How do you move and resize windows?

robertlf · February 17, 2021, 4:05pm

Can anyone recommend an application for moving and resizing windows using only your keyboard? I used to be able to use what I considered to be a wonderful application called Window Wrangler but unfortunately it hasn’t been updated for the newer versions of macOS. It was very easy to understand and extremely simple to use. Configure your keyboard shortcuts, focus on a window, and you could move or resize it with ease. Since moving to Big Sur I’ve switched to Moom but I really don’t like it. First, you have to configure a keyboard shortcut just to activate the app when you want to move/resize a window. And then the options for configuring each type of operation seem really unintuitive and hard to remember, at least to me. I’m not at all happy with it. Thanks for your help!

GraemeS · February 17, 2021, 4:41pm

I use Keyboard Maestro, with a Hyper-key and the arrow keys.

So, for me, Caps-Lock and left arrow brings up a conflict palette.
Then,

tapping 1 moves the window to the left 1/3 of the screen,
tapping 2 moves the window to the left 2/3 of the screen,
tapping h moves the window to the left half of the screen,
tapping m moves the window to the middle 1/3 of the screen,
tapping L moves the window to the screen on the left.

Obviously, it’s mirrored for Caps-Lock and right arrow.
Up arrow maximises the window,
Down arrow puts it into the bottom left corner.

DannyR · February 17, 2021, 4:54pm

I use KM to ‘split’ my external monitor in half as well as center an individual document.
I use better touch tool to maximize the screen w/o going into full screen. I also set up a right click on the mouse to automatically move a doc from external monitor to laptop and vice versa

cornchip · February 17, 2021, 6:08pm

I use Rectangle, which is an open source continuation of Spectacles. Its behavior has always made more sense to me than Moom’s.

https://rectangleapp.com/

theknick · February 17, 2021, 7:02pm

I am so stealing this idea. Hadn’t thought about setting up a conflict…

ybbond · February 17, 2021, 7:50pm

I was using Hammerspoon, then Keyboard Maestro, then tried using BetterTouchTool but it lacks command pallet, so right now I am using Raycast’s built-in window manager script.

JohnAtl · February 17, 2021, 8:09pm

I use Magnet.
I have a KM conflict palette set up too, but always forget about it. Plus it’s more keystrokes than Magnet.

JEMIII · February 17, 2021, 8:11pm

I’ve been using Magnet recently, but used BetterTouchTool as well. Each have advantages for how I move around windows and the monitors being used. I settled back into Magnet since it was purchased through the Mac App Store and was easier to install on multiple machines. These are all of the options that are basic in Magnet:

robertlf · February 17, 2021, 9:30pm

This looks closest to what I’m looking for. I’m not looking to have a window snap to a pre-defined position on the screen (e.g. Top Left, Top Right) as I am being able to move a window, pixel by pixel, anywhere across the screen when I hold down a particular chord.

professorgadgets · February 19, 2021, 1:46am

I arrange all my app windows across the screen and use Moom to save that setting for each desktop. I have a KM script to launch all the apps I use then another key combo set in Moom to arrange the windows if they don’t go back to where I originally placed them.

ldebritto · February 19, 2021, 11:11am

There’s no shortage of software options here. It will depend on your preferences on how to activate and the the final layout.

For me I’ve settled on Swish (available both via SetApp and MAS) for two main reasons:

Its keyboard implementation is fairly straightforward as it will use the just Fn + arrows to shape and move windows (Shift key is used to modify behavior from halves to thirds). I find it easy to remind and trigger;
It has superb mouse/trackpad support via swipes on the title bar.

theknick · February 19, 2021, 4:07pm

Okay, so I took the KM conflict palette to the ridiculous extreme. I’m using the numeric keypad as a map. So my palette trigger + 3 goes into the lower right, trigger + 9 upper right, trigger + 4 = right 2/3 of screen, trigger + 5 = right 1/2, trigger + 6 = right 1/3. A different trigger does the same breakdown for the left side of the screen (except mirrored, i.e. 1 gets to the lower left and 7 goes to the upper left. Between the two windows that ends up with 4 different triggers and a total of 28 macros. The triggers are just modifiers with the left and right arrows so it really isn’t that confusing.

Insane? Probably., but my fingers are starting to remember it already. We’ll see if it sticks.

GraemeS · February 20, 2021, 12:10am

If I was always using my extended keyboard and a big monitor, I’d steal that back, insane or not.

Loren · February 25, 2021, 5:42pm

Moom

jec0047 · February 27, 2021, 1:58am

Slightly off topic, I seem to recall that there was once a way to configure function keys as “generic function keys” vs “Apple-specific function keys” on an app-by-app basis. I couldn’t find it on Big Sur. Am I mis-remembering? Or am I just not looking in the right place?

dennis · February 28, 2021, 2:30pm

Would you mind sharing your KM macro? This sounds pretty awesome to me. Simple and straightforward.

GraemeS · February 28, 2021, 3:23pm

Here you go.

The hyper-key is set up using Karabiner.

CraigW · March 1, 2021, 2:02am

I have used Keyboard Maestro, but I just set up the drop zones feature with Better Touch Tool - both have their places, but when I want two windows side by side, it seems like BTT works great to just drag the window to the zone, and then to pull out another tab into the other zone, and now they are side by side. I also have one called center focus, and a 1/3 - 2/3 arrangement, that is great for putting drafts beside whatever else I am working on to take notes.

I do want to experiment a bit more with the conflict pallet as well.