Moom has been my window manager of choice for many years. I’ve dabbled with similar apps but always returned to Moom, which I appreciate for its flexibility and automation support.
I was happy to discover that a significant upgrade to Moom has just become available! Moom 4 is available directly from ManyTricks at a launch sale price of $US10 until September 4. While they offer an upgrade price of $US6 for Moom 3 customers, I paid the non-upgrade price as I get so much value from Moom.
Upgrading from Moom 3 to Moom 4 was pretty much seamless. Moom 3 allowed you to chain commands together (e.g. move and resize) by giving them all the same keyboard shortcut. While this did the job, Moom 4 replaced it with a more elegant Chains solution. Moving to Chains requires a manual but straightforward update.
Overall, I’m delighted with the upgrade. I appreciate being able to use Moom in a large, resizable window. Performance is great, and the UI feels well-thought-out and modern.
You can read more about Moom 4 on the Many Tricks blog:
I had to stop using moom because of an unsolvable bug whereby it would occasionally be unable to move or resize windows and would require a restart to even potentially work. The developer was really helpful so I bore no ill will and just moved on. I really liked it though and am looking forward to trying this new version and seeing if it has avoided the issue so I can use it again.
Greetings from the customer-facing side of Many Tricks :).
Unfortunately, this issue was due to a bug in macOS. The good news is that we think Apple has squashed it at some point: We haven’t had any reports of the problem in a couple of months, so we’re hopeful it’s gone.
We can’t be sure, though, because it’s not a thing we can reproduce at will, it just happens when it happens. But it might be worth another look.
Thanks! We’re very happy with how it came out. I’d recommend giving both drop zones (saved layouts in snap zones) and Hover mode (move and resize windows from anywhere, without dragging, even if they’re in the background) a try. Those are the two features I’m personally using a ton already.
I’d recommend giving both drop zones (saved layouts in snap zones) and Hover mode (move and resize windows from anywhere, without dragging, even if they’re in the background) a try.
Thanks for the suggestion, @rob_griffiths. I’m already putting the Hover mode to good use (it has quickly become muscle memory) and look forward to using saved layouts in drop zones.
On a side note, is syncing Moom settings between maps on the road map?
The licensing model for Many Tricks has been this way for some time.
And unlike a subscription, this is a much better model as I get to use what I pay for as long as I want and I can decide if any of the new features are of value to me.
I find those presets really intriguing which now even work for all windows and not just app specific. Also the idea of drop zones und that I can adjust my hover menu options … looking forward to giving it a try
Thanks so much for this clarification. I had never needed to upgrade while using version 3, so this seemed like a new policy. I’ve upgraded and look forward to using this new version.
It’s actually a three-year-old policy that hopefully helps keep us in business with a small ongoing revenue stream, and helps users by encouraging us to release new features faster. More detail here, including a link to even MORE detail:
In short, you will always own the version you bought plus any updates that came out for at least 12 months. If we then release a paid update (which we haven’t done yet for any app), then you can choose to buy that update or not. If you buy it, you get another 12 months of free updates as well.
We hate app subscriptions, but needed to find a way to get out of the “hold cool stuff back for major updates” cycle. (We had to do Moom 4 the way we did because it’s a total rewrite, not just adding features to Moom 3. But now it’s on the same plan, and we’ll see what the future holds!)
It’s on the road map, but it’s complicated if you consider that it really needs to be at a per-action level, and a per-Mac level—syncing your 27" saved layout to your 13" laptop doesn’t make much sense. And if you have three Macs, probably some go on each Mac. It’s ugly. But yes, we’re working on it :).
In the interim, Moom 4 now supports two easy ways of sharing (Universal Clipboard and Universal Control), plus export and import:
It’s on the road map, but it’s complicated if you consider that it really needs to be at a per-action level, and a per-Mac level—syncing your 27" saved layout to your 13" laptop doesn’t make much sense. And if you have three Macs, probably some go on each Mac. It’s ugly. But yes, we’re working on it :).
It’s great to hear syncing is on your roadmap. I currently have three Macs (a late 2015 iMac, an M1 MacBook Pro and an M3 MacBook Pro), though I plan to retire the iMac soon.
I can appreciate the inherent challenges with syncing.
On my primary Mac (M3 Macbook Pro), I often change my resolution (e.g. lower resolution for things like email and a higher resolution for video editing) and typically have one or two external monitors attached. I keep these variable setups in mind as I configure Moom so that my Moom actions/chains work well with all configurations.
In the interim, Moom 4 now supports two easy ways of sharing (Universal Clipboard and Universal Control), plus export and import:
Sharing was less-than-ideal in Moom 3. It’s great that this has taken a big step forward in Moom 4. I just exported everything from my M3 and imported it on my M1. Worked like a charm!
I did too, and I would have even it the full price was $20 or more. I hope anyone using Moom and considering upgrading would pay the full new-user price. We need utility-makers to thrive.
I have installed the latest version next to my current Moom version and whenever I click on one of the actions in the green popover panel I just get a beep sound and no action. When I click on the grid option icon of that panel the desktop dims a bit but I don’t get any grid and the one or two actions that seem to work place the windows completely wrong both in size and place.
Did anything go wrong during the import? Restarting software or Mac doesn’t help unfortunately. Do I have to make a fresh start without any of my previous actions? Has anybody experienced something like that themselves?
Sorry to hear about that. This is what I fear when presented with an update to software that I have been using for a long time, that I finally think I understand, and that I’ve finally got working the way I want it to. I fear paying for an upgrade that breaks everything or adds friction to an existing workflow.
We’ve had four reports of this problem, and unfortunately, we think it’s in macOS not Moom. We can’t replicate it here at all. Here’s a weird suggestion that worked for someone: Quit Moom, move it out of /Applications, then run it. Then quit it and put it back in /Applications and run it again.
Any luck?
Also, I just happened across this today. For much faster response time, please use our ticket system for assistance:
It works in the latest Sequoia beta. If you hold down the command key you get the Apple’s green button menu. There is a setting in Moom where you can choose which action you want to use on hover. (ie Apple on hover; Moom on hover with command key; or vice versa).
