Guides
How to snap windows with keyboard shortcuts in Windows
Snapping puts a window neatly into half or a quarter of the screen instead of dragging and resizing it by hand. Windows has a solid set of snap shortcuts, but they stop at halves and quarters, cannot be changed, and get awkward with several monitors. This guide lists the built-in shortcuts and settings, then adds hotkeys for thirds, zones and moving between monitors with WindowLayout.
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Turn on snapping in Windows
Open Settings, System, Multitasking and make sure Snap windows is on. Expand it to choose the details: show snap layouts when you hover over the maximize button or drag a window to the top of the screen, suggest what to snap next to a window, and resize snapped windows together. If snapping feels intrusive, switch off the suggestion while keeping the shortcuts. On Windows 10, the same switch is under Settings, System, Multitasking.
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Learn the built-in snap shortcuts
Win+Left and Win+Right snap the active window to the left or right half. After snapping to a side, Win+Up or Win+Down moves it into the upper or lower quarter. Win+Up on a normal window maximizes it and Win+Down restores or minimizes it. Win+Shift+Up stretches a window to full height without changing its width. On Windows 11, Win+Z opens Snap Layouts for the active window; press the number shown on a layout and then on the spot you want.
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Know the limits with several monitors
Pressing Win+Left repeatedly walks a window across the left and right halves of each monitor, which works but is slow with three screens. Win+Shift+Left and Right jump a window to the neighboring monitor. Snap Layouts and Snap Groups are per monitor and are not saved. There are no thirds on normal monitors, no way to change the keys, and monitors stacked vertically are hard to reach from the keyboard.
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Add snap hotkeys with WindowLayout
WindowLayout adds global hotkeys that use the numeric keypad as a map of the screen: Ctrl+Alt+Numpad4 and Numpad6 for left and right halves, Numpad8 and Numpad2 for top and bottom, Numpad7, 9, 1 and 3 for the quarters and Numpad5 to center. Ctrl+Alt+Enter maximizes and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Enter maximizes across every monitor. Left third, Center third, Right third, Left two-thirds and Right two-thirds are available to bind on the Hotkeys page.
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Snap into zones and across monitors
In Windows & Zones, choose a zone layout per monitor, such as Thirds or Priority 25/50/25. Ctrl+Alt+PageDown and PageUp step the window through those zones and continue onto the next monitor after the last one. Ctrl+Alt+Right and Left move a window to the next or previous monitor in any arrangement, including stacked screens. Ctrl+Alt+T keeps the window always on top, and Minimize other windows on this monitor can be bound for a quick clean-up.
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Customize the keys to your keyboard
Open Hotkeys, click the box next to an action and press a new combination. If it is already used by another action, WindowLayout names the conflict, and Reset to defaults restores the original set. On a laptop without a numeric keypad, bind the snap actions to keys such as Ctrl+Alt+J, K and L. The command palette (Ctrl+Alt+Space) lets you type an action by name when you forget a shortcut.
Frequently asked questions
Can WindowLayout and Windows snapping be used together?
Yes. Windows shortcuts use the Win key and WindowLayout defaults use Ctrl+Alt, so they do not clash. Use whichever fits the moment.
Why do snapped windows not resize together with WindowLayout?
Snap Groups belong to Windows' own snapping. Windows placed with WindowLayout hotkeys are regular windows at exact positions, so resizing one does not resize its neighbor.
Do the hotkeys work in every app?
They work in most apps. Windows does not let a normal program move a window that runs as administrator, and some full-screen games ignore move requests.