Manually resizing and arranging windows side by side is a nuisance and you never get it exactly right. Windows 11 solves this with Snap Layouts, which split the screen into neat sections with one click. Let us explain what it is and how it speeds up your work.

What Snap Layouts are

Snap Layouts are a Windows 11 feature that splits the screen into ready-made layouts and automatically aligns windows into them. Instead of resizing by hand, you pick a template (for example two windows side by side or three columns) and Windows arranges the windows nicely by itself.

It is a great helper when working with several windows at once, for example when you have a browser, a document and email next to each other.

How to summon Snap Layouts

You have several options:

  • Via the maximize button. Hold the cursor over the button to minimize or maximize a window (the little square at the top right). A menu of layouts appears and you just click the section where you want the window.
  • By dragging to the top edge. When you grab a window and drag it to the top of the screen, a bar with layouts appears.
  • With a keyboard shortcut. Press Win + Z and the layouts menu opens. You can also move windows with Win + arrow keys. You will find more shortcuts in the article keyboard shortcuts for Windows and Mac.

After selecting the first window, Windows (via the so called Snap Assist) suggests which of your open windows to fill into the remaining sections. So you fill the whole screen with a few clicks.

Snap Groups: it remembers the windows

When you arrange the windows, Windows remembers this group (a Snap Group). When you then move the cursor over an icon on the taskbar, it shows you the whole group, so you restore it all at once. Handy when you open something else in the meantime and want to return to the original layout.

How many layouts you see

The choice of layouts depends on the size and resolution of the screen:

  • On an ordinary monitor you get the basic layouts, for example two or three windows side by side and a grid.
  • On a large or ultrawide monitor Windows offers more options, for example three to four columns. It is precisely on a large area that Snap Layouts shine the most. The article on how to choose a monitor helps with the choice.

Where to turn it on or off

Snap Layouts are usually on automatically. If you want to fine-tune them, you find it in Settings, System, Multitasking, Snap windows. There you turn snapping and window suggestions on or off.

Who it suits

  • Working with several windows at once, for example comparing documents, transcribing data or keeping an eye on email alongside work.
  • Large and ultrawide monitors, where there is enough room for more windows. The article on the perfect home office relates to an efficient workplace.
  • Anyone who wants order on the screen without resizing windows by hand.

Conclusion

Snap Layouts in Windows 11 are a simple feature that significantly speeds up working with several windows. You pick a layout, Windows aligns the windows itself and you work in order and without resizing. The Win + Z shortcut and the Snap Groups feature, which remembers the arrangement, help too. On a large monitor it is a small thing with a big benefit.

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