How to use the split screen view on your Macbook

• Your Mac has a split screen view that automatically resizes two windows side-by-side.
• Split screen view works on a MacBook screen or desktop monitor.
• You can enter split screen, switch between two apps, or exit it in just a few steps.

We all work on multiple windows at once. You need information from the web to write something in a document or fill in a spreadsheet. Or you have to read a PDF of a report while you compose an email introducing it to your team.

You can easily resize windows on your Mac by clicking and dragging the edge. But you might still end up with multiple windows floating around. When you go to your Word doc, your spreadsheet disappears. Then your browser window covers your email.

The split screen view is a simple and elegant solution to the floating windows problem. Split view neatly positions two windows to fill your entire screen. Your other 296 windows disappear, temporarily.

Think of it as a dual focus mode.

Enter split screen

Splitting the screen of your Mac and using two apps side-by-side only requires a few steps.

1. Hover your mouse pointer over the green button located at the upper left corner of the window.

2. An arrow will appear, along with options on what to do with the window. Choose either Tile Window to Left of Screen or Tile Window to Right of Screen.

3. Depending on which side you have chosen, the window will occupy half of that screen and the rest of the windows will appear in the other half. Click on the window you want to set in the other half.

4. If you don’t like how the windows are arranged (maybe you want the left window to be on the right or vice versa), you can simply switch them. Just click and hold the menu bar of the window you want to move and drag it to the other side.

5. If you want to make one window wider or narrower, click the border between your two windows. Drag your cursor to make one smaller and one larger. Your two windows will still fill the entire screen.

6. Your menu bars, including the red, yellow, green dots, disappear in this mode. Move your cursor to the top of your screen, and the menu bar will reappear over both windows.

Switch windows in split screen

It’s easy to toggle back and forth between two documents in split screen view. You can also toggle between your split screen and other apps.

1. Swipe up on the trackpad with four fingers to enter Mission Control.

2. Click on the window or dual screen pair you want to switch to.

Exit split screen

When you’re done working in split screen view, you can return to fullscreen mode.

1. Move the cursor up to the top of the window you want to minimize until the green button reappears.

2. Click the green button to reduce the size of your window. This will exit you out of split screen.

3. The window you’re in will revert to its pre-split screen shape. The other window will go into fullscreen mode.