I'll add it do this answer.

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up vote 14 down vote

Answer for Windows as explained on the old new thing:

In the taskbar, click the button for the first window you want to position, then hold the Ctrl key and right-click the button for the second window. Select Tile Vertically. Bingo, the two windows are positioned side by side.

As mentioned in a comment below, you can also hold Ctrl while you click an additional taskbar button and finally right-click a third one. In this way you can arrange 3 windows at the same time. More than 3 windows also works but results in a grid layout.

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Hmm, didn't know that, thanks ! – Gnoupi Jul 29 '09 at 12:20
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you can hold in Ctrl for all windows you want to arrange. So this will work for n windows – pavsaund Jul 29 '09 at 12:24
Also this is easier on Windows 7, where you can just drag the windows to either the left or the right side of the screen, where they dock. – Joey Jul 29 '09 at 12:25
Also, it does this per monitor, so that you can spread windows across screens, and tiling is done on a per-monitor basis – pavsaund Jul 29 '09 at 12:25
Note: this only works with two Windows I think else it will arrange all Windows like that, making a horrible mess... – Ivo Flipse♦ Jul 29 '09 at 12:31
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up vote 4 down vote

For linux, get a tiling window manager (AwesomeWM, XMonad, dwm, ratpoison, musca..). If you don't like or are not familiar with automatic tiling, or you don't want to switch WMs, use some of the tiling scripts, like stiler.

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up vote 1 down vote

Try Divvy. Basically it allows you to easily (via a few shortcuts) resize your window to exact proportions.

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up vote -6 down vote

Hit the window full screen icon at the top so the window is not in full screen mode. Then resize it to the desired position and size. Repeat this step for every single window and you will get where you want to be.

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I don't think that's quick enough... – djeidot Jul 29 '09 at 14:37
It is very quick when I do it that way. Just because you cannot do it as fast is hardly a reason to down vote me for it! – Axxmasterr Jul 29 '09 at 14:49
lol - that's like saying "if you can type really quickly it's easier to retype than copy and paste" – Antony Jul 30 '09 at 11:25
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